Voices of Cancer was the winner of the BEST BOOK COVER/Non Fiction of the 2022 IndieReader Discovery Awards, where undiscovered talent meets people with the power to make a difference.
Following find an interview with author Lynda Wolters.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Voices of Cancer, first edition published in 2019.
What’s the book’s first line?
I was a non-cancer patient once, standing on the outside of this horrific disease with my rose-colored glasses, dreaming of the perfect ending to my amazing, fun-filled life.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Insights into what cancer patients really want and need from those supporting them.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
I attended Epic Experience, a camp for adult survivors and thrivers of cancer, and came to realize that no matter what the socioeconomics, religious belief, origin, orientation, or gender, we were all in the same boat: people didn’t seem to know what to say to us or how to support us the way we needed. So what started as me writing the campers’ thoughts and suggestions on a 3×5 pocket memo book as somewhat of a spoof turned into a full-blown, eye-opening realization that I wasn’t alone with my frustrations. Cancer patients don’t need you to say, “Call me if you need anything,” we need you to actually bring us over a casserole.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
The stories, suggestions, examples, and requests come from actual cancer patients. If you ever (and likely you will) have a need to support someone with cancer, it may benefit you to understand what they really need by way of that support.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
Everyone. I have been told the book, filled with its truisms about patients’ thoughts, was helpful for anyone dealing with a loved-one suffering a malady. Before my diagnosis, I was as guilty as anyone of all the missteps talked about in the book. Through other people’s insights and stories, the reader can understand what goes on in the mind of someone with the disease. Would it surprise you to learn of these common dichotomies of patient experience: Thrilled at surviving, guilty for living while others do not. Need to be assisted and taken care of, shame for needing assistance and given care. Desire for truth, frustration at kitschy sayings: ‘Miracles happen,’ ‘You got this,’ ‘I knew someone once who tried (insert snake-oil hocus-pocus), and they were cured.’
Did you design the cover yourself? If not, who did and how did you find them (they did another cover you admired, they were recommended, etc)?
Chris Taylor @ArtistChris, also a cancer patient and Epic Experience alum, photographed and then painted each portrait on the cover. Because of his talent and generosity, this cover came to be, and all credit for the same goes to him. Chris is a phenomenal artist and an incredible human, and I am lucky to call him a friend.
What, if any, elements of the book did you want to convey in the cover design?
The idea behind the cover was plain and straightforward: Cancer is indiscriminate.
When did you first decide to become an author?
I began blogging through my journey to keep friends and family updated. My following was not huge, but it was faithful and meaningful. It became humbly and oddly apparent that my feelings and thoughts resonated with many and were likely solidified when strangers began approaching me with stories of how my words of experience had helped them relate to their cancer patient friend/family member. Becoming an author had always niggled at me as a desire, but I never thought anyone would want to read what I wrote – until I truly wrote from the heart.
Is this the first you’ve written?
Yes, Voices of Cancer is my first book.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I have been a legal assistant for over 30 years.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
I write every day, at least one hour per weekday and multiple hours on the weekends.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
Marketing!
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
I would not have gone to traditional with this or my other non-fiction book, as I wanted to maintain control over the copy. I was entrusted with people’s stories, thoughts, and feelings, and there was no way I would allow a traditional publishing house to beef up, enhance, modify, just to make it sound better. So Indie was the only way I would have published this book.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
Voices of Cancer was written to help people, to give a voice to people who felt unheard. The motivation is neither fame nor fortune, it is to be a conduit for others. When I was approached by a Tawainese publishing house to purchase the rights of Voices of Cancer so that, by way of a grant, the book would get into the hands of medical students in China, my dreams came true.