October Breast Cancer Awarenesss month - My book

It's October and Breast Cancer Awareness month.  I will be blogging about lots of events coming up in this month.

I have self published my first book on Amazon Kindle called Odd Socks.  It is out there!  I am getting some good feedback and I am very pleased.  I hope people in enjoy it.  It is a chick flick about a divorced woman called Davina with low self esteem that starts to realise who she is.  You see her grow stronger throughout the entire book and get her life back together after her she throws out her cheating husband Mitch.  If you do read it I hope you enjoy it.  I enjoyed writing it.  All of my writing started after my diagnosis.  It was like a tap I could not stop!

The first Breakthrough event is 18th October - The Great Pink bake off!  So get baking and invite your friends and family over!

Breakthrough Breast Cancer

Breakthrough Breast Cancer has teamed up with Penguin and WHSmith to launch the new and exciting Read Pink. Make a Difference campaign. 

Each of the Read Pink titles carry a 50p donation to Breakthrough’s life-saving work and, with holiday season around the corner, there’s no better time to get involved in Read Pink. Make a Difference as WHSmith is offering a "buy one get one half price" promotion on the titles.

Kath Abrahams, Director of Fundraising at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: "We are thrilled to be working alongside Penguin and WHSmith. This is a fantastic opportunity for these much-loved companies to join us in making a difference to the lives of the 50,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK. With their support, we can work to create a world freed from breast cancer."

Catherine Alliott, author of number one bestsellers including A Rural Affair and One Day in May, said: "I'm delighted to be part of the team of authors involved in supporting Breakthrough Breast Cancer. This amazing charity works tirelessly to promote early detection of the disease, research new treatments and provide the best care possible for patients. It needs all the help it can get to fight back.”

Throughout the eight-week campaign we’re encouraging you to head down to your high street and pick up one of the selected women’s fiction books by bestselling authors including Marian Keyes, Sue Townsend and Jojo Moyes.

Farewell 2012, hello 2013

It is nearing the end of 2012 and I am very excited about Christmas.  However last Wednesday I had one of the most surreal days of my life.  I went for an internal scan, not for any particular reason.  I then forgot about it and got a message from the hospital saying I had to go to see them for an apointment.  Now having had a lot appointments and operations at the hospital I was totally freaked out. 

I went to the Hospital and it turned out there is something on my left ovary and they are taking it out.  All signs are so far good, i.e, had a blood test and scan and nothing is showing up.  However, they can't say for definite until they take it out.  Life is weird sometimes it throws you in a different direction to the one you thought you were going in.  On this weird day my Husband and I walked down to the Hospital canteen and there on the front page of the Swindon Advertiser was my face with the caption, "Good news at last!".  The irony is strange, let's hope it is a good omen.  My friend said to me "You are better than an episode of East Enders at the moment,". 

Monday night I crashed my car.  I have no idea how it happened.  I was driving in a straight line with nothing in front of me and then all of a sudden I am driving into a black car and a silver van?  I cannot explain it, did the other driver pull out into me, or did my tyre blow?  It really shakes you up and bought out a flood of emotion.  I am okay now, but there is definitely strange things a foot at the moment.

Merry Christmas everyone and I wish you all a fabulous 2013!

Just a little poem I wrote!

The big C, you won’t defeat me!

The gauntlet had been thrown.

You tried to shatter my home.

Positive attitude would drone.

Here I go into the unkown.

A journey into the stormy sea

Sailing solo just me

Hold tight and weather the storm

I hear you shout “Why me?” across the sea

But no answers are to be found, they have all drowned

In the beginning the mental chatter in my head would never cease.

This bloody Cancer what a beast

Silently you came

But defiantely I will reign

You can go back from where you came.

I know not why you came and life will never be the same

What a funny game

The answers come from within but you can’t find them at the beginning

Wife, Mother, Daughter, work colleague, and friend I am

Here I stand with all the strength in my hands

I command you to leave me be with my family.

I banish you from this land.

I am victorious and the remainder of my life will be glorious.

I will not live in fear because my life is dear

You have given me more strength inside

And I have now turned the tide

The experience was not all bad and none of this makes me sad

I won the battle and the sea is now calm

Time to steer in a different direction

You stripped me back to who I am

My inner core I now adore

No more turmoil to be had, inner peace is to be had.

Life is a journey you have to sail

Don’t let the big C derail

Good and bad shape who you are

Let your worries out along with the tide, ride the big waves, and bask in the sunshine.

It is now my time to shine.

Face book friend or foe?

I am not on face book and I have had a lot of stick from some people as I am not on it.  Some people who sadly live their lives through face book, look at me bemused that I am not on it. I can see it is a good thing to keep in touch with people, particularly family that does not live in the same area as you. 

Maybe I am being cynical but I see a lot of people using it to just show off and rub people's noses in it.  I think if you use it in that way you are storing up bad ju ju for yourself.  I have seen people whose relationships have dissolved, they then use it as a weapon to show others how they have moved on quickly and now post regular pictures of themselves with new partners.....nice!  I know Family's that have fallen out with each other over trivial stuff on face book.  If I had a £1 for everytime I have heard someone winging about someone taking them off their friends list, I would be a rich woman.  Face book is not for me and I am probably alone on this one, but I will be staying away from it for now!

Nuissance telephone calls

I am want to thank the guy who stood up to nuissance telephone calls, by taking a persistent company to court and billing them with £10 per minute.  When I am at home during the day there is a constant stream of calls that are of no use to anybody.  If I want something I will go and get it.  I find them intrusive.  All I want to do is relax in my own home.   The telephone rings and when I go to get I am dissappointed to find it is someone asking for a person who does not live in the house anymore.  Most of the time when you speak to them they are rude to you.

It is about time someone stood up to these abhorrant companies that pester people in their own homes.  I am going to seek out his website and find out how I can stop these pesky people from calling me!

Wear it Pink - Friday October 26th

Hello Everyone,

It is Wear it Pink day on Friday 26th October.

Here are some ways you can raise funds for Breakthrough Breast Cancer:-

Look book:

A selection of top retailers, including M&S, Avon, ghd, Coast, Warehouse, my-wardrobe.com, Ciaté, adidas and many more, have launched a selection of exclusive pink products – all carrying a donation to Breakthrough Breast Cancer. Check out the look book, www.breakthrough.org.uk/lookbook

Other goodies are on BCAM shop: http://www.breakthroughshop.org.uk/

I will be organising a collection at work for Breakthrough.

So next week, think pink!

Tracey