A Year of Community, Courage, and Cancer: Interview with Memoirist Antoinette Truglio-Martin.
Posted by Kathleen Pooler/@kathypooler with Antoinette Truglio-Martin/@StoriesServed
“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” ~ Coretta Scott King
Photo credit: Pixabay Free Image
I am pleased to feature memoirist Antoinette Truglio Martin in this interview about her new book, Hug Everyone You Know: A Year of Community, Courage, and Cancer. As I wrote in my review, her memoir can be a template for dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
My full review can be found on Amazon, Goodreads, LibraryThing, and RiffleBooks
Welcome, Antoinette!
Memoir Author Antoinette Truglio-Martin
A Year of Community, Courage, and Cancer: Interview with Antoinette Truglio- Martin
KP: Facing a breast cancer diagnosis constitutes a life crisis and conjures up a wide range of feelings—fear for one’s mortality, panic for the unknown. Our life as we know it has changed forever. I know this as a cancer survivor. So I’m wondering what made you decide to write about your cancer journey?
AM: I have always kept a journal. There are piles of notebooks chronicling my thoughts. My feelings and secrets could never be articulated clearly. I found writing to be my coherent voice. I wrote in my journal during that first year with cancer to keep myself focused and as calm as possible. This allowed me to communicate with my family and friends—My Everyone—via the emails. When I was re-diagnosed almost five years later with metastatic cancer, I went back to that old journal and the saved emails.
Through writing the story I saw that I did hone courage (Click to Tweet) and that it would be possible to navigate through this next diagnosis.
KP: How were you transformed by the writing?
AM: Writing was my tool. It was because I wrote, I could clearly see what I had to do and that no matter how scared, sick, or sad I felt, there was always hope, there was always an end to the trial.
Writing kept me focused so I could get all that emotion out and take part in life events as best I could. (Click to Tweet)
I hated to miss any parties.
KP: In Hug Everyone You Know, you show the importance of community in dealing with a cancer diagnosis. How do you feel your community helped you?
AM: My Everyone was essential. I am so blessed with a community of loving and caring family and friends. Although I did not like an audience when I had treatments, I was not isolated. My husband stood by as the silent soldier, my work family was ready to cover for me, and my friends and family were quick with encouragement and plans for an adventure.
KP: What is the message you most want your readers to hear?
AM: Where there is love, there is life worth living. There are stories worth being a part of.
KP: Your voice was very honest and refreshing—even humorous at times. What do you feel helped you be so open about sharing such an intimate story in such an authentic way?
AM: I am a storyteller. Storytellers need to find a chuckle in between the drama and sobs. I am also older, now. At my age, I am entitled to be intimately honest about what I want to write about. However, I can’t just ramble and rant. It is important to craft a readable and compelling story that rings true for so many others.
KP: I was intrigued by the structure of your memoir, the personal emails woven into the text. It brought me close to the sense of community you share. What made you decide on that story structure?
AM: I loved using the emails because it gave the memoir authentic voices to so many of the characters. I believe it validated the tone and truth of the story. I enjoyed working with this added dimension.
KP: What tips do you have for other writers working on their memoirs?
AM: I am not an expert. What I do works for me and may be completely out of character for most everybody else. I would say, that journaling is an important practice for me. If it wasn’t for my shabby notebook I kept writing in during that first year with cancer, the memoir would not have been written. Dates, places, people, and events were sequence-able. It also triggered sensory memories. There is one more important cog. Find a small group of local writer friends you genuinely like and admire. My little group is my writing life line. Every two weeks or so, we complain, celebrate, and share our projects.
KP: What tips do you have for those in similar situations, those facing a breast cancer diagnosis?
AM: Again, I am not an expert. All cancers bring a unique set of experiences and mind sets. I would say that cultivating a community is most important. But, a community cannot be nurtured during a cancer crisis. It is vital to be part of a family now. It does not have to be large and related. It does need to include those who reciprocate care, love and support.
My only other tip is do not own the cancer. I refuse to refer to the cancer as mine. I do not use “my”. It is always and an “it” or a “the”. This way the cancer is not the main character. It is just one story in the collection of my life’s stories.
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Thank you for sharing your cancer journey and showing how a community of supporters made a difference. I appreciate your thoughts about not owning the cancer and relying on the love, support and care of others.
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Book Synopsis
HUG EVERYONE YOU KNOW is a memoir about how Antoinette found the courage to navigate her first year of breast cancer treatment. It’s the story of how a community—colleagues, family, friends—rallied to support her. The book is moving, brave, informative, and occasionally funny—and it speaks to us all.
Author Bio
Antoinette Truglio Martin is a speech therapist and special education teacher by training but is a writer at heart. She is the author of the children’s picture book, Famous Seaweed Soup (Albert Whitman & Company) and was a visiting author in schools for several years. She was formerly a regular columnist for Parent Connections (In A Family Way) and Fire Island Tide (Beach Bumming). Personal experience essays and excerpts of her memoir were published in Bridges, Visible Ink, and The Southampton Review. Martin proudly received her MFA in creative writing and literature from Stony Brook/Southampton University in 2016. As a Stage IV breast cancer patient, she does not allow cancer to dictate her life. She lives in her hometown of Sayville, NY with her husband, Matt, and is never far from My Everyone and the beaches she loves.
Author Contact information:
Website: www.atmartin.com
Email: storiesserved@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AntoinetteTruglioMartin2017/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StoriesServed
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoinette-truglio-martin-8b708664/
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How about you? Has community helped you during a crisis?
We’d love to hear from you. Please join in the conversation below~
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Next Week:
Monday, 10/9/17:
“Creative Harvest”
