We recently connected with Leslie Lawrence and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Leslie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I’ve never been one of those people who say, “I could write a book about that.”

I’m not a writer but I am a shutterbug: the family member who takes photos ad nauseam at every family or friend gathering. I never intended to write a book.

Add to that, sharing photos of myself nude from the waist up and bald as a cue ball to provide hope for women experiencing breast cancer was never a goal of mine.

But in spite of who I thought I was and what I thought I could or couldn’t do, I actually ended up writing a book: “I’m a lucky woman: A Photographic Memoir of a Breast Cancer Survivor.”

In 2016, I was diagnosed with one of the most aggressive types of breast cancer: Triple Negative. It has the highest recurrence rate in the first five years after diagnosis. Approaching my five-year milestone, I decided to clear out a box of overflowing memorabilia to close down on my journey and create a memory keepsake. Given my shutterbug history, it wasn’t unusual that I took lots of photos from my breast cancer diagnosis right up to celebrating my five-year, cancer-free milestone.

It was at that moment I realized I had hundreds of candid snapshots stored on my computer that had inherently chronicled my first-hand breast cancer experience over a five-year period. You read and hear a lot about breast cancer but until you’ve gone through it, you really don’t know what to expect. The raw and real photos and heartfelt stories expressed my emotional and physical experiences for all to see. “I’m a lucky woman” encapsulates the effect of a positive attitude during a time of crisis and provides an inside look at life during and after a breast cancer diagnosis.

Family and friends encouraged me to create a book. I obliged and the rest is history.

The primary goal for my memoir is to provide hope and comfort to those recently diagnosed with breast cancer and to show families and friends what to expect and how to interact with their loved one going through it.

Leslie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My career path was serendipitous. After five years as a sixth-grade teacher, I was recruited to work as a product manager in the Education Division at Milton Bradley Company for seven years, followed by my founding and managing TSM Design, an award-winning marketing and advertising agency for 20 years.

Organizing journal entries and photographs coming up on my five-year, cancer-free milestone sent me on yet another career path as I took friends’ and family members’ suggestions to write a book. Now an author, I have another chapter to add to my working career.

Writing a book is one thing, getting it into the hands of readers is another. In the past, I had marketed hundreds of products and services for my TSM Design clients, but I had no idea how to introduce a book to the publishing industry. I scoured the local library for lists of literary agents and publishers, asked everyone I knew if they had book publishing contacts, and sent dozens of query letters and partial manuscripts to agents, editors, and publishers.

The majority of my emails went unanswered. Some memorable responses were “If you don’t hear from us in three months, submit again” and “…not viewing manuscripts until 2026.”

Finally, I decided to self-publish and I’m delighted I did! I would strongly advise authors to self-publish. It’s a fast and efficient way to get manuscripts to market. POD (print on demand) capability enables books to be printed and shipped to consumers almost immediately and the process eliminates the need to print a large inventory prior to distribution. You can upload your book directly to Amazon and within weeks send buyers to order directly from Amazon or IngramSpark, one book at a time.

I’ve used my marketing and advertising skills to successfully promote my book on social media platforms. Because I want my book to be accessible to women diagnosed with breast cancer, I donate my books and schedule book talks at libraries that are willing to host me.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I went through nine months of treatments starting with 16 rounds of chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy for 5 days a week for 6 weeks. Needless to say, it took its toll on me.

Our son had bought me a pair of orange boots, (my favorite color), for Christmas. The second week in January we had a snow storm. I was having somewhat of an up day. Knowing I’d be going down for the count with my ninth chemo treatment the next day I bundled up, went outside, threw myself on the ground and made a snow angel. It was an exhilarating experience because I knew that in spite of the fact that I still had several more chemo treatments ahead of me, they were fewer than the ones behind me. I still had gumption!

Can you share who your hero is and why? What lessons have you learned from them and how have they influenced your journey?

My mother, Isabel was, and will always be my role model and hero. She was the driving force behind who I am today. She was always positive. Her glass was never half full. It was always filled to the brim with joy and smiles for me and so many others.

In her early fifties, my mother was the first woman in our family to have breast cancer. I was in my early twenties when she got the news. I was devastated. She had a radical mastectomy and our family held out hope that she would make it to the all-important five-year, cancer-free milestone. A little less than two years later she found a lump in her other breast and had her second mastectomy. Another crushing blow. The thought of losing her was unimaginable.

The really good news is she lived to the age of 75 and witnessed my pregnancy and enjoyed knowing our son during the first year of his life.

My mother was a go-getter. We’d be out running errands and I’d tell her I was having trouble keeping up with her. I was exhausted. She would egg me on with one of her often-used platitudes, “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”

A plaque that she crossed stitched in the nineteen forties hangs in my home today and was the guiding light throughout my cancer journey. “Today is the tomorrow that worried you yesterday, and all is well.” Now that I’m seven years cancer-free, “all is well” with me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://leslielawrenceauthor.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslielawrenceauthor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100080355776369
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@leslielawrenceauthor

Image Credits

Leslie Lawrence