, ​It's time to reveal a part of my past that I almost abandoned. 

In 2014, when I was driven to get my book published before I died of breast cancer, I designed my book cover using materials I had on hand. Once I had a better cover, I would look back at that cover and cringe. Now I see it as something to be proud of. When that book was published, I paid $38 a day co-pays for six weeks of daily radiation treatments and $1,500 a month to keep my two girls in college. There was no money to pay a cover designer, and I didn't want to wait 18 months to get traditionally published so the publisher could do a beautiful cover for my book.

Once my manuscript was complete (or so I thought) and I wasn't too exhausted from treatments to do anything other than sleep, I read everything about writing and publishing I could get my hands on and watched every video I felt was worthy of my precious time. That first cover was created using a scarf picture of mine. It sold some books so that I could afford a better cover eventually. I didn't keep a copy of that first book, not even as a memento, but I have pictures to remember that cover.  

Many years later, I am still writing and publishing books, with better covers. I don't know why all these years I failed to recognize that first book cover as the accomplishment it was. That simple cover represented the hard work I put into beating cancer and the start of my journey as an author. I am grateful that I had that chance. If I could go back, I wouldn't change a thing because it's why I am who I am today.

No matter where you are in life, embrace your journey. It's uniquely yours and yours alone.