NOW WHAT?

Attitude is everything!

In my October 1 posting I talked about leaving the art world so that I could spend more time on writing.

Believe it or not (and it's I who do not quite believe this), I've completed a 6000+ word piece. The subject is one you may have read on earlier blogs: My Life as a WWaBT (my acronym for Woman With a Brain Tumor), pronounced "wabbit".

Snarky and honest, it's a memoir of my trek through fear, relief, and how I learned to deal with the few but insistent sanctimonious, preachy people who thought I needed their advice about how to deal with this.

My challenge now is to figure out what to do with my essay. At a little over 6000 words, it's too long for a magazine but too short for a book. If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Excerpt:

There's really no other way to describe it. Everything I looked at was doubled. When I looked to the left, my left eye refused to return to center. And when I tried to get up, I felt a strong sensation of being pulled to the left. Even the words in the book I'd been reading were off kilter, as if the print were on two panes of glass, the upper pane separated from the lower by a good half inch.

Walking over the bumpy coral paths of the tiny town of Puerto Aventuras became a challenge. The numerous bars that bordered the bay no doubt led folks who saw me frequently wobble and occasionally trip think I'd had too much to drink...not an attractive sight in a woman well on her way to 70. 

"I wish it were as simple as an extra-strong mojito," I told Dean. I muddled through the last two days of our vacation, clutching his arm, trying hard to avoid walking into people and walls. Neither of us discussed what this might mean because frankly, we didn’t know. We agreed to leave it to the experts and in the meantime, enjoy our last two days of sun, surf, and really good Mexican food....

(... a few weeks later in the ophthalmologist's office:) "You're thinking brain tumor, aren't you?" I said.