Moving beyond #BreastCancer with #NaNoWriMo

Yes, I even have a temporary cover for this book and no words. I haven't gotten beyond the synopsis and character development. So I joined NaNoWriMo to give me the kick in the butt I need to move on this year.

For those of you who may not know, indulge me. I discovered I had breast cancer in January. It hit me like nothing else ever has. I'm invincible. I'm a mother of five, I've run businesses, managed all sorts of projects, but I never thought I would be the someone in the group who got cancer--as if there's a type!. I wasn't as much scared as I was hysterical by not having any control. Through the year, I've focused on doing what I had to do to take the next step forward. The support for breast cancer patients is the best. Thank you everyone who ever supported breast cancer research. It seems so inadequate to say that when I've seen such massive benefits and changes happening. 

The surgery was almost too easy and so was the radiation. The outcome too good. I did end up having side effects from the medication I'm supposed to take for five years so we switched to another. Needless to say, I've been preoccupied. But I'm doing well, so it's no excuse. Because writing makes me happy and I should do something that makes me happy. Only I can't. 

I used to wake up with my characters acting out or up, preparing me for my day of writing. This year I woke up every day trying to remember what doctor or therapist I was going to see, what medication I had to take and what time. My characters hid behind medicinal smelling medical walls and I couldn't seem to be able to coax them out until the other day. I woke up thinking about one of my books and I was so happy I wanted to dance! A huge break through! Then nothing...

A friend of mine, a fellow author came over for a plotting session, changed all that. (Thank you, Donna) She forced me to think about all my WIP, and I have ten I'm embarrassed to admit. Some farther along than others, but one is now calling to me. I woke up thinking about the characters and what has to happen to them. I love it. But I know to keep moving forward I need discipline, commitment, focus. I took the plunge and made a ridiculous commitment to participate in NaNOWriMO. I just signed up. In the ninth hour before November starts, I set up my account. The synopsis and character sketches are done and I'm ready to write this book. I will be committed to fifty-thousand words this month and I have to get a head start because I am supposed to have cataract surgery on my right eye in three weeks. The race is on. Now that I've outed myself, I feel I'm answerable to you all if I don't perform. So don't let me down. Hold me accountable. 

Breast cancer month is over, but if you haven't scheduled your mammogram DO IT NOW. Mine saved my life and many others I know. It's nothing to be afraid of. Face it, fight it ... and in my favorite words...fuck it! Move on! I am. (I want a t-shirt with that guy and my logo in pink)