I’m honored to have Miriam Hurdle here today to share her story. This was a heartfelt story and my review is below.
Thank you for hosting my launch tour today, Denise. I’m thrilled to be here to share my new book with your friends.
During the launch tour, I want to talk about memoir writing. Here is my topic for today.
The Role of Research in Memoirs
Memoirs always require research. They are stories based on real-life events. Fact-check everything can be fact-checked, such as names, dates, places, weather, and events. One person wanted to write a family memoir, but she was not sure if her great-grandmother’s name spelled Emily or Emely. Her research shows Emely was the correct spelling. You can’t make up this information. The inaccuracy takes away the credibility of your story.
Example: In The Winding Road, I wrote I was holding the “10 feet” tall IV stand as my cane to walk on the hospital floor after my surgery. My writing group laughed. One said, “The IV stand feels like 10 feet tall to you because you’re short.” I then Googled the height of IV stands and changed my story to “The IV stand looked like 6 feet tall.”
Another part of the story was that my surgeon told me I had a CT scan right after the surgery. I asked my husband Lynton if there was an imaging facility next to the operating room. He wasn’t sure, but it’s unlikely. My research showed a portable CT scan can be moved to the operating room to perform a scan. The surgeon can look at the scan result to determine if the margins of surgery are clear.
My memoir is about a medical journey that involved medical terms and medical procedures. I needed to describe them accurately rather than in layman’s terms.
Examples of research for my book:
The stages of melanoma
The procedure for CT/PET scan
The procedure of laparoscopic surgery
Healthcare personnel titles
Anatomy of inguinal lymph nodes
Accurate description of my bio-chemotherapy
Proper Admission and discharge procedures
Medical equipment names, such as incentive spirometers rather than handheld breathing machine
The correct names of places such as St. John’s Health Center rather than St. John Hospital
Fact-check on dates, times, and locations of events
Distance from home to hospital
Distance from home to my husband Lynton’s work
The Importance of Feedback
I’m grateful to my writing group for their skillful and constructive feedback. We conduct our meetings on Zoom. Members take turns reading their chapters. After one person reads, the coordinator facilitates to have feedback from the members. The writers often feel that the ideas are clear to them, but they may not be clear to the readers. When there are any unclear ideas, we encourage the writers to clarify or to do fact-checking.
The accurate facts make my story flow smoothly. The readers have the information needed to understand my immediate events and my overall story.
Blurb
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.
My Review
“The Winding Road” is a heartfelt memoir that takes the reader through a cancer diagnosis to the outcome. I felt like I was experiencing this journey with Ms. Hurdle, as she not only talks about how she is feeling, but how she had to deal with insurance, appointments, and the physical toll of the treatments. Once Ms. Hurdle learned how rare and deadly the cancer was, a decision was made to try experimental treatments for six months. I’m not sure I could have handled what she endured. Being so ill during the treatments with no guarantees would be hard, but a strong will to live shined through and balanced that out. This was a painful insight into the reality of cancer, mixed with her belief that life is precious, that left me inspired and full of hope. A read that not only shows us the darker side of life when illness strikes, but how the love and support of family and friends can help carry some of that heavy burden. A highly recommended story that can inspire anyone going through not only illness but other challenges.
Purchase Links
The Winding Road Trailer
https://youtu.be/HBzt5B3xa9Yhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBzt5B3xa9Y
About Miriam
Miriam Hurdle is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Her publications include Songs of Heartstrings, and the children’s book, Tina Lost in a Crowd. Her poetry collection received the Solo “Medalist Winner” for the New Apple Summer eBook Award and achieved bestseller status on Amazon.
Miriam writes poetry, short stories, memoir, and children’s books. She earned a Doctor of Education from the University of La Verne in California. After two years of rehabilitation counseling, fifteen years of public-school teaching, and ten years in school district administration, she retired and enjoys life with her husband in southern California, and the visits to her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughters in Oregon. When not writing, she engages in blogging, gardening, photography, and traveling.
Contact Miriam at
Website/Blog: https://theshowersofblessings.com
Amazon Author’s Page: https://www.amazon.com/Miriam-Hurdle/e/B07K2MCSVW
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17252131.Miriam_Hurdle
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mhurdle112
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/miriam.hurdle.1
