IMAGINE THE TITLE OF THIS POST SANG TO THE BEAT OF “REUNITED”
For a writer, getting published is likely high on your “priorities list”. While, I had always been praised, even winning awards for my writing, being a published writer was never on my priority list.
P.S. If you aren’t familiar with the 70’s gem, “REUNITED” please watch the video of the group “Peaches And Herb” perform it. I mean, watch it for the duo’s name alone!
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/26J0uDIGErM
YOUNG AND JUST DANCING ALONG THROUGH LIFE
Sure, when I was younger I had priorities. Yet, they typically involved things like, “Where are we going out tonight?” and “What are you wearing?
P.P.S. I’m convinced I was a disco queen in my past life!
GROWING-UP (SORT OF) AND PRIORITIES CHANGE
Sadly, none of us can remain in our 20s dancing on tables or bars or couches… my 20s were FUN!
No.
We get older and priorities shift. We have to learn to “adult” which I’ve never mastered even now at 41 years old.
GETTING SERIOUSLY ILL AS A YOUNG ADULT, YOU SUDDENLY HAVE PRIORITIES YOU NEVER EVEN IMAGINED
Then, if you’re a young adult slammed down by cancer or any chronic condition
WELL, YOUR PRIORITIES DON’T JUST SIMPLY CHANGE! THEY SUDDENLY TURN INTO WHAT YOU IMAGINED ONLY PEOPLE IN THEIR 80s or 90s FACE., OR EVEN THINGS YOU NEVER IMAGINED BEFORE
You might have to suddenly:
- Seriously face the ultimate fear – dying
- Stop working despite all you achieved in your career (Ex. There’s not much I can do now with my law degree and after passing the bar in 2 states)
- Consider how your S.O. will go on financially, especially if you were the “bread-winner”
- Consider how you will go on emotionally and mentally through the pain, fear and everything that illness heaps onto you
- Worry constantly about your mounting medical bills EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE MEDICAL INSURANCE! (The No. 1 reason for bankruptcy filings in the U.S. is inability to pay medical bills! https://www.cnbc.com/2019)
- And it goes on and on
MY PRIOR POST ON STRUGGLING WITH THESE CHANGES:
Struggling With Change(Opens in a new browser tab)
FINDING YOUR PURPOSE THROUGH THE CHAOS
I hear so many cancer survivors talk about believing there’s no purpose in their pain
I respect their view. It’s their journey.
Also, many survivors question:
“Why do some of us continue to live and some are taken from us?”
Obviously, I don’t have the answer.
Yet, survivor’s guilt is very real and I understand how it feels.
Nevertheless, I believe everyone who has been affected deeply by cancer has a story to tell.
Whether it’s the raw, ugly truth of how cancer brings you to your knees pleading for the pain to stop, or the odd beauty it can bring into your life, such as incredible people you would have never met if not for cancer. Every story is different, but there’s a lesson in every single one.
MY PURPOSE/MY NEWLY FOUND PRIORITY
I truly believe that a major reason I’m still kickin’ is not to simply drive my doctors crazy. Although I probably do drive them nuts.
I wholeheartedly believe I am still here to:
- tell my story;
- speak my truth;
- uplift others;
- advocate for all patients;
- raise critical funds for more research;
- and most importantly, raise awareness of brain cancer
Thus, I now use my talent as a writer “to tell my story.”
So, getting published is now high on my “priorities list”
MY PRIOR POST ON GETTING PUBLISHED:
On the Road to Getting Published! Hopefully, Anyway…(Opens in a new browser tab)
THROUGH MY WRITING:
I hope to inspire those facing any major challenge to recognize that you CAN beat the odds.
Even if the odds are 99% against you, well do everything in your power to be the 1% who make it through!
While some things are simply out of our hands, one thing we can control is our reaction to our situation.
I’M NO FOOL. THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ARE NOT GOING TO READ THIS BLOG. YET, I WANT TO REACH AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE. THUS, GETTING PUBLISHED IS NOW A PRIORITY
Therefore, I feel honored, humbled and grateful that my piece “Diagnosis Day and Tackling Cancer “Head On”—Pun Intended has now been published!
Thank you to the The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review for publishing my nonfiction Essay.
PUBLICATION:
https://www.eckleburg.org/diagnosis-day-and-tackling-cancer-head-on-pun-intended-by-ruth-kavanagh/
ABOUT The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review
The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review was founded in 2010 as including magical realist, surrealist, meta- realist and realist works with an offbeat spin. We value character-focused storytelling and language and welcome both edge and mainstream with punch aesthetics. We like humor that explores the gritty realities of world and human experiences. Our issues include original content from both emerging and established writers, poets, artists and comedians such as authors, Rick Moody, Cris Mazza, Steve Almond, Stephen Dixon, poets, Moira Egan and David Wagoner and actor/comedian, Zach Galifianakis.
Currently, Eckleburg runs online, daily content of original fiction, poetry, nonfiction, translations, and more with featured artwork–visual and intermedia–from our Gallery. We run annual print issues, the Eckleburg Reading Series (DC, Baltimore and New York), as well as, the annual Gertrude Stein Award in Fiction, first prize $1000 and print publication, guest-judged by award-winning authors such as Rick Moody and Cris Mazza.
We have collaborated with a number of talented and high profile literary, art and intermedia organizations in DC, Baltimore and New York including The Poetry Society of New York, KGB Bar, Brazenhead Books, New World Writing (formerly Mississippi Review Online), The Hopkins Review, Boulevard, Gargoyle Magazine, Entasis Press, Barrelhouse, Hobart, 826DC, DC Litand Iowa’s Mission Creek Festival at AWP 2013, Boston, for a night of raw comedic lit and music. We like to promote smaller indie presses, galleries, musicians and filmmakers alongside globally recognized organizations, as well as, our local, national and international contributors.
Rarely will readers/viewers find a themed issue at Eckleburg, but rather a mix of eclectic works. It is Eckleburg’s intention to represent writers, artists, musicians, and comedians as a contemporary and noninvasive collective, each work evidence of its own artistry, not as a reflection of an editor’s vision of what an issue “should” be. Outside of kismet and special issues, Eckleburg will read and accept unsolicited submissions based upon individual merit, not theme cohesiveness. It is our intention to create an experience in which readers and viewers can think artistically, intellectually, socially, and independently. We welcome brave, honest voices. To submit, please read our guidelines.
Over the ashheaps the giant eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg kept their vigil, but I perceived, after a moment, that other eyes were regarding us with peculiar intensity from less than twenty feet away. – The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
https://www.eckleburg.org/about-eckleburg/
Proud member of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses.
TWITTER:@EckleburgReview
One thought on ““PUBLISHED AGAIN AND IT FEELS SO GOOD…””