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)