Day 21 of CCAM with Seth Godin’s, The Knot, Book Launch in NY, NY

Terri Tomoff

11 minutes ago

2 min read

I don’t think it is a stretch to share how much Seth Godin and Kristin Hatcher made an impact on me when I signed up for the very first Writing in Community on June 8, 2020.

Covid raging.

Lockdown.

I had started a book in 2016/2017 I thought I could finish with this new worldwide cohort of writers and lots of hours to sit at my dining room table and write.

All of it changed my life! Covid/Smovid. Maybe some people complained about being stuck in the house.

For us, we wrote all day long and LOVED it!

Hubby Bill signed up 10 minutes before me and was in Cohort 1; I was in Cohort 2 (and the last one left in my cohort to the Winter Solstice sixth months later).

My book was then called, The Focused Warrior. With the help from writers’ feedback and more in WIC, plus my quilting bee, I changed the book title to: The Focused Fight and never looked back. My hope was to share our wild story of Childhood Cancer; from Mayhem to Miracles, to help others.

The book was published in March of 2021. I am still over the moon on those who have been touched by my words, and still touching today.

The impact Seth had on me then, and now, is terrific. I gained confidence to pick myself - and set out to self publish a 325 page memoir about the most difficult years of our lives.

And this is where today’s post circles right back to Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Had I not joined Writing in Community, would The Focused Fight have been finished? Probably. Eventually. But would it have become the book it became? Would I have found the confidence to put our very personal story out into the world? Would I still be here, six years into sharing something every single day of September for CCAM?

I don’t know.

What I do know is that Seth and Kristin helped me understand that I didn’t need someone else’s permission to do work that mattered to me. Pick yourself. Do the work. Ship it.

So I did.

I wrote about Ryan. I wrote about Olivia. I wrote about Bill and me and our village. I wrote about doctors, nurses, friends, fear, hope, miracles, and the absolute mayhem that childhood cancer brought into our lives. And then I put it into the world with one hope: maybe our story could help someone else.

Today, on Day 21 of CCAM, I’m in New York, New York, celebrating Seth and the launch of The Knot. How wonderfully full circle is that?

And somewhere between those two books is a reminder I’ve carried with me ever since Writing in Community:

Our stories matter. Our work matters. And when we have something that might help another human being, we shouldn’t be afraid to share it.

That’s exactly why I’m still here.

Day 21. Still writing. Still sharing. Still Going Gold.

And…there was a reunion of Purple People with our own: Keith King, Laura King, and Mel Butcher. It was fabulous afternoon!

Terri