This weekend was my birthday, and I am fortunate to celebrate 35 trips around the sun. It’s certainly not old age (despite what my kids may say!) but after cancer I can appreciate just how special each year is. Not one year is guaranteed even though nobody sits down in the twenties and thinks, “I’mContinue reading “Birthday Scanxiety”
Category Archives: Cancer
Untangled
Pulling at my roots, I grapple gracefully at new growth, blessed by bees and nature’s rays and clouds whose smoky visages plump with life. Flailing at the seams, and tucked inside these dreams, I’m not frail, but free. I usually participate in the W3 prompt at the Skeptic’s Kaddish on Wednesdays, but I have decidedContinue reading “Untangled”
Changing Currents
Meander through meadows, patching puzzle pieces together into a mosaic tapestry. Wind– unwind– but don’t unravel; follow the brook’s bedrocks as they hum lazily with current through distant soothing channels toward our hazy destination. This summer, I have taken a giant leap– into a new job! I’ll still be teaching, but at the college levelContinue reading “Changing Currents”
Daydreamers
Cast off into adorable wonder free for a moment from the mysteries of plagues and missing friends and mom’s missing hair. Open starry eyes under chilled sunshine meandering through streams and chiseling dreams from sandstone pebbles and bleached birch limbs and moon-rinsed earth. This week’s W3 prompt over at the Skeptic’s Kaddish is from MichelleContinue reading “Daydreamers”
Collecting Mini Milestones
For many of us cancer survivors, the five-year mark is a huge milestone. It’s believed that if you are in remission for five years, with no evidence of disease, that you can be considered “cured”. At least tentatively. Though it does happen, it’s rare for most cancers to return after so long. Many people noContinue reading “Collecting Mini Milestones”
A Peaceful Publishing Process
I’ve written and chatted a bit before about my latest novels in progress and rejection in the querying world. My latest journey into querying has resulted in 12 rejections so far, which I’ve learned with time is just a drop in the bucket. I’ve interacted with people on social media who have faced hundreds ofContinue reading “A Peaceful Publishing Process”
Poem: Perfect Imperfection
seashell solitude tangible imperfections glisten in water This past week, I had an amazing opportunity to attend a retreat of sorts for young adults who are cancer survivors. I spent five days in the Outer Banks of North Carolina surfing, exploring, and meeting other people in their twenties and thirties who understood on a personalContinue reading “Poem: Perfect Imperfection”
The Toughest Lesson
A year ago this week, I finished the last infusion in my treatment course for stage 3 breast cancer. It was technically determined that I had no evidence of disease in the fall of 2020 after six rounds of “hard chemo” and surgery. (I jokingly refer to my fall 2020-spring 2021 course as “chemo light”.)Continue reading “The Toughest Lesson”
Learning to Let Go
My husband and I loaded the kids, the dog, and everything else we needed for a couple days on the road into the car late Friday morning. He’d already been into work earlier that morning, into which time I’d tried to force an entire day’s worth of grading, emailing, and student meetings while our threeContinue reading “Learning to Let Go”
First published poems!
Some days, I liken writing poetry to stringing my heart and soul up on the clothesline for everyone to see, but there’s a beauty in sharing our deepest words. I have two particularly honest/intimate poems up at Flora Fiction’s Spring 2022 issue about New Beginnings, “Sunrise” and “Writer, Revisited”. Check out the free download hereContinue reading “First published poems!”
Words and Coffee Writing 