How many times have you thought to yourself, "I should have started writing about this when it started; why didn't I?"
Maybe it's just me - but I haven't been as diligent with my writing as I should be. I haven't been as diligent about anything as I should be. I'm a hot mess of missed articles, a messy desk, and a scattered brain. This global pandemic has me treading water on what feels like a sinking ship and it's not even a nice old fashioned type Titanic ship with fancy glasses - it's more like Gilligan's Island and I just want someone to rescue us and here I am wearing red high heels on the beach. As a side note to my side note, here's what not to say when someone uses the sinking ship analogy: "everyone is in the same boat". My husband mentioned that the other day and I reminded him if we are ALL in the same boat, there won't be enough life jackets so I was in NO way comforted by his well meaning sentiment.
See? Like that...off I go...
squirrel
Let's get back on track.
This pandemic began back in March here in Wisconsin. I've jotted down a few journal entries here and there, made a few blog posts, posted a couple pictures and notes on my social media, and I keep thinking I should be writing a detailed account of our experience. It would be therapeutic to me and priceless to my children and future generations someday.
But...
But...
I don't remember all the details from the beginning. I can't start in the middle.
Or can I?
The truth is, I can start right where I am. Mark Twain said:
"The Secret to Getting Ahead is Getting Started."
It's not often a book starts with birth and ends with death. Does any story ever really start from the beginning? Is birth the beginning or is conception? Chicken? Egg? Truth is, it doesn't matter.
I could easily summarize the first few months and move forward with my writing. I wouldn't even need to write or journal every day, a simple photograph here or there will help tie the story together or help with a future memory. I could use my introduction as a way to pull things together "from the beginning". Even if I get distracted, something is better than nothing. Mari McCarthy of Create Write Now talks about journaling for your health and well-being and right now, more than ever, there are many of us feeling very unusual (to say the least). Even if you have not been diligent with your writing or journaling, start right where you are and use your time and talents to help you feel more in control during these uncertain times.
Setting small attainable goals has always been very helpful for me - my goal is starting today (August 1st) I am going to spend time with my journal. I'm starting right where I am and I am going to keep track of life and my thoughts for the month of August. Once we get to the end of August I can reassess that goal and either adjust it or make a new one, but I'm starting.
How about you?
Have you been writing? Why or why not?
What is your long term goal with your writing or journaling?
Has writing/journaling been therapeutic?
We definitely want to hear from you, so leave a comment and share your thoughts and ideas with our readers and writers!
Hugs,
~Crystal
and now...a little more about me...
Shown from left to right:
Delphine riding Honey
Mr. Otto holding Eudora
Crystal riding Marv.
Thank you Forward Farm, LLC
Crystal is the office manager, council secretary, financial secretary, and musician at her church, birth
mother, Auntie, babywearing mama, business owner, active journaler, writer and blogger, Blog Tour Manager with WOW! Women on Writing, Press Corp teammate for the DairyGirl Network, Unicorn Mom Ambassador, as well as a dairy farmer. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband and their five youngest children, two dogs, four little piggies, a handful of cats and kittens, horses Darlin' and Joker, pony Miss Maggie May, and over 250 Holsteins.
You can find Crystal milking cows, riding horses, and the occasional unicorn (not at the same time), taking the ordinary and giving it a little extra (making it extraordinary), blogging and reviewing books here, and at her own blog - Crystal is dedicated to turning life's lemons into lemonade and she has never (not once) been accused of being normal!
Tomorrow begins National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a month of education that began in 1985. We at WOW-Women on Writing hope you, and the women you love, are well educated about a disease that affects one in eight women over their lifetime. You can find info at the U.S. National Institute of Health but you can also learn about breast cancer from the experiences of others. Thirty one writers have agreed to write about breast cancer on various blogs this month as part of our first Blanket Tour.
This month’s WOW Blanket Tour promotes Diana M. Raab’s book Healing with Words: A Writer’s Cancer Journey. Diana’s latest book reflects her experiences battling breast cancer at age 47 and then multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer, when she was 52. The book is part practical advice(she is a nurse, after all) and part inspiration, which takes the form of poems, journal entries, and friendly thoughts. To show readers the effect of healing writing, Diana also includes blank sections and writing prompts so the reader can contribute their own thoughts and writings. Diana describes her daily journal writing as “a daily vitamin-healing, detoxifying and essential for optimal health.”
We’ll be kicking off this month’s WOW Blanket Tour with a word from Diana Raab. Each time you post a comment at one of the blogs on this tour you enter to win a copy of Diana’s book. The list of blogs participating follows Diana’s poems.
To My Daughters
by Diana M. Raab, MFA, RN
You were the first I thought of when diagnosed with what strikes one in eight women.
It was too soon to leave you, but I thought it a good sign that none of us were born
under its pestilent zodiac. I stared at the stars and wished upon each one that you¹d never wake up
as I did this morning to one real breast and one fake one; but that the memories you carry will be only sweet ones,
and then I remembered you had your early traumas of being born too soon, and losing a beloved grandpa too young
and then I had this urge to show you the scars on the same breast you cuddled as babies, but then wondered
why you¹d want to see my imperfections and perhaps your destiny. I caved in and showed you anyway,
hoping you¹d learn to be careful, as if it really mattered, because your grandpa used to say when your time¹s up, it¹s up.
May he always watch over you.
The Blues
by Diana M. Raab, MFA, RN
You may think I like the music or the rhythm of the band, but of what I speak is the sadness which engulfs my heart today and the one of my lover¹s who prays for my recovery, as the world around me lurks in gloomy isolation.
A dizzying sense of blackness churns around me. I see no wonders created here. My tears rise like the cream in a glass of brew or a cup of cappuccino which opens my eyelids each morning when I really don¹t want to wake up and face another day of loneliness free from answers.
I hunt for a place to turn, blinded by my pain, begging for a tomorrow free from aches gnawing at my nerves, and pinching my ventricles tight like a girdle to a throbbing broken heart. It¹s time to die. There¹s no other choice.
Check out what writers have to say about breasts, cancer, surviving and a slew of other related topics. We hope you find information, inspiration and the occasional chuckle.
Does our WOW Blanket Tour sound fun? The next one begins Nov. 1 with Chynna Laird, her book Not Just Spirited: A Mom’s Sensational Journey with Sensory Processing Disorder, and the topic of parenting (especially parenting children with special needs). For more information contact Jodi at jodi@wow-womenonwriting.com !
Diana M. Raab, MFA, RN was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1954 and received her undergraduate degree in Health Administration and Journalism in 1976. A few years later she received her RN degree. After 25 years as a medical and self-help writer, she's directed her creative energy towards nonfiction and memoir writing. In 2003 she earned her MFA in Writing from Spalding University's low-residency program.
Diana is the author of eight books. Her first memoir, Regina's Closet: Finding My Grandmother's Secret Journal (2007) was the recipient of the 2009 Mom's Choice Award for Adult Non-Fiction, and the 2009 National Indie Award for Excellence in Memoir. Her award-winning work has been published in numerous literary magazines and is widely anthologized. She has one poetry chapbook, My Muse Undresses Me, and two poetry collections, Dear Anais: My Life in Poems For You (winner of the 2009 Next Generation Indie Award for Poetry) and The Guilt Gene (2009).
After experiencing three successful, but high-risk pregnancies, she wrote a comprehensive guide for other women. The award-winning Getting Pregnant and Staying Pregnant (1989) was updated and revised in collaboration with Dr. Errol Norwitz of Yale School of Medicine under the new title, Your High Risk Pregnancy: A Practical and Supportive Guide (2009).
Diana is editor of the anthology, Writers and Their Notebooks (USC Press 2010), a collection of essays written by distinguished writers who journal, including Sue Grafton, Kim Stafford, Dorianne Laux, John DuFresne, James Brown and Michael Steinberg, to name a few. The foreword is written by world-renowned personal essayist, Phillip Lopate.
Diana's latest book, Healing with Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey (2010), reflects her experiences battling breast cancer at age forty-seven, and then multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer, when she was fifty-two.
She currently teaches creative journaling and memoir in UCLA Extension Writers' Program. She facilitates workshops in journaling and writing for healing around the country, and is a frequent moderator for panels on writing.
Healing with Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey By Diana M. Raab
Healing with Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey is a compassionate and wry self-help memoir written by an award-winning prolific author, nurse, and poet, who at the age of forty-seven found her life shattered first by a DCIS (early breast cancer) diagnosis and five years later by another, seemingly unrelated and incurable cancer--multiple myeloma. The book includes the author's experiences, reflections, poetry and journal entries, in addition to writing prompts for readers to express their own personal stories. Raab's journals have provided a safe haven and platform to validate and express her feelings. Raab views journaling to be like a daily vitamin--in that it heals, detoxifies and is essential for optimal health.
Readers will learn to:
Understand the importance of early cancer detection and how to take control of their own health
Discover the power of writing to release bottled-up emotions
Learn how the process of journaling can facilitate healing
See how a cancer diagnosis can be a riveting event which can renew and change a person in a unique way
Paperback: 206 pages Publisher: Loving Healing Press (May 2010) ISBN: 1615990100 Read an excerpt on Amazon
**Author's proceeds from the sale of this book donated to benefit the Mayo Clinic Foundation.
Book Trailer:
Book Giveaway Comments Contest! If you received our Events Newsletter, remember, we are holding a contest to win a copy of Diana Raab's book Healing with Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey to those that comment. So, grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair, and enjoy the chat, and share your thoughts, and comments, at the end. We will randomly choose a winner from those who comment.
Interview by Jodi Webb
WOW: Welcome, Diana! We're thrilled to be launching your blog tour today! Tell us how you started out as a writer.
Diana:I have been writing since the age of ten when my mother gave me a journal to help me cope with the loss of my grandmother. Since then, I have found solace in the written word. In university I studied health administration, nursing, and journalism. All my writing begins on the pages of my journals, whether I am crafting a poem, essay or book.
WOW: Not every family thinks of writing as a coping mechanism. Do you come from a family of writers or creative people?
Diana:I did not come from a creative family. However, I did come from a family of journal keepers. My maternal grandmother, Regina, wrote a retrospective journal about her experience as an orphan during World War I. In fact, I found her journal after she took her life in my childhood home in 1964. This journal was the foundation for my first memoir, Regina's Closet: Finding My Grandmother's Secret Journal. My mother also kept a record of my childhood and inspired me to do the same with my own children. I am forever grateful for this.
WOW: That's incredible! I would love to find a record of my grandmother's experiences. No wonder you love journaling. Tell us more.
Diana: Ever since I received my first Khalil Gibran journal from my mother at the age of ten, I have been using my journal to write during both good and bad times. I journaled throughout my adolescence, sharing my teenage angst with my journal. When I was confronted with a high-risk pregnancy at the age of twenty-nine resulting in eight months of bedrest I chronicled my experience. Eventually I used these particular journal entries as the basis for my first book, Getting Pregnant and Staying Pregnant: A Guide to Infertility and High-Risk Pregnancy. This book was revised and updated in 2009 in collaboration with Dr. Errol Norwitz, under the new title, Your High Risk Pregnancy: A Practical and Supportive Guide.
All of my books, articles and poems have taken seed on the pages of my journals. I have filled over 100 blank books. Typically I use only one journal at a time, except for my separate dream journal which I always keep at my bedside table.
The most rewarding aspect about journaling is being able to make sense of what is going on in my life. The journal is a best friend who always listens and this is wonderful. WOW: It's amazing that your first writing was the "healing writing" you address in your most recent book. How long did it take to develop and write Healing with Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey?
Diana:I began writing the book in 2001 during my post-operative period. Because I had written it from my heart, I wrote it very quickly. The basis of the book was used for my MFA thesis in writing at Spalding University. I held off on having it published because I had a few other projects to complete, plus there was a time when the market was inundated with memoirs. The timing just seemed right now.
WOW: Your memoir seems to complement the more than thirty years you spent specializing in medical and self-help writing. What types of markets have you written for?
Diana:I have over 300 published articles in both trade and professional magazines. I am also the author of eight books, many of which have been award-winners.
WOW: I know you wrote a book about high-risk pregnancy, something you dealt with. Have you always had a personal connection to the subjects of your books?
Diana:My writing always begins with the personal and expands out to the universal. The way I look at it, if I have a problem or issue I want to write about, chances are others are also facing similar issues. I love teaching others through my words.
WOW: What kinds of things inspire you to write?
Diana:I am inspired by life. I try to live in the moment and appreciate and notice what is around me. I always have too many ideas for the amount of hours in the day. However, I do get more inspired while traveling. I do my best writing in airplanes and I haven't yet figured out why except that there are less distractions, particularly cell phones and computers.
I also enjoy speaking with interesting people who spark my creativity. My journal is always packed with nuggets of writing ideas.
WOW: Recently we've been discussing the pros and cons of working while on vacation, so it seems interesting that traveling seems to give your creative juices a boost. Do you find yourself stealing away minutes during family vacations to write? Or does your family understand that it's something you have to do, that it's part of your daily schedule like brushing your teeth?
Diana:Since I do some of my best writing while on airplanes, I used to joke with my MFA about how I should take a trip around the world to tackle my next book project. I live on the west coast and my three children live on the east coast. This gives me a great deal of time to write while traveling. I typically do not write while on vacation, except to jot down observations in my journal which might be used in future published work. WOW: You've written memoir, self-help, medical, poetry...are there any other genres you'd like to tackle?
Diana:I think these genres keep me busy enough. I have dabbled in fiction and I've been told I have a good imagination, but I keep getting pulled back into nonfiction. They say you should write in the genre you enjoy reading--memoir and biography continue to be my favorites.
WOW: What do you believe is the hardest part of writing?
Diana:Being consistent in your writing practice and persistent in sending it out.
WOW: That is the key! Thanks, Diana, for taking the time to chat with us today.
Want to join Diana on her blog tour? Check out these dates and mark your calendar! You can also snag a copy of WOW's Events Calendar HERE.
Blog Tour Dates: Come and join the fun!
July 12, 2010 Monday Diana will be chatting with WOW! Women On Writing at The Muffin. One lucky commenter will win a signed copy of Diana's book! http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com
July 13, 2010 Tuesday Stop by My Breast Cancer Blog for a peek inside Diana Raab's book Healing with Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey. You can also enter to win her book! http://cancerspot.org/
July 14, 2010 Wednesday Today at Writers Inspired Diana Raab writes about the link between creativity and depression. She's also giving away a copy of her latest book, Healing with Words. http://writerinspired.wordpress.com/
July 15, 2010 Thursday Stop by Mom-e-Centric to meet author Diana Raab and enter to win her book, Healing with Words. http://www.momecentric.com/
July 16, 2010 Friday What inspired you to begin writing? Diana Raab, who can claim a shelf full of books to her name, tells us what started her on her writing journey. http://www.sellingbooks.com/author-interview-
July 20, 2010 Tuesday Diana Raab, author of Healing with Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey, shares her thoughts on the link between creativity and depression today at Self-Help Daily. Are depressed people that are also creative an exception to the rule? http://www.selfhelpdaily.com/
July 22, 2010 Thursday Author Diana Raab shares the secrets to writing a healing poem today. You also have the chance to win her latest book Healing with Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey! http://beyondbreastcancer.wordpress.com/
July 27, 2010 Tuesday Eliza will be reviewing Diana Raab's latest book Healing with Words today at Silver & Grace. Stop by and read her thoughtful review! http://silverandgrace.com/
July 29, 2010 Thursday Stop by the Spirituality and Self-Help blog to learn some techniques for coping with life's craziness from Diana Raab, author of Healing with Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey. http://www.superenlightme.com/
August 3, 2010 Tuesday Author Diana Raab will be sharing a special memory about her love of books today. You can also enter to win a copy of her latest book, Healing with Words. http://www.writeforareader.blogspot.com/
August 3, 2010 Tuesday Diana returns to Silver & Grace to give away her latest bookHealing with Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey. http://silverandgrace.com/
August 5, 2010 Thursday Diana stops by Kris Carr's blog Crazy Sexy Life to tell us how creativity and depression can coexist. Last chance to win a copy of Diana Raab's bookHealing with Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey! http://crazysexylife.com/
August 10, 2010 Tuesday Diana returns to Silver & Grace to answer a few questions about her latest book Healing with Words. http://silverandgrace.com/
To view all of our touring authors, check out our Events Calendar HERE.
Get involved!
If you have a blog or website and would like to host Diana Raab or schedule a tour of your own, please email Angela and Jodi at: blogtour@wow-womenonwriting.com
And be sure to comment on this postto enter in a drawingfor a copy of Diana Raab's inspiring book Healing with Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey! And check back in a couple of days in the comments section to see if you won!
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