Hi Writers,
Anyone who blogs and is interested in learning how to write about a very serious topic should check out Patry Francis' blog Simply Wait.

I wrote about Patry in my previous post. She's an author who's battling cancer. She's been chronicling that battle on her blog recently.

Here's a brief excerpt from a recent post, but please go to her blog and read it in full. It's a lovely piece of writing:

I promise to stop writing about "my trip to the hospital" soon. Very soon! But apparently, I'm a classic case of a writer who doesn't get out much. It's not that I don't see lots of people every day. Family, friends, and friends of the kids flow in and out in a wonderful stream. They bless my life--all of them--even when I bellow, (most often internally) "Hey, I'm trying to get some work done here!"

But what I've missed from my waitressing days, and what the hospital provided was interaction with the wider world. People I didn't know. Stories I hadn't heard. Catalysts to insights and thoughts that stretched far beyond myself and my beloved few. The stream that becomes a vast, transformative river. In the hospital, I walked into that river again.

For my second surgery, I only had one request: I wanted to go back to the same floor, White 7, where I already knew the nurses and the aides, the dietary and housekeeping staff. I loved them all. But it was probably the intimacy of sharing a room with various strangers, all enduring their own crises, that affected me most.

It's challenging, but it is possible to handle serious topics in a delicate, even uplifting way. I'd like to assemble a list of blogs that are covering sensitive topics well, as Patry's does. Please leave your recommendations in the comments section.

Keep Writing,
Maria