Better Days Are Coming: Surviving Breast Cancer by Marcy Browning

As I stepped out of the tent I stepped on a rolled-up white sash. I don’t consider myself a superstitious person, but I had an eerie feeling that if I put that sash on, someday I would be diagnosed with breast cancer. I never put it on and I never told Sasha it was outside our tent. It got stuffed down into a side pocket of my backpack…. It is coincidental, ironic, bad karma…call it what you will; I signed up for Relay for Life on February 18 and on March 29 my doctor called and told me I have an invasive and aggressive form of breast cancer.

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Marcy Browning is our most recent self-published author at TIPS. Her story resulted from an overbrimming of her life and her continuing journey as a survivor coping with the changes fate dealt her—only for her to overcome. There is wit and humor amid the dark and heart. You may not be able to meet Marcy face-to-face, but you will know and love her by the end of this book.

That’s how it happened with the editing journey as well. Marcy, a scrupulous scrapbooker, experienced nurse, and friend of many, had a lot of records of this time in her life to begin with. She gave the book its frame and its light by reflecting on the journey from her standpoint now. It was the developmental editor’s job to not only help her organize and integrate the information (and, naturally, make technical corrections), but to prompt for moments of candor and missing memories. This led to a very close working relationship. From there, we proofed, composed, and published her work in time for her self-imposed deadline of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

This is Marcy’s first book, but certainly not her last; she’s already hard at work with her daughter on another creative nonfiction title coming soon to TIPS!