Craig are you fine?

Thanks PEP
Doing ok, as well as can be expected. Still really tired by nightfall though, even on w/ends. We're tied for the #2 worst summer in Texas' history. We've had 60 days over 100 with temps averaging between 105-109....so it's been toasty to say the least.

I'm sure coming out of treatment into the blaze that are our summers have had an effect. I'm anxiously awaiting cooler temps, at least for the evenings in another month or so, and then we can start going outside. I've been cooped up with recovery and now the heat for over a year, so I've got cabin fever and want to be outside and enjoy it.

Still chugging away with the book, thanks for asking. In the middle of Chapter XIII. The next two chapters I'll be exploring the taboo subject and I'm going to use both chapters to approach it from 2 different ways.

I may add one or two chapters if I enough have to say on the topic. I don't know, may start writing and see how far I get with those.

For 3 months work, I'm pretty far along. It's been a grueling, tiring process and has brought many feelings to the surface, but I turn those for the good and invest them back into the book. That's why I know this was the time for me to write it. I'm not sure I could ever write it again, it has been hard.

There is a sense of pride and accomplishment that I feel as I go forward with it. Many is the time that I've logged onto the board and been discouraged and have nearly flushed the book down the proverbial commode. I read some of the posts and then ask myself why I'm doing this - that it really doesn't matter.

But then I soldier on and dive back off in it. The book itself is being written from the day of diagnosis to the end of life scenario, with everything else in between. We walk down each path through the chapters discovering that, which we already know, but newly diagnosed patients might not.

I mix in my story throughout the chapters as illustrations of what I'm talking about and as such, there are examples from the board that are being written in everyday. They come into play in the context of the subject being discussed. But, all of us as a collective group are in.

I'm telling some stories and throwing in as many of my "hucksterisms" that I can thoughtfully apply:) LOL!

It's been a tremendously creative project and as such is very draining and exhaustive, because I'm totally committed and am re-living the experiences to lend more credibility and believability into what I'm writing. I could not do that half-a$$ed.

On the other hand, there are feelings that are coming out. And I'm using this opportunity to say the things that I would not on the board, due to subject matter and me not wanting to hurt somebody's feelings or squash their hopes. And I'll use the book to bring attention to the fact that colorectal cancer is the #2 killer cancer in the world, and put in a plug for early detection through colonoscopies.

It remains a work in progress but I'm trying to give it legs, so that one day it can walk on its own:)

Take care, Pep

Stay tuned to the Sundance Channel
"Story Matters Here"