"What Cancer Has Taught Me About Writing And Living"

Two weeks after historical fiction writer Anne Clinard Barnhill's debut novel was released, she was diagnosed with stage 3 endometrial cancer. She writes about how the diagnosis changed her, and about what the experience has taught her about writing and living:

Since then, I've done a six-week book tour across North Carolina, had a radical hysterectomy, gone on a blog tour and started chemo. Not exactly what I'd expected in what was supposed to be 'my' year.

At first, I didn't want to tell anyone about the disease, but that quickly became unfeasible; people were contacting me to do readings and I had to explain why I couldn't; my editor had been patiently awaiting my revisions to the second novel and I didn't want him to think I was dawdling; and, I figured it was something my agent should know. So, I went public. As I deal with the gritty life of coping with cancer, I've noticed some similarities between the writing life and living with cancer.

Read the rest here: BOOK PREGNANT: What Cancer Has Taught Me About Writing And Living.

(thanks, Lydia Netzer)

• [THE GAJILLIONAIRES]

  Beautiful and inspiring, thanks for sharing!

• [Graviola for Cancer]

  very moving. you sound like a trooper!