Tag: Letrise Carter

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How does Cancer Diagnosis affects your spirit?

On By Letrise CarterIn Black Women's HealthLeave a comment

How does hearing you have Breast Cancer affect your spiritual health? From my own personal experience, when I was given my first news in July of 2019 it felt like a punch in my spirit. I was trying to cope and be strong for my daughter who was my biggest concern than being worried about myself. I was worried this disease was going to take me away from my daughter and loved ones. We had been praying hard over the days that led to the results of my biopsy. I questioned my faith, belief, God’s love, and prayers.

How does it affect your spirit?

Cancer can have a huge impact on your spiritual health because it triggers a level of stress that is dangerous for you. Your entire body is in a state of shock when you are told that “I am sorry you have Breast Cancer.” At the exact time in moment, the world is in a time capsule that you are trying to find the remote control to rewind what the doctor just said. You cannot believe what was just said to you and your spiritual beliefs you had since you were 23 years old has left the room.

I honestly sat there questioning my spiritual relationship with God. I anxiety that raced through my body a rage of fear, doubt, and uncertainty. I begin to question my purpose. My entire mind, body, spirit, and emotions were in shambles. I felt broken in all areas that were apart of my humanity. I became very frustrated with God and even angry at times with the biggest question that I kept asking in my prayers were “Why me”, What did I do to deserve this?” I even went as far with the question to God and asked What did I do wrong to be punished with a life threatening disease? I tried meditating to calm down search for the comfort of his voice, but I could not find it at the moment.

Photo by Matheus Natan on Pexels.com

How did I fight through my spiritual journey?

To be honest, it was a hard. I had to go through a process ,but I was not alone. I had some amazing women who were supportive, praying women I called my tribe, my daughter unconditional love, and lots of talking to God. I did have to let go of the anger that came with being diagnosed. I had stopped talking to God because I was mad as hell at him so I did have some screaming and yelling matches in my quiet place with him, The truth is, you have to keep talking to him whether you did what I did which was yelling, crying, praying, or journaling what I was feeling and why. I found comforting listening to some of my favorite pastors or even watching them on YouTube. Each time I can tell you it was the Holy Spirit that guided me to a particular man or woman of God. The word they were preaching that particular day always resonated with me and I never not once said that was a coincidence. I told myself, “no, that was a Devine intervention from the Holy Spirit.” I remember when that small voice whispered to me that I will get through this storm, at first I doubted that voice. But I did get through it the first time and the second time.

I had to put my faith and trust back in God. I had to surround myself with positive energy that included people. I removed negative people from my presence because my spirit was vulnerable. I started keeping a prayer journal and a thought journal. I reached out to my prayer warriors who prayed with me and over me. You cannot do this alone. Furthermore, my daughter and I had to rebuild our trust, faith, and love for God’s healing that would get us both through this journey. My spirit is on a healing path after two years which makes me happy. I can give my testimony to other cancer patients. It took me over a year to let go of the anger and the unforgiveness that was in my heart toward many who didn’t give me cancer, but diagnosed me with Breast Cancer.

Dont’ let Cancer beat your spirit man down. Accept the things you cannot change but embrace the things God-The Holy Spirit can change. You will get through this. Are you feeling broken spiritually? Visit Cancer Council for support and read the articles that will give you reassurance on this emotional journey.

Resourceful Links

Cancer Council www.cancer.net/coping-with-cancer/physical-emotional-a…

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How to overcome Indie Author mistakes?

On By Letrise CarterIn Writers2 Comments

It’s three and half years later and I am reflecting on the mistakes I made as a first time Indie Author in hopes to help another new author learn from my mistakes. Now, being an Indie Author means you control when you publish, how you market your book, and you earn 100% of all royalties collected on your book.

When you make mistake the first time hopefully you can learn from them going forward. You don’t realize at the time what you are not doing is hurting you until you sit down to look at your books sales against your book expenses. You have to ask yourself two questions Why and How did that happened? The answers are right in your faces with everything you did not do because you were not understanding the business.

What mistakes did I make as an Indie Author?

  1. Being an Indie Author is a business and you must have a plan of which I didn’t have in place for Deceitful Secrets.
  2. I didn’t have a marketing strategy in place.
  3. I thought attending local book events and fairs were better to do over online.
  4. I didn’t understand how to use Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads correctly so I waisted money that did not hit the correct target audience.
  5. I didn’t understand how to utilize my “Insights” or analytics for social media
  6. I didn’t use ARC (Advance Readers Copy) groups for Deceitful Secrets.
  7. I didn’t use many book promoter services during or after release.
  8. I limited my voice with other podcasters and bloggers.
  9. I didn’t maximize my book reviewers requests.
  10. I stop promoting Deceitful Secrets consistently
  11. I was not consistent with my Email list that I grew.
  12. I tried to do everything myself by being the marketer, social media expert, brand specialist, and virtual assistant.

How to Overcome Indie Author Mistakes?

The mistakes I made in 2017 to early 2018 were rookie mistakes. However, I did learn from them over the years after attending workshops about writing and marketing, attended virtual events for book promotion strategies, and one on one consultations with experts for social media. Writing books is a business and once you understand, learn it, and master that then the success will follow.

What did I do different the second time around in 2021 that has been rewarding as a Indie Author? I did my homework over the last year not just to hone my skills, but learn how to market myself as a “authorpreneur.” According to Entreprenuer, they defines the difference between and Enterprenuer and Authorpreneur. The article goes on to say, ” It is an entrepreneur that offers products and services that are based on their book (s).” I learned to treat my books like a business. What does most successful small business have?

Twenty Tips to have a successful book business that I have incorporated.

  1. I created a short Business Plan for my Books (Summary one page)
  2. I had to figure out the Vision for my Books.
  3. I had to create a Marketing & Promotional Strategy.
  4. I had to create a Book Budget & Book Sales Goal.
  5. I had to create a social media posting schedule and strategy that required me to audit my social media.
  6. I had to learn and understand how to use a marketing and promotion strategy.
  7. I hired a Virtual Assistant, Brand Strategist, Publicist/Social Media experts to help with promotion and social media.
  8. I am continuing to seek knowledge about growing my book business
  9. I am taking classes, webinars, and attending virtual events about marketing, social media, and learning how to run ads correctly ads on Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, and Book Blurb.
  10. I am doing more interviews on podcasts, Vlogs, and magazine features to get my books in front of other audiences.
  11. I am back to blogging after taking a hiatus for health reasons to reach new and current readers.
  12. I am working on re-connecting with my email list and sending out weekly newsletters.
  13. I created a ARC Group to read my short story series prior to release day and post reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, and Book Blurb.
  14. I am connecting with Book Bloggers and Book Reviewers to review my book series.
  15. I plan to give away a set number of books each month to help grow my readership.
  16. I had created a Press Kit for Libraries and Media Kit to circulate to prospective interviewers.
  17. I asked other authors to help promote my book in exchange that I promote their books on a particular social media platform.
  18. I asked a my network friends (few bloggers/writers) to promote my book to their audiences on Twitter for a couple weeks.
  19. I used book quotes and read first chapter for free on website with links to purchase.
  20. I offered signed autographed copies on my website.

I used a lot of free resources and some paid resources to help me understand the book business. I am still learning everyday. You never stop learning in this business. Especially, as a Indie Author it’s not easy but you can be successful if you master the business. I have seen Indie Authors make the New York Times bestseller’s list. Those authors had a plan and mastered it and you can to. I am working toward that goal myself. Are you working on mastering the book business as authorpreneur or are you just putting books out hoping you break even?

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How does the diagnosis of Cancer affects your Mental Health?

On By Letrise CarterIn Black Women's Health2 Comments

This is the big question that many strangers, family members, and friends need to understand and practice empathy. What do I mean by this? Empathy is defined as the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing within their frame of reference. This week in 3 part blog posts, I will talk about how a diagnosis of cancer affects your mental health, spiritual health, and finally physical health. Let’s start with mental health.

How does the diagnosis of any type of cancer affects your mental state of mind? When you are first told that you have Breast Cancer, you do not process the diagnosis right away because you are in shock. You are in disbelief and you want the doctor to repeat themselves. You are given this book to read about your type, various stages, type of surgery, and a list of all the chemotherapy drugs with their side affects whether you are taking chemo pills or IV chemotherapy. The book goes over the radiation process and after treatment care. You are hit with a wealth of information that mentally you have not processed or even accepted. It’s a process that you can take your time to deal with at your own pace. You find yourself on this emotionally roller-coaster because you don’t know how to feel let alone whether to cry or scream.

Meanwhile, family, friends, and caregivers will have to learn how to care for you, support you, practice empathy, understanding, give you space, and time to adjust. Let’s dive into part 1 of this week’s topics Mental, Spiritual, and Physical Health using my experience as examples and some of my favorite articles that help me as well as facts from the Cancer Organization to help you help a love one or a perfect stranger.

Photo by Klaus Nielsen on Pexels.com

Mental and Emotional Health

When I was first diagnosed it was traumatizing. I experienced grief and a few stages of depression. I was angry and my peace was invaded with cancer. I know doctors and nurses say it’s okay to be angry, mad, and sad because our mental psyche has to process the diagnosis.

I found myself isolating from friends and family during the first diagnosis in July 2019. I sworn family to secrecy because I was embarrassed that I was diagnosed with this ugly, life threatening disease. This was a hard hit to my mental and emotional state of mind. This was the biggest heartbreak that I every experienced. It was one of the biggest blows any woman could every face. There is no cure for cancer yet which is still mind blowing to me right till this day. You tugged at the idea of whether or not your will be clear of cancer after treatment or if you will be on pills for the rest of your life to survive.

I pulled myself off social media, I stopped writing, and I stopped reading books that I was interested in that made me smile, laugh, or inspired me. I went through a spell of feeling completely numb during the first eight weeks. I had not cried and I was fighting the emotions inside that I refused to let out. I could not accept my diagnosis because I kept telling myself they got my biopsy results mixed up with someone else. This cannot be correct.

I started reading everything on my type of breast cancer to the point I was even reading the conspiracy writers when it came to doing chemotherapy. I almost believed them. I started researching holistic approaches to healing my body and what natural herbs could heal and cure me. I was a mad woman furious to find my own truth and cure.

Like I said, my peace of mind had been invaded and did not exist anymore. I did have an emotional breakdown after my first chemotherapy treatment and then a second emotional breakdown at a Breast Cancer event my friend Stephanie took me to where I was one of the honored guests. All of the emotions built up inside of me finally exploded three months later after being diagnosed.

There was so much I did not know about my type of breast cancer and the type of treatment that was being recommended that my first doctor really was not helpful because she was insensitive using a scare tactic to get me to do chemotherapy instead of helping me understand why I had to do chemotherapy and explain all of the variables in my biopsy results. It was not until I went for another opinion at Northwestern Hospital where I got answers to many of my unanswered questions.

How did I deal with the mental and emotional health with my first diagnosis? I talked with a therapist, went to support group, I allowed myself to cried, I forgave myself, and I did journal how I was feeling each day at the request of my therapist to make sure I was not keeping pain and angry wrapped up inside me. I had good days and I had some really bad downright ugly days. But guess what, they went in my journal and not kept bottled up inside my mind.

When I was hit with a new diagnosis seven months post chemo in 2020, it was devastating on top of the fact were were in a global pandemic and on lockdown. I held myself as a warrior who needed new doctors who specialized in this type of thing everyday all day. It was time out for using local hospital that was close to commute back and forth during treatment. It was the best advice my brother Walter could have given me to seek out Cancer Treatment Center of America for a second opinion. I learned so much during the five day of tests, consultation, examination, review, analyze to confirm my diagnosis with a how and why. I will talk more about that experience next week and what I learned.

My advice to any Black woman who has been diagnosed with any type of cancer:

  1. Talk to a therapists
  2. Attend a support group
  3. Find yourself a tribe of women who will have empathy, love, compassion, understanding, and who will support you no matter what.
  4. Don’t be afraid of getting a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th opinion about your diagnosis.
  5. Get a Test to see what your Vitamin D levels are and how this will affect your body – we will talk more about this in future posts.
  6. Explore all resources to cancer patients they are FREE
  7. It’s okay to be mad for a little while, but don’t stay there.
  8. Pray and talk to your higher power for peace.
  9. Do not keep all those emotions inside.
  10. Do not do treatment somewhere because it’s close to home, advocate for the best treatment plan even if it’s at a facility that is hours away.
  11. Get matched with a Imerman Angel or support from Cancer Hope Network to talk with another woman with your same diagnosis.
  12. Go for walks and Self Care.

I had to learn to protect my mental and emotional health by letting the tears fall, talking to my tribe who did understand, attending support group, and taking advantage of the Angel program that the American Cancer Society has that truly is a blessing. What is the Angel program? This program they assign you to a survivor who was diagnosed with the same type of cancer as you, same stage, and same treatment plan. This angel will call and answer all of your questions and some will even meet with you at chemotherapy for support. I will talk about chemotherapy next week. This week I needed to address the impact of having cancer affects the mental, spiritual, and physical body.

Do you know someone who has been diagnosed with cancer? Share this article with them and check out the resource links below that helped me.

Some of my Resourceful links

https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/physical-side-effects/emotional-mood-changes.html

Love this article https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/nurture-your-emotional-health.html

Living Well Cancer Center https://livingwellcrc.org/

Wellness House in Hinsdale https://wellnesshouse.org/related-resources/

Mentor Angel https://imermanangels.org/

National Coalition for Cancer Care Survivorship https://canceradvocacy.org/resources/cancer-survival-toolbox/

Cancer Hope Network –https://www.cancerhopenetwork.org/get-support/get-matched/with-a-cancer-survivor.html

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Lucy’s Worth Chapter 1 Excerpt

On By Letrise CarterIn novel teaserLeave a comment

Read the first chapter of Lucy’s Worth and then you have three options for purchase.

  1. Purchase an autographed copy directly from the author.
  2. Purchase either a eBook or Paperback directly from Amazon.

Meet The Masons

My name is Lucy Mason, and I’m twenty-two years old. I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with my parents, Darlene and James Mason. I’m the youngest of three children, living on the north side of town. My two sisters, Carol and Mary Lou, are the prizes of the neighborhood and high school. My sisters are a year apart, with Carol being the oldest. My family is what you might call blue-collar workers, and they do okay to sustain a roof over our heads and put food on the table.  Daddy works the assembly line at Brooks & Thomas while Momma works in housekeeping at Houston Hotel in downtown Milwaukee.

I’ve never looked at myself as pretty, beautiful, or special because my sisters were the ones getting the attention of all the boys in the neighborhood and high school. I was never book smart and could care less about grades. Carol and Mary Lou loved going to school and they were book smart. They both tutored many of the basketball and football players. If you ask me, I think they did a little bit more than tutor the star players on the teams. But they were known in school to be the girls who fit in with the “in crowd”. I often called them the “Mean Girls” of North Division High School because no one thought to mess with them or prank them. All the kids knew I was their little sister, so no one really bothered me unless they wanted to feel the wrath of my two big sisters. It was pretty cool at times because it felt like I had two big brothers instead of two sisters.

I never had a real boyfriend because I always felt like I was the ugly duckling in the family. I feel as if God played a nasty joke on me when it came to good looks. Here I am—short, dark brown, with oval-shape brown eyes and short black hair. My teeth are not straight, and I have acne for days. Whereas my sisters have all the right curves, shape, straight teeth, shoulder-length hair, and are a shade lighter than me. They look more like our mom, and I favor my father.

The boys in school never gave me any attention, unless they wanted me to pass a message to one of my sisters or one of them had to talk to me as a condition for my sister to go on a date with their best friend. It was the same way in the neighborhood; the boys only talked with me to get close to Carol or Mary Lou. My parents would make them take me along just so I could get out of the house. I hated being the third wheel. They always had a date to homecoming, prom, football games, and basketball games.  I never understood why boys never saw me as cute or even attractive.

Would you like to read the rest of the short story?

How would you like it? Autographed copy click the PayPal link or Amazon eBook or Paperback.

LucyMason_Worth_FrontCover_FINAL

Autographed Copy: Lucy’s Worth

Lucy Mason: Lucy’s Worth, Part 1 Lucy’s Worth is part one of a young woman’s desperate journey to find herself while trying to make it on her own. Faced with her first true relationship, Lucy’s long battle with low self-esteem will cause her to fall down a path with a dangerous man. Will Lucy be able to escape the trap that’s been set for her? She’s going to have to make the most important decision of her life — because her life depends on it!

$10.99

Purchase from Amazon eBook or Paperback

Lucy’s Worth (Lucy Mason Book 1) – Kindle edition by Carter, Letrise, Moody, Tyora. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

My Black Girl Passion Experience

On By Letrise CarterIn Authors thoughts, Book eventLeave a comment

My Black Girl Passion experience on November 11, 2017 was just amazing.  I know most folks would have posted a blog within one day or so.  However, I need to just take a moment to reflect and celebrate my first book expo.  Black Girl Passion event gave me the opportunity to meet other authors and small business owners.  I am so proud of myself as I went around and introduced myself to every vendor and author at the event.

Black Girl Passion to me means sisterhood, inspiration, empower, and motivation for beautiful black women that look like me following their passion and dreams.  We are a unique women who hold treasures and gifts.  I loved seeing these sisters driven by their gifts and passions.

I must admit I was nervous but I got comfortable as I watched my fellow sisters introduce themselves to guests and new readers.  I learned some pitch skills from my fellow sisters as guests stopped by to inquire about my novella.  It was a great experience as the seasoned authors offered me tips about pitching my book to guests.

I am a new author and this is my first event that I attended since the release of my novel Deceitful Secrets on October 23, 2017.  My daughter set up my table uniquely to showcase my novel to attract new readers.

The set up of the event and the entertainment was beautiful.  I loved KLove The Poet, this sister was dope and deep.  The dance performance was authentic expression of a movement.  The hostesses were phenomenal as they greeted and supported the vendors.

bgp pic 2

I am feeling blessed and thankful for the experience because it was inspiring, empowering, and confirmation for me to keeping soaring high with my dreams and goals as a beautiful black woman. Thank you to the ladies of Book Euphoria for putting together a beautiful event.

#BlackGirlPassion

#DopeAuthors