Your Blog Connection: Diana Raab, Poet, Writer, and Breast Cancer Survivor

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Diana Raab, Poet, Writer, and Breast Cancer Survivor

Before Diana Raab wrote her current blog, DianaRaab.com, she wrote another blog, The Writer’s Notebook, which ran from 2007-2012. In that blog, where she had a huge following, she wrote about literary and creative issues. Because of her PhD in Psychology and the exposure she received from that blog and from other articles she had written, a number of publishers approached her to write for them. But because she found a lot of redundancy in the material she had previously covered in The Writer’s Notebook, she discontinued that blog.

Diana Raab now has her own web site, and she also contributes regularly to Psychology Today, The Huffington Post (Huff50), PsychAlive, BrainSpeak, and BoomerCafe (links below).

The result of writing for those high-profile sites? As you might assume, Diana Raab’s readership increased! She kept her former articles, though, and readers can find them in the Archives on her website.

The reason Diana Raab began her own web site and blog was because, she says, “People were always interested in my stories and what I was doing so I thought I would share. Also, I attended many writers’ conferences and met many friends and colleagues who wanted to be in touch. The blog was a way for people to keep abreast of all my literary projects.”

When asked who would most likely read her blogs, Diana Raab responds, “Anyone interested in the lust for life, writers, women, men, psychologists. I always try to weave the personal with the universal. In other words, my blogs are all tied into something going on in my life, but I like to teach my readers something so that the blog does not feel like random diary ramblings." She writes her blogs as she would her essays, each with a beginning, a middle, and an ending.

Meeting Diana through this Your Blog Connection promotional series has reminded me that I have met some very interesting writers here and I’ve been able to connect personally with them, not only because we are all mid-lifers, but also because many of us share personal histories. Because Diana knew I was a former breast cancer survivor, Diana sent me a copy of her book, Healing with Words: A Writer’s Cancer Journey, a book she wrote about her own breast cancer diagnosis, surgery, and recovery. I, too, had written about my breast cancer journey (in one of my other blogs, My Heart Blogs to You on blogspot.com) and wanted to compare my experience with hers.

Reading Healing with Words gave me an opportunity to read about another woman’s journey with breast cancer. In many ways similar, in many more ways completely different, I found myself wondering if I still would have chosen to go through chemo and radiation or if I would have chosen a mastectomy instead – had I read her book before I had my lumpectomy surgery. Either choice comes with its own consequences and Diana bravely shares her thoughts and emotions about her choices in that book. I highly recommend Healing with Words for anyone contemplating what to do following a breast cancer diagnosis.

Diana also sent me a copy of her poetry book, Lust, a steamy, provocative, and reflective collection of passion, emotion, life, love, and yes, lust.

As you might expect, with a blogger as open as is Diana Raab, Diana gets a lot of positive feedback about her blogs. Readers find her blogs, “inspiring and interesting,” and they tell Diana that, “they always learn something and feel good,” after reading one of her blogs. Diana’s blogs often serve as catalysts for readers to further investigate some of the subjects Diana mentions in her blog.

“Also,” Diana says, “I put out a monthly newsletter through Constant Contact where I address an issue a month. It also includes my public appearances and 2 book reviews of books I recommend to my readers. I send this to about 500 individuals. Anyone interested in being on my mailing list can sign up for the monthly newsletter through my website, Diana Raab.