Cancer is a Bitch

interviews, events, reviews oh my...

2008-09-05T13:21:00.011-06:00

After four intense days taking our daughter to college and one day home to wash clothes and then 7 hours up to Madeline Island in Lake Superior and three days of outdoor bliss... running, kayaking, biking, sitting around the campfire until 3 am every night, I returned to my life in fast motion.

Two interviews yesterday. Next week a photo shoot for a Madison based glossy magazine and another interview. 11 confirmed events as of today!!! My first one a local fundraiser health and wellness fair at my yoga studio to benefit Dresses that Heal that funnels money to the Breast Cancer Recovery Foundation. After that it's off to San Francisco for three events in two days. Then off to NYC for a few readings. Then back to Madison for my official launch and reading... and then Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Book Festival and Oconomowoc and a keynote speech for the Breast Cancer Recovery Conference. Most of this is listed on my website in events and news. And more reviews.. Library Journal mentioned me twice this week!

But all of this lead me to realize that I'm going to be talking about this book a lot and sometimes I'm still not sure how to answer the most basic question... What is this book about?

I think most reviewers have been reading the book as a cancer memoir or a health book but I'm not a health professional and while of course it is about cancer it is also about much more. So I was discussing this with a writer friend of mine (who read a galley of the book) and she sent me this quote and I thought it nailed the answer to that question... so I'm sharing it with all of you.

"It's not a health book, but it is; it's not a memoir, but it is; it's definitely not a novel, but it has the narrative power of one. It defies genre."

So whether you've had cancer or a health scare or not... my hope is that by vicariously experiencing my up and down and up again journey it will inspire you to take a fresh look at your life and start being your most amazing self today and live the life you keep meaning to live. Now. That's what this health memoir that reads like a novel is REALLY about.

SO much news to report....

2008-09-05T09:30:00.000-06:00

soon... check back!

we interrupt this new post I never wrote to announce that...

2008-09-02T18:17:00.004-06:00

My fellow Debutante Mia King is celebrating the release of her second novel, SWEET LIFE, today! It’s a featured alternate for the Doubleday, Literary Guild, and Book of the Month Club book clubs. She has an amazing give-away going on and is giving away extra entries for people who buy her book today. Visit her website at www.miaking.com for more details.

More from me later... I have a funny story involving an outdoor shower and an old blue loofah...

sorry I've been such a lame blogger

2008-08-20T07:28:00.003-06:00

but I'm realizing that blogging is a tough gig. It's sort of like stand-up comedy without the immediate feedback from the audience and it's riskier than other writing since it's written and posted before there is time for much reflection or regret. I mean I want to write stuff on the blog and I have tons of ideas like the day last week I woke up and decided that there was an extra five lbs constantly tossed between my two daughters and myself like a hot potato and with them both gone this summer I tossed it to my husband... or how I'd like to talk about the intersection of me launching myself at middle-age while simultaneously launching my teen-aged daughters how I thought it was good timing but how I'm not sure my daughters feel that way... or how my heart goes out to Christina Applegate and how I admire her for speaking out publically... and how Katie's review of my book made me realize that I suffer from the same fears and superstitions that she and her readers so honestly talk about (does that mean I fear myself?) and how I still can't believe that I wrote a book about cancer how I never expected to do that because I never expected to get the cancer that would prompt that book... how often I wake up and can't believe all the unexpected twists and turns my life has taken in the past two and a half years... and how part of me is still waiting for it to go back to normal even though I know it never will...

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, I admire all you regular bloggers and I'm not sure I can live up to your standards but I hope you'll keep checking in with me... thanks...

my first online review!!!!!!!!

2008-08-18T07:48:00.004-06:00

written by the brilliant and talented and hilarious Kate Schwartz here!!

I love it because I think she nails the reason I think some people might hesitate to read the book and why ultimately she thinks they should...

I'm in Writer's Digest on newstands now

2008-08-14T10:04:00.001-06:00

has anyone seen it? If so,let me know!!

nyc trip and booklist and why I write

2008-08-12T07:05:00.008-06:00

My trip to NYC was exciting and exhausting and a taste of what's to come in the months ahead. At yoga last night I was describing what it feels like to launch (pre-launch) a book to one of the yoga instructors and I said it was like getting married, giving birth and sending your oldest off to college all at the same time. All that intensity, all that passion, all that love and hope and fear. Which might explain why I woke this morning thinking I'll never be ready. And then I started making another of my many Things To Do lists (and I swear I'm NOT a list-maker!) but I decided that the first thing I would do before I start worrying about book orders and bookings and reviews and how many t-shirts to order and whether people will show up at my readings, is post something here to remind me that the highlight of my NYC trip was meeting readers who'd read my writing online and told me that I'd touched them in some way and that in turn touched me.

A preview of the Booklist review just in: "a wrenchingly authentic... down-to-earth account."

UPDATE: Check News and Events on my website for... news and event updates. Really I have some. Go look right now! And if you're anywhere near any of these places I'm going to be I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to meet and/or see you!!

make like wine and get deeper and tastier and more complex

2008-07-23T08:51:00.006-06:00

I was reading through my birthday cards and most of them made some little joke about getting older and me still high from my post MRI new lease on life appointment wondered why we all have a tendency to harp on aging in such a negative way. I mean we're all getting older. And there's really nothing we can do about that. So I thought why not think of myself like a fine wine that gets deeper, more complex and tastier as it ages. And not just me. All of you too. What do you think?

and did you notice someone lightened my cartoon hair and I didn't even have to go to the hairdresser...

I LOVE getting older

2008-07-18T06:02:00.007-06:00

I had my 2 and a half year check-up on Tuesday and while I don't like getting MRI's, not only is it freaky to lie face down and get sucked into that narrow tube and feel ice-cold potentially poisonous contrast coursing through my veins and listen to that loud erratic avant-garde tap tap tapping but I also don't really like my insides so scrutinized because it scares me, worries me, makes me feel invaded... and yet... as soon as the doctor told me (after 6 looong hours of waiting) that I was okay, I was giddy with joy. I leapt out of my chair and hugged her and the two med students trailing her and I whipped open my gown to show them my boobs (when they asked me to!) without an ounce of self-consciousness or shame that one was less than perfect. (I'd worn a new fun and funky bra with a pink and brown polka-dotted pattern that day and for a second my magical thinking mind thought that was the reason I was okay). And now? It's my birthday next week and I'm throwing myself a birthday bash Saturday night because I LOVE getting older!!

sex every day?

2008-07-14T06:45:00.002-06:00

A married couple I know told me (and several other couples at a cocktail party) that they have sex every day... sometimes twice a day or more. They are not newly married. They've been together for more than ten years. And if one of them travels they make up for it by doubling up. The woman kept saying, "What's the big deal? Why not? It's free. It's pleasurable. It's legal. It burns calories." This confession sent a ripple of shock through the party and by the end of the night set up a neighborhood challenge. (More about that later... maybe). But I still can't stop thinking about it and I'm wondering what you all think.

Full disclosure: I posted this at the red room the other day and it seemed to really get people talking and that's why I'm cross-posting it here. Please join the discussion!

my book cover!

2008-07-11T08:07:00.000-06:00

I'm a cartoon character...

2008-07-10T21:19:00.000-06:00

more about that tomorrow...

just home from the emergency pet clinic

2008-07-09T09:14:00.004-06:00

because Roxy (one of our 10 month old puppies) was hiding under my mini cooper and I was backing out of the driveway when I heard a yelp and caught her racing into the house (pushing open the back door screen) and I found her curled up into a trembling ball on her dog bed. Her brother Otis paced back and forth like the nervous overprotective sibling he is and I examined her wounds and called the pet emergency clinic and described the injuries and the shaking and they said to bring her in. Which might not seem like an easy thing to do but I was home alone and she weighs 60 lbs. and every time I tried to get her out the door she ran to another corner of the family room. Finally, about a half an hour later, I managed to get her to the back of the station wagon and opened the hatch and lifted her up and then just as I was making headway the hatchback slammed down on my head and Roxy's claws gashed into my thigh drawing blood. By then my son had come home from his friend's house and we drove her to the clinic and waited for two hours only to be told there were too many emergencies to get to her until at least a couple of hours. We left her and I kept calling to check on her and they said they thought she'd be okay but wouldn't know for sure. So of course I didn't sleep AT ALL and woke early and called and the vet said, "I think she's fine. She's been running around playing and wagging her tail since she woke up."

And now? She's home resting comfortably right next to me and I'm still shaking.

shameless self-promoting

2008-07-07T06:51:00.001-06:00

below

Publishers Weekly reviews me and I'm trying to get used to being referred to in the third person

2008-07-05T15:01:00.005-06:00

So this is what they said:

"Baker, a former columnist for the online magazine Literary Mama living in Madison,Wis., is busy on her novel—with a protagonist she happens to have diagnosed with breast cancer—when real life intervenes. Shocked by a diagnosis of breast cancer herself, the 45-year-old mother of three begins a yearlong struggle to combat and comprehend the turn her life has taken. Baker and her radiologist husband trek to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Though her cancer has not metastasized and she’s spared chemotherapy and radiation, Baker nevertheless faces the fear that the disease may return. As Baker grapples with the demands of motherhood and marriage, she also begins a relentless search to find the cause of her disease and head off its recurrence in the future—turning to organic foods, whipping up batches of organic face creams in her kitchen and avoiding electromagnetic fields. In this heartfelt memoir, Baker proves to be both humorous(she compares waiting for her follow-up mammogram results to a “call back” for an acting audition) and compassionate, as when a friend is diagnosed with colon cancer."

a blurb from the bOOb lady!!

2008-07-01T12:00:00.002-06:00

"Cancer Is a Bitch smartly illustrates how breast cancer impacts our roles as wives, mothers, lovers, and friends. Gail Konop Baker's candid recollections are also filled with extraordinary hope and humor. Her 'mammoir' is witty, wise, and wonderfully written." Elisabeth Squires, author of bOObs: A Guide to Your Girls

so I'm in shavasana yesterday...

2008-06-29T14:40:00.006-06:00

and I'm thinking, even though you're not supposed to be thinking in yoga or if you are thinking you should "recognize the thought and let it go." But I don't. Instead I hang onto the thought as if it's the last thought I'll ever have. That's what always scares me about yoga and "not thinking." I'm always wondering, what if I empty my mind and that's it. You know what I mean? Anyway, I'm in shavasana and I'm thinking that a lot of my life is spent thinking about what I should do to get ready or gear up or prepare for the next thing and I do this because I think if I'm prepared, if I've thought it though then I'm likely to get the best result. But it occurs to me that by doing all this getting ready, gearing up, even picturing an outcome that's good, I'm actually limiting the possibilities. In a way it's like putting the future into a box controlled by the limitations of my mind. Is anyone following this? If you are, my thought is I want to stop doing that and open myself up to possibilities I can't yet imagine...

also I'm blogging at The Ball today about the 4th of July

thoughts on facebook addiction....

2008-06-27T10:45:00.005-06:00

my name is Gail and I am a facebookaholic. Seriously, the lure of facebook is stronger than I expected. So I'm trying to figure out if there is some subliminal message that's woven into screen sort of like the previews at movies that used to make you HAVE TO HAVE POPCORN IMMEDIATELY! Has anyone checked this theory? If you have, please let me know... in the meantime, you know where to find me...

In good news: HEALTH Magazine is publishing an essay I wrote about how training for the NYC Half-Marathon after my surgery helped heal me. And my galleys went out late last week which means people are reading my book RIGHT NOW (maybe). But the thought of that makes me feel... excited exposed amazed. Please send good vibes out for me! (I'll do the same for you anytime)

I haven't disappeared just been sucked into the facebook universe

2008-06-25T19:04:00.002-06:00

come save me...

my interpretation of "beauty products" I can't live without...

2008-06-23T05:54:00.004-06:00

on the debutante ball all day. Share your list!

goodreads is soooo good

2008-06-21T08:02:00.004-06:00

I'm probably the last reader on earth to discover goodreads, but if you haven't, check it out immediately. It's like Myspace for book lovers. If I didn't have the husband and a book and another daughter about to launch and my son's Little League games and a new book to write and dishes and laundry... I could spend all day there. Let me know what you think!

i'm holding a galley of CANCER IS A BITCH in my hand

2008-06-17T11:40:00.005-06:00

it's real really real... really and I might cry now...

more thoughts on the galleys... my daughter took one to the pool and my son is sitting on the couch reading one and it feels both empowering and a bit magical to have turned that shitty year into this...

Update: Came down from my shower to son quietly reading and he said, "Mom, this is a page-turner. I can't put it down."

so I'm getting the feeling the page-proofs post was a bomb

2008-06-11T11:44:00.004-06:00

and I don't blame you, really. And now that I'm done done DONE!! I will have more energy to say something more interesting here... that is after my big fat extended family due to arrive tomorrow for middle daughter's graduation leaves... any pre-game advice?

EVENING UPDATE

Just off the phone with "the guy I married" (see below) and he's at his college reunion in New Hampshire and he said he's been pimping my book all day with... the head of the medical school, and an old English prof of mine and someone's wife who works for an NPR affiliate and another who books authors at libraries in Connecticut... you think me telling him I wrote a blog post about his heroism at the Sheryl Crow concert might have motivated him?

it may seem like I disappeared...

2008-06-10T12:08:00.004-06:00

but I haven't. I'm here covered in page proofs and seeing double. Page proofs (for those of you who don't know) are the pages that are type-set but haven't been bound into the book yet. It is the last opportunity for the writer (me in this case) to make any final corrections. Do you know how much pressure that is? Or feels like to someone like me? I'll answer that question since I'm sitting here all alone right now... It's a LOT of pressure. So I've just completed the second round through... line by line... meaning I've been reading this day and night since Thursday and, not to put a plug in for my own book but, it makes me cry every time... I'm not complaining. It's very exciting as well as nerve-racking. It's just that.. is it good enough... could I make it better... did I mean to say backward or backwards, from or than... when will I be able to let go?

the guy I married...

2008-06-05T06:56:00.006-06:00

Last night I went to the Sheryl Crow concert with my husband and I don't know if you know this but Sheryl was diagnosed with breast cancer about a month after I was and she's around my age and once when I was in Tom's Burned Down Cafe on Madeline Island some guy thought I WAS Sheryl Crow (even though we don't really look alike other than large mouths and high cheekbones) but this guy didn't believe me and kept saying, "I understand your need for privacy." And then spent the rest of the night staring and pointing at me. Anyway, our musician friend from Madeline Island knows another musician who knows her manager and he's been trying to get my book to her for possible endorsement. But last night I took my CANCER IS A BITCH bracelet off (see swag picture below) and made a little hole at the top of my business card and tied it on and the plan was we were going to try to throw it on the stage. But instead my husband spotted five women dancing at the edge of the stage and jumped out of his seat with the swag and walked over to them and told them about the tag and the book and one of them put her arm around him and said, "I'm a VIP with the band. I'll make sure she gets it!" And I thought, that's the guy I married... always thinking, helpful, supportive, charming enough to get the swag into that woman's hands...