COMM Post--Dream or reality mailings...

I have read a few similar sayings over the years:
Doers do, doubters don't do;
Dreamers sit on the fence and dream, and risk takers jump off the fence and build their dream one day at a time, until it becomes a living and breathing reality.

I finished Cancer On My Mind in Jan 2009 and have not taken the time to celebrate its completion. I jumped head first into a new phase of book publishing, which I have no experience in.

Publishing a book is hard, but not as hard as completing a manuscript. A writer (and the significant others who still believe in him or her) must work on a plan (book proposal and query letter) to hook a book agent to represent him or her.

I finished constructing my plan, complete with four awesome reviews from prominent doctors from UCLA, UCSF, and Harvard Medical School, and am ready to send my query letter to 20+ book agents, seeking representation, toward a book publishing contract.

I bought a new Brother 2140 monochrome laser printer, installed the driver software this morning, and printer three formal letters, two to Senator Kennedy in Boston and Washington D.C., and one to Oprah Winfrey in Chicago. I am not begging for them to help me publish my book, but to share my book with cancer patients or those suffering from life threatening illnesses, and people who would like to read a fast-paced saga about a brain tumor patient who uses positive thinking to defeat cancer.

I know what some of you must be thinking...is this guy crazy!!

No, I am not crazy, but I do believe in myself and the impact my book will have on newly diagnosed cancer patients, looking for a glimmer (and hopefully a lot of hope) to beat their illness, and live a long and healthy life.

Eight years and fours months ago, I wished that I could have stumbled upon a book like mine, to inspire a newly diagnosed cancer patient, to use the strength that I already possessed in my mind and body to beat cancer.

I discovered this quote by Steve Jobs in a quote web site in January 2009:

We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life.
Life is brief, and then you die, you know?
And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.

I am happy to still have my life and I know my book is damn good.

Look out world Cancer On My Mind is getting published in 2009!

COMM Post--Another Feather in My Cap

I received an awesome book blurb from Jorge Lazareff, M.D., Geri and Richard Brawerman Chair in Pediatric Neurosurgery at UCLA.

“There are a large number of cancer patients who had the courage to share their feelings and travails after the diagnosis of a ghost evoking disease. I have derived a lesson from each one of the many memoirs I have read. What makes “Cancer on My mind” stand tall among its peers is its prose, bordering with the profane, always witty, closer to Bukowsky than to Dr. Phil. I congratulate the authors for his triumphs.”

I am still trying to figure out what Charles Bukowsky and Walter Kornichuk have in common, but I am very happy with the praise for Cancer On My Mind. Bukowsky wrote the script for Barfly, starring Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway, and I am content with a glass of Merlot, and sliced Brie and Hi-Ho crackers. Is that a connection?

Tim is helping me connect my domain, canceronmymind.com to my canceronmymind.blogger.com site. I hope to launch my web site this week, containing brain tumor information sites and a few inspirational Lance Armstrong videos.

I am editing the double-spaced 211 page manuscript into a compact single-spaced 84 pages, to mail off to Oprah Winfrey at Harpo Productions in Chicago, and Senator Kennedy in Washington, D.C. and Boston.

I say, Never aim to high when you wish for something.

Here is a quote from Steve Jobs, Chairman and CEO of Apple Inc.

"We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know?
And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it."

I say, "Run away from the doubters, and laugh and create the unknown with the dreamers."

In November 2008, Harpo Productions, Inc. announced that the Oprah Winfrey show will continue through the 2010-2011 season. We would certainly welcome and hope that The Oprah Winfrey Show would continue in syndication beyond that, but that is a decision only Ms. Winfrey will be making,” said a CTD spokesperson in a statement. (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128545/posts)

This gives me a lot of time to construct and get my promotional monster, canceronmymind.com, up and running.

COMM Post--Sometimes dreaming helps create future realities

I received a positive comment from one of the most accomplished doctors who treated me back in 2000, Dr. Larson. Dr. Larson was Professor in Residence at the Departments of Radiation Oncology and Neurological Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. He was also co-director of the university's Gamma Knife Program, a position he held for 16 years. In addition, Dr. Larson was clinical chief of Long Hospital Radiation Oncology, co-director of the Cyberknife Spine Radiosurgery Program, director of the Cyberknife Body Radiosurgery Program and principal investigator in the Brain Tumor Research Center. He is current Co-Medical Director, Gamma Knife Program, at the Washington Hospital Healthcare System, in Fremont, CA.

“Cancer On My Mind is an original narrative of a brain tumor patient’s thrilling journey of survival or death. After receiving his diagnosis, Walter uses positive thinking to battle his talking brain tumor through six hours of awake motor mapping brain surgery, radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Great doctors and nurses, amazing medical treatments and drugs, and family members and friends can help defeat cancer. This book shows that a cancer patient must rely on a strong body, and resilient self-esteem, to survive the daily fatigue and doubt of surviving cancer. Walter reverses the helpless attitude some brain tumor patient’s feel by working during his chemotherapy treatments, escaping reality by walking many miles throughout San Francisco, and maintaining a “never give up attitude” after six hours of brain surgery and throughout his 36 weeks of exhausting chemotherapy treatments. The talking tumor narrative is an ingenious perspective, and allows the reader and cancer patients into the evil psyche of cancer, the heartless potential messenger of death.”

I read the screenplay treatment written by Allen Amundsen and the content is awesome. Allen is a very talented and imaginative writer. He makes my book jump off the page. The talking tumor has been transformed into the Strange Man, who appears in my mind, in my dreams, stressful moments, and while I laying the MRI tube visualizing snorkeling on the beach, to relax during a hour and 15 minute long scan. My Mom is portrayed as a strong woman, who encourages me to hang tough and I will beat cancer.

Overall, I am amazed how Allen has adapted my book into a 16 screenplay treatment complete with flashbacks, a character who i make mends with, puking, six hours of awake motor mapping brain surgery, and chemotherapy. The Strange Man and I battle each other other, mano y mano, hand to hand, and trash talk each other like a hero and villain, in a good versus evil movie plot.

I am going down to Steve's house on Saturday, to shoot some pictures in a photography studio for my book cover. Steve turned me on to a computer artist, Jerry from Indiana. Steve showed me some of his work on his web page and it is insightful, imaginative, and surreal. These are elements that I would like to have in my book cover. Jerry and I talked on the phone today and made some headway on some ideas for the book cover.

I emailed Tim some brain tumor web sites and a few Lance Armstrong videos, I would like to post on my Cancer On My Mind web site.

I am still waiting for a few more positive comments for my book.

All in all, full steam ahead.

Oprah here we come.

COMM Post--Hard work equals ???

I took a friends advice and send my book comments by Federal Express to my neurosurgeon, Sandeep Kunwar, at UCSF. I received an email from his today that his is almost done with his review and comments. I am so jacked that this strategy worked and that the man with the talented hands, is the last doctor at UCSF to complete his review of my dialogue, out of five doctors.

I thought that completing the book was a task. The real thinking out of the box task has been completing my marketing strategy, and getting to the superior quality and level to submit to a book agent. I have three positive blurbs for my book, but don't intend to stop now.

I received email responses today from Dr. Kunwar at UCSF, Dr. Spencer at Yale University, Dr Berger at UCSF, and Dr. Chen at USC.

I am kicking ass now and loving it.

COMM Post--Persistent-Patience, Patient-Persistence

I took a needed break from the book on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon. I hit it hard on Sunday night and emailed 12 doctors from USC, U of Colorado, among other top universities in Neurology. I received a positive comment from Dr. Chang, my oncologist since 2000, Susan Chang, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in Residence in the Department of Neurological Surgery and Director of Clinical Services on the Neuro-Oncology Service of the Brain Tumor Research Center at UCSF. “A unique perspective of living with a that lends insight into the many challenges that patients face. This also highlights that despite the known odds, that on an individual basis, this terrible disease can be overcome.” How do I think these kinds of comments will help my book? Credibility among agents and publishers, and readers of all kinds.Allen emailed me today that the treatment for the screenplay could be done as soon as in a few days. I talked to Steve today about the book cover. He needs to re-shoot the head shots again, and then he will email the pics to a more experienced friend in PhotoShop and digital design. I subscribed to Literary Marketplace and collected 20 book agents who I will send my query letter to in the next week or so. The book is coming together, slowly, but surely. Everyday seems to bring more support for the book. I actually believe I will get an agent to acquire a publisher and bag this mother.

COMM Post--Patience...Patience...

I sent out 13 email to doctors all over the U.S. and am waiting for a few more comments of positive support for my book. I hate rushing a task to complete it, and later realizing that I should have just relaxed, took a few deep breaths, and did it the right way without a deadline. I feel this way about the query letter I have been working on for two months. Book publishers and agents receive thousands of query letters a year, and skim them and toss out the letters that don't sell them in the first sentence. We all filter out poor quality items or attitudes, but these people do it for a living. I received a three sentence, closer paragraph, that will work just fine.

COMM Post--Selling Yourself to an Agent or Publisher

I have been working on a query letter and book proposal for two months. I have a list of potential candidates who I will try and impress in the next week. I have the first four paragraphs completed, but am puzzled at how to conclude my last paragraph, an action or non-action, last paragraph. I don't want to come off to demanding, but honest and positive. I never thought three sentences would challenge me. I got some great advice today on how to format and present my query letter. Support is hard to come by these days. Most people are great talkers, but poor in really helping to complete a task.