Today I finished chemo. One surgery remains. The toxins will leave my body, my hair will grow back, and I'll get to call myself a survivor. But aren't we all survivors if we make it to another day? I don't know, but I find survivor a strange thing to call myself. Many people are kind …
October begins! This is the month my novel, The Blue Jar, enters the world as an e-book. At some point, the book may appear in paper form as well. And what writer doesn't dream of holding her book in her hand? I try to be realistic, but I am a writer and an artist. I …
October promises many things. Let's hope October keeps such promises. The first Friday of October will be my last day of chemo. Thank the stars. I've had fewer side-effects than many. I'm lucky. This has been week ten of Taxel. The nurse told me that the 10th week is the most common week for neuropathy …
A few years ago, I dressed as rejection for Halloween. I pinned all of my rejection letters to my jacket and a red, paper, broken heart to my jacket's lapel. I wrote "No!" and "Go away!" on the palms of my hands. I took my son's toy collapsable knife and pretended every so often to …
What story changed your life? Maybe that's too dramatic? Well, what story shaped or moved your opinions one way another? My parents didn't tell me often how or what to think. "It's up to you," they said. How did my mother vote? I don't know. She wouldn't tell me. "You have to decide for yourself," …
When I was a kid (and for many years after), I would've said my biggest fear was spiders. As a teenager I'd lock myself in a room if that's what it took to get away from a spider. Spiders still cause me breathing trouble. When I started sending my writing out into the world, I …
Wow. My publisher has finished the cover of my novel. After writing, submitting, and waiting, it is hard to believe my novel is actually going to be out in the world. Not out because I handed a copy to a friend, but out for anyone to read. My novel is leaving me. We'll see …
Today was the summer solstice. A year ago today, we had our housewarming party to celebrate moving into our very first house. A week from today I'll have my fourth chemo treatment (12 more to go after that). Before I'm done with chemo, I'll have another book out that I've illustrated. Soon after I finish …
Whether you had a dream dad, a nightmare dad, an absent dad, or an oddball dad, no matter how you'd describe the man who helped bring about your existence, there is no doubt he shaped you one way or another. Even an absence has an influence. My dad never planned on a being a single …
Marta Bacon 