Personal Asides

Answering the Blogging Challenge in NANCY’S POINT

Thank you, Nancy, for letting me talk . . . again. I love your blog, love being one of the top fans, and love this challenge. And I love Nancy’s call about her summer blog challenge:  ‘Cuz we cancer people are interested in many other things besides cancer.”  Yep, that’s me.

I loved writing the answers to your blog questions last year and this year I actually have a blog section on my author’s website which, if you're reading this, you're in!  So, without waiting, let me answer your questions.

o   Who am I?  In no particular order:

Of course, for Nancy’s point audience I feel the need to say that I am a Cancer Thriver. I had Stage 3, celebrated almost six years NED, had several other serious non-cancer health scares (like a brain tumor and a stroke), and then the damn cancer came back.  There’s no getting away from the fact that it rules my life.  Nancy’s Point is my go-to blog for cancer info and Nancy herself – who I have bugged with questions and concerns a lot this past year – is a wonderful human being! 

But, I am more than cancer. 

o   I am an international student advisor at a small college. 

o   I am the mother of three great grown up kiddos, mother-in-law to an amazing dietician, and a grandma to the cutest two-year-old in America! 

o   I’ve been married over forty years to an amazing man who is positive, supportive, intelligent, and can make me smile just walking into the room. 

o   I love, love, love, LOVE to write.  Always have.  But life changes priorities and it wasn’t until five years ago that I re-found my love for writing AND decided to make the first of my female characters a cancer thriver.  Don’t worry:  a scene from her story is here.

o   I have a goal to be published someday soon. 

o   I love flowers and have way too many in the backyard. 

o   I enjoy walking around the block or hiking up in the mountains! 

 2.  Have I ever participated in a blog hop before?  No!  But I love the idea!

 3.  What’s my favorite sort of blog post to write and/or read – personal story, informational, how-to, controversial, political, opinion, rant or other?   Personal stories are always the best for me, but I even like reading heavy informational medical blogs.

4.  Describe myself in just three words.  Long-legged jamoocke (spelling?), something my dad always called me because I am tall and have long legs.

 5.  Name three of my favorite books from my youth that had an impact on me.  Jane Eyre, Pearl Buck’s Imperial Woman, and Taylor Caldwell’s Grandfather and the Priests. My mother – an avid reader – gave me all these old books.

 6.  What am I reading right now, or what’s on my to-read list for when I have time?  I have several favorite authors who are coming out with new novels by the end of 2019.  But for now, I’m re-reading Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series in preparation for her new novel – Archangel’s War - coming out in September.  Can’t wait.  Reading is an escape for me; I did a ton in the chemo room, most of it sexy romances, that my oncologist always comment on.  And I always read before falling asleep.

 7.  What’s your favorite dessert of all time?   My Italian grandmother’s Icebox Cake which is really a form of Tiramisu.  Unfortunately, it went away when she died even though my sisters and I try to replicate it.  Sooooo good.

 8.  Tell us about a special pet I have, had, or would like to have.  There’ve been a couple.  I loved my daughter’s first horse Tara.  I felt like she was mine even though I never sat on her back.  Then we had a cat named Ichabod who would crawl into bed with me at night and put his front two legs on my shoulder every night.  And finally, a dog named Pug who was a part retriever.  Best dog ever.  After he died, we decided we’d had enough pets because we’d had the best.

 9.  What’s something people don’t know about me and might be surprised to learn?  I think people are always amazed to find out that I write romances.  Sexy romances.  I’ve always liked writing, but for the past four years, I have completed five novels and am well into four others.  I am anxious to get them published but still haven’t decided to be an independent author or try to snare a publishing contract.  Stay tuned!

10.  Do you believe healthcare is a privilege or a right?  Healthcare is a RIGHT.  When I discovered how expensive chemo is, and now that I’m learning that one medication for MBC patients can cost over $12,000 a month,  I feel awful for people who cannot afford the best treatment that’s out there, all because we have a horrible health care system and stupid insurance practices. I am privileged to have great health care, but it also creates guilt in me because I know other people are denied care because they can’t afford healthcare.  This is wrong.

11.  What’s your favorite thing about blogging and/or reading blogs?  I love all the information.  I primarily read blogs about cancer, mental illness, and writing.  The cancer ones can either be really hard (as Nancy says, keeping it real) or very uplifting.  Ditto for mental illness blogs.  The writing blogs are usually informative, a way to vent about how difficult it is to become an author, and once a while a celebration.  I love all of them.  It’s why I have a section on my author’s website where I can blog, or vent.

12.  What’s something you really suck at? I'm awful at learning new technology quickly.  I’ll eventually get it, but it’s a challenge while I’m learning. And this has been a year of learning many new websites, some for work and some for marketing Adelyn.  Anyone know MailChimp?  That’s my latest venture into hell.

13.  What’s something you’re pretty good at?  Working with students, especially international college students.  I love the age group and I find I relate to them pretty well.

14.  How do you escape from cancer (or life in general) worries?  It’s hard. It’s been 4 months since I’ve been diagnosed Stage 4, MBC and I finally had an afternoon where I did not think about cancer for 4 hours!  Yay, me.  So, the answer is to stay busy!  Write some more, read a lot, and teach yourself something that’s hard.  Like MailChimp.

One last thing:  If you enjoy romances and reading about Resilient Women (and men) who overcome life's curveballs, please sign up on my website. . . my Facebook page, my Instagram.  You won't be disappointed.

On Word and Upward!