Write for the Fight: A Book that Raises Funds for Breast Cancer Research
They say that 12% of women will get breast cancer (‘they’ being the scientists and researchers who regularly talk numbers and organisms). As women, that means we have higher than a one-in-twelve chance of confronting this disease (‘we’ being the mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, nieces, coworkers, friends and girl next door).
The number—12%—made me realize at an early age that breast cancer was going to affect someone I knew and loved. I used to sit amongst my different groups of friends, sharing stories, jokes, laughter and wine, and wonder, which one of us will it be?
I am now 43, and have been lucky so far. Indeed, I have friends and coworkers who have fought breast cancer, and they are warriors and survivors. I have a very small family; maybe that’s why breast cancer hasn’t been statistically welcome there. But that hasn’t stopped the tears from flowing when I hear about how the disease has affected friends of friends, or family members of acquaintances, or when I read blog posts written about people I don’t even know. Six degrees of separation is just another number. They are all me. They are all sisters (and brothers, too: for every one hundred cases of breast cancer, one will occur in a man).
When I heard about the Write for the Fight book project last fall, I immediately wanted to be involved as it was such a unique opportunity to raise money for breast cancer research. I was already familiar with the grace and compassion of the author who came up with the idea, Tess Hardwick, through blogging, tweeting and emails, and even knew a bit about her publisher, Booktrope—especially important was that their Chief Marketing Officer, Katherine Sears, shared a love of cheesy 80s music with me (ah, the things that come out on a Friday evening just before you sign off of Twitter for the night). First, though, I had to win an essay contest to land one of six open spots; the other seven essayists, including Tess, would come from Booktrope’s roster of authors.
The essay topics had been divided into the seasons of life. Spring was “What do you miss about being 5 years old?” For summer, “What would you tell your 20-year-old self?” The autumn question asked “What, at this point in your life, do you want, wish and dream of for your life going forward?” Finally, winter, and the twilight years: “What would you want said about you on your 80th birthday?” I chose summer for my contest entry as it’s both my favorite season and a stage of my life that is a deep well from which to draw: at 20, I was on the verge of estranging myself from my mentally-ill mother.
The news that I’d been selected came in early December. Ecstatic, I set about writing the remaining three essays for the book. With the publication date set for March 5th, the weeks flew by, the emails flowed, and I started to get to know my co-contributors. It quickly emerged that we were a diverse group: in age range, in geographic location, and even in gender. I was excited to see the variety of perspectives that we would all bring to the project, both in our writing, and in our collaboration to promote the book and the cause.
Sometimes dreams really do come true, as they say in The Wizard of Oz. The stories in Write for the Fight share commonalities and differences, funny anecdotes and painful recollections, the wisdom of age and the freedom and fearlessness of youth. And as contributors, we are having a fantastically fun time supporting each other as we come up with new and creative ways to spread the word about this book (and thank you, Samantha and Chick Lit+, for getting on board!). We may be spread out around the world, but we’ve now created a family of our own—a Write for the Fight family of project participants, authors and readers who have mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, nieces, coworkers, and friends affected by breast cancer and who want to see the day when that isn’t so. I, for one, believe that a cure is possible, and that it may even be just around the corner. Oh, what a day that will be.
Laura Zera is an author and project consultant who has lived and worked in Cameroon, Canada, Israel, South Africa, and the United States. Laura’s first book, 2004’s Tro-tros and Potholes, chronicles her solo adventures through five countries of West Africa and she is currently working on a memoir about being raised by a schizophrenic mother. She loves to talk about cheesy 80s music on Twitter @laurazera and you can also visit her blog.
Booktrope Publishing’s 2012 anthology Write for the Fight: A Collection of Seasonal Essays was released as an e-book on March 5 at BarnesandNoble.com and on April 6 at Amazon.com. It will be available in paperback later this month. Co-authored by Tess Hardwick and Tracey M. Hansen, it includes essays from a total of 13 writers. All author royalties will be donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
