Tag Archives: Cancer Treatment

The Winding Road, Journey of Survival – BOOK by MIRIAM HURDLE & PRIORHOUSE INTERVIEW

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I’m so excited that Yvette Prior invited me for an interview on her Priorhouse blog. Yvette and I met and followed each other in this blogging community many years ago. She is enthusiastic and friendly. When I was formatting my debut publication, Song of Heartstring: Poems of Gratitude and Beatitude, she kindly offered to look at my manuscript and gave me valuable input. We helped each other to spread the word about each other’s books. She read my latest book, The Winding Road, and wanted to interview me, not only about this book but also about other aspects of my life.

I invite you to head over to the Priorhouse to read about this interview. While you’re there, check out her book Lady by the River: Stories of Perseverance, which is an anthology with Yvette as the author and compiler. This is a valuable self-help book with stories contributed by nine authors.

Today’s Priorhouse Interview features MIRIAM HURDLE 

MIRIAM: Hi Yvette, thank you for inviting me to share my book with your readers. I also hope to get to know your readers as they find out a little more about me. 

Hello everyone. I am Miriam Hurdle. I grew up in Hong Kong where I finished college and worked for several years before coming to the United States for my graduate studies. After my schooling, I worked two years as a rehabilitation counselor, then went into education, taught for 14 years, and was in administration for 10 before retirement. In my retired life, I enjoy volunteer counseling, reading, writing, blogging, gardening, photographing, and traveling. I’m married to Lynton and we have one married daughter. My older granddaughter, Autumn, was born on September 28, 2017, and my younger granddaughter, Nora, was born on March 22, 2020.

PRIOR: Congrats on your blessed grandchildren – and for those readers who already follow Miriam’s blog, you know how cute they are!

MIRIAM’S MEMOIR: THE WINDING ROAD

PRIOR: Many readers might already know about Miriam’s memoir, The Winding Road. I ordered a paperback copy of the book to read because I wanted to pass it along to a widow friend who lost her spouse to cancer in 2022. However, my second cousin’s wife, Nancy, was recently diagnosed with skin cancer and so I am going to gift her a copy of the book too. I think she will be encouraged by Miriam’s journey.

Can you tell us a little about The Winding Road? 

MIRIAM: I would love to share about my book, The Winding Road, Journey of Survival.

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It is a memoir of my cancer journey between 2008 and 2009. Four of my close relatives had cancer, and three died from it. Cancer affects a lot more people than we realize. What I had was something terrible, but it is also a common disease. Yet my cancer experience had several layers of impossibilities, which further complicated the disease itself. Each circumstance pushed and expanded my limit of patience, faith, trust, and gratitude.

My healing journey taught me to let down my guard, show my vulnerability, and accept my being rather than doing.

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Continue reading…

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The Winding Road Book Tour with Miriam Hurdle

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I’m over at Pete Springer’s blog for my Day 3 of The Winding Road launch tour. Pete and I followed each other several years ago. He tells you why we became good friends. I love his book They Call Me Mom. Every new or experienced teacher will benefit from this book.

During this book launch tour, I talk about memoir writing. Today’s topic is How to Write an Experience Memoir. Please head over to join me for the discussion.

Pete Springer

I am pleased to give a shout-out to my friend, Miriam Hurdle, with the release of her latest book, The Winding Road. Miriam was one of the first people I met when I started blogging almost three and a half years ago. She is considerate and supportive, often taking the time to leave kind comments on others’ blogs. We first bonded because we’re both retired educators. Miriam not only taught but also became an administrator for several years near the end of her career. A second area we have in common is we both sang in church choirs. I know this is one of the things Miriam missed most during the pandemic. Finally, in retirement, we’ve both become writers. Having read her book of poetry, Songs of Heartstrings, and her children’s book, Tina Lost in a Crowd, I was excited to learn she had another story to tell. Her memoir…

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#booklaunch The Winding Road by Miriam Hurdle

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I’m over at my blogging friend, Liz’s blog https://lizgauffreau.com today. Liz is a poet and author of multiple books. She graciously hosts Day 3 of the launch tour for my new book, The Winding Road. She includes her fantastic critique and analytical review of my book. Please head over to join me for the tour. I talk about the types of memoirs today.

Elizabeth Gauffreau

I am very pleased to host Day 3 of blogging friend Miriam Hurdle’s book launch tour for her cancer memoir: The Winding Road: A Journey of Survival.

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Thank you for hosting my launch tour today, Liz! I’m thrilled to be here to share my new book with your friends.

During this launch tour, I want to talk about memoir writing. Here is my topic for today.

Types of Memoirs

Many writers categorized the types of memoirs from a literacy point of view. I like the following ways to distinguish the types of memoirs from the memoirist’s perspective and their types of experiences. The following types of memoirs are self-explanatory. So, I include one example for each.

The Autobiographical Memoir

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
Most everyone is familiar with the story of Helen Keller. In this book, Keller talks about her life directly. Even the most cynical…

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Smorgasbord Bookshelf – New Book on the Shelves – #Cancer – The Winding Road: A Journey of Survival by Miriam Hurdle

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Sally at the Smorgasbord Magazine invited me over to share my latest book, The Winding Road: A Journey of Survival with her readers. I’m honored by her generous offer. Please head over to visit her and browse around the entertaining features on her blog.

Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

It is my pleasure to share the news of the latest release by Miriam Hurdle… a memoir The Winding Road: A Journey of Survival. On preorder for August 26th.

About the book

In the summer of 2008, Miriam Hurdle was diagnosed with melanoma-an aggressive and invasive cancer in her internal organs. The survival rate before 2008 was low. Besides risking harsh treatments for a slim chance of survival, Miriam had hoops to jump through. By the time she received treatment at the beginning of 2009, her cancer had progressed from stage II to stage IV. It was a rough and uphill winding road. But alongside her was support and encouragement. Accompanied by the love of her family and community, this is Miriam’s journey of faith and miracle. It is a heartwarming story of resilience, courage, and the will to live.

Head over to preorder the book for August…

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Cover Reveal – The Winding Road: A Journey of Survival

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Early this month, in a comment, Diana W. Peach asked me if I kept a secret about my new book.

Not really.

I’ve been writing my book about my cancer journey since 2016. I kept organizing, reorganizing, writing, rewriting, editing, and reediting. I posted tidbits here and there but the story was still brewing. It is not a secret but it becomes normal for me to keep working on it until I call it done.

Well, my writing group at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at California State University, Fullerton, has been extremely instrumental in helping it to come into shape with clarity. I’ll introduce this group of retired professionals to my blogging community later.

Today, I’m grateful to reveal my Cover, the Foreward, and the Blurb.

The book will be available on Amazon later in the summer. I’ll let you know when I have a date.

Foreward

You know the ending before you read the story because I’m here to tell it to you. The journey was long and dark, but I survived. The ending is an important part of a story, but the process gives it meaning. At many points during this cancer journey, I felt death was teasing me. I lost most of my muscle mass, lost 20% of my blood, and almost all my energy. Yet, I was breathing. It caused me to ponder. What is life?

I had an active and productive life up until the point when I had cancer. When I couldn’t lift my feet to walk, being productive was thousands of miles away from my thoughts. Family and friends became the only value in my life. In fact, they carried me through this journey.

Life is precious, and it’s worth fighting for. If I died, my pain went with me, but I would leave pain with my loved ones. My life is worth living. I want to enjoy the beautiful earth and everything that lives on it. I want to emerge in the blessed and loving relationship between family and friends.

I’m grateful to be alive, to give to others, and to receive from them.

Blurb

In the summer of 2008, Miriam Hurdle was diagnosed with melanoma-a dangerous, aggressive, and invasive cancer in her internal organs. The survival rate before 2008 was low. Besides risking harsh treatments for a slim chance of survival, Miriam had hoops to jump through. By the time she received the treatments at the beginning of 2009, her cancer progressed from stage II to stage IV. It was a rough and upward winding road. But alongside her was support and encouragement. Accompanied by the love of family and community, this is Miriam’s journey of faith and miracle. It is a heartwarming story of resilience, courage, and the will to live.

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Thank you for letting me share this cover with you. Now, I have to get the ball rolling!

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