Life is beautiful. I write to see it.
My name is Serenity. I’ve been blogging here since 2007 because it helps me find meaning in regular things like parenting, day jobs, and the dream.
I survive cancer occasionally and wrote a book about it. THE THANK YOU ROOM is my true story from diagnosis (when 29 and pregnant because I could totally handle that) to the story of how we survived together. It's a big, lovey thank you note to the people in my life representing all the types of people I hope you have in yours. It’s a great book for people not going through cancer and those who want ideas to help friends or family who are going through it. Some people say it’s good for those right in the midst of the scary cancer mountain, but I say read it first or ask because we the diagnosed would sometimes rather watch Friends. People who’ve read it say:
…it had me in tears one minute and laughing the next.
I can’t recommend it enough for anyone who enjoys a good memoir.
You will be inspired after reading this book to live your best life.
Serenity’s suffering did not negate [my] problems; it made me feel like I could face them, and maybe even find a little bit of grace with which to do so.
Her ability to tell her story and then step back and give thanks makes a book with excellent pacing.
When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it.
Your book literally marked the turning point in my life from cancer and despair to cancer with an eye toward survivorship.
In 2023, I published a new book, 52 Ways to Be the Boss of You, Your Mood, and Your Day. This one is a survivor’s tale, too, based on a question I often ask at the day job: “I survived for this?” Happiness on the job is an inside job, they say. I’d like workplaces to challenge that challenge more often, but until that day, internal work it is! 52 Ways is a book with real ideas for feeling free and finding meaning in every kind of day. I turn to them often when the real work has me exhausted and the internal spark starts to fade.
I am writing more books. Until then (because wow it takes a minute), I write here and to my email subscribers because the write-to-publish timeline is super satisfying. If you dive into the blog or sign up for the emails, you’ll read about things like the Anniversary of my motherhood (Mamaversary) and my unabashed obsession with movies, the Academy Awards, and other storytelling goodness. I seek out happiness advice like it can save my life so I write about that, too. I’m also a full-on disciple of the whole simplicity-is-beautiful movement. I’m not naturally simple; I’m just better that way.
When I’m not writing or day-jobbing, I like these things (I mean I always like them more than day-jobbing, but these don’t pay):
home decor feeds so I can want new furniture and flooring every. single. day.
my Never Enough playlist with epic show tunes, Don’t Quit Your Daydream, and Neverending Story by the Stranger Things kids.
re-reads like Anne of Green Gables (& Emily!)
nonfiction about writing, happiness, and “life is art” stuff because I’ll get it eventually, right? I post recs at @truedaisyreviews in case meaning-of-life stuff is your jam, too.
If you’re still reading, below are some of my favorites from my Lifetime Achievements list. You should make one, too; I highly recommend this in my book, 52 Ways…
I was on TV - American Idol, season 7. I was standing in a hallway (my sis was the audition-er)
I’ve been the (totally honored, delighted, and terrified) speaker at two all-school assemblies in northeast Missouri, where I live, and one high school baccalaureate
Listen, here’s the deep-down of me. In her Oscar acceptance speech for Walk the Line, Reese Witherspoon said, "I'm just trying to matter." She was quoting June Carter Cash, and I relate. Writing is not just my search for joy but for significance. I've called it fame sometimes because I’m real like that.
I hope you stay a while, consider the books, or subscribe below. We gigsters live for email subscribers because it gives us someone to talk to when we actually have a gig or things to say. I try to stick to one idea per email - I ramble, but I can find a punchline. For instance - the fame thing? I asked for fame. Life gave me love instead.
It's possible life knew better.
—sb
