A writer finds the path to healing in what she does best, writes Sarah Bunker
What does a swirling vortex have to do with surviving breast cancer?
Everything if you're local writer Jan Goldie.
Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011, Jan was told creativity would be the first thing to go out the window. With an operation, the treatment and shock, the Papamoa mother of two resigned herself to the fact her passion for writing would take a back seat.
"At first, it was true - I wasn't really in the mood to pick up a pen or hit the keyboard, but as the post-op healing began and radiation therapy loomed, I returned to the book I'd started writing months earlier, as an escape," says Jan, whose fantasy adventure for young teens, Brave's Journey has just hit the shelves. "Having that focus, creating characters in a faraway world and interacting with other writers, editors and mentors was an invaluable distraction."