Jill Foer Hirsch, a breast cancer survivor, writer, and humorist, is the author of the new book When Good Boobs Turn Bad: A Mammoir, which recounts her experiences with breast cancer. She lives in the Washington, D.C., area.
Q: Why did you decide to write your book?
A: I had a blog when I was sick, on CaringBridge, and
everyone was really responsive to that, and by everyone I mean friends, family,
and a circle outside that. People were sending the link to other people who had
cancer, and unfortunately everyone knows someone. The response was that this
was really inspiring. I didn’t [think of myself[ as inspiring; I thought I was
a goofball having fun. But it’s OK to laugh sometimes, even in the worst situations.
CaringBridge is an amazing resource—it’s a free site for
anyone going through an illness or a family emergency. I was overwhelmed at
first with e-mails and calls. I was grateful that people cared about me, but I
don’t know: Does everyone want to know that I get my stitches out today? I set
up the website on CaringBridge. It reduced a lot of the stress, especially on
my husband.
Q: What has the response been to your book?
A: Most people [like it]. When I was working on it, on
occasion I talked to someone who was offended by it—it’s not a book for those
people. I went to Sibley [Hospital] to the infusion center to give copies of
the book to the nurses, and they instinctively know which patients to tell
about the book. I went back and forth on the title—If the title is a problem,
then the book is not for you!
Q: How did you come up with the title?
A: Many, many times thinking things through.
Q: Your family members appear in the book—what do they think
of it?
A: My family is incredibly supportive. As with a comedian,
they frequently are the fodder [for my writing]. Everyone in my family has a
very strong sense of humor.
Q: How was the process of getting the book published?
A: It’s really tough. It’s a whole new business for me. I
was very naïve—I thought if I had something great, I would just e-mail it to a
lot of publishers. Then I realized I need an agent, a business plan, a
platform.
I got an offer from one agent, who wanted to change the flavor of the
book, and that didn’t feel right, so I didn’t go with him Of 60 queries I sent
out, this was the only agent willing to move forward. Even if this was my only
shot, I learned to trust my instinct.
I talked to other authors who had
self-published—[in the past,] that idea had left a bad taste in my mouth, the
idea of a vanity press. Now it’s a completely different model. I figured, I had
already written the book, and with print on demand, it was a shame not to do
it.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: When you hear you have cancer, for many people, it’s, I’m
going to die, or This is going to be hell. Frequently, unfortunately, that is
the case, but for a lot of people, it’s not. People should take one step at a
time when they hear that word, and not assume it’s going to be terrible or
fatal. Of course, that’s easy for me to say because I didn’t have a terminal
illness, but [one] should start out thinking there’s something they can do
about this.
Also, my advice is to start a website on CaringBridge. It took so
much pressure off the people taking care of me.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
