Submitting a blog post

If you would like to submit a blog post about your breast cancer diagnosis, treatment or life after treatment, please have a read through this guidance information.

Who can submit blog posts for inclusion in this blog
Women in the UK who have had a breast cancer diagnosis under the age of 45.

What can you write about?
Any aspect of breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, or life after treatment. Here are some suggestions, but the list is not meant to be restrictive, just to give ideas.

• How being diagnosed with/treated for/living after treatment for breast cancer has made you feel
• Experiences of chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy or any other cancer treatment
• Getting scans and results
• Relationships with families, friends, children
• Dating with or after breast cancer
• Communication
• Good times or positive things that have happened as a result of or despite cancer
• Changes to your body
• Impact of cancer on hobbies, interests, work etc
• Diet, exercise or wellbeing
• Etc

The list above are just suggestions - write about whatever is on your mind!

If you are still feeling like you don't know where to begin, have a look here for other suggestions.

What can't you include/submit

1. As the author it is up to you if you wish to be anonymous or to use your real name (although I will only include first name and , if you wish, initial of surname - an explanation of this can be found here), but all other names (including hospital names and medical staff names) should be anonymised - for example you could use initials or change names.
2. Please don't include links to fundraising sites. There are a couple of reasons for this - the blog has been set up to act as a collection of voices and experiences of young women with breast cancer, and I want it to focus on that. Also, the blog is designed to be a resource that is relevant for many years to come - not an archive of old and out of date fundraising promotions.
3. I won't be adding any posts that are promoting or advertising alternative therapy/ medicine so please don't submit them. 
4. I won't be adding posts that are focussed on discussing research, statistics etc. This blog is about the experiences of young women with breast cancer, not about debating or analysing research, treatments, clinical trials etc. (These are very important discussions and debates, it's just that this blog isn't the place for them.)

What about style, length, etc?
Write in whatever style you are comfortable with, and as much or as little as you want. If you are creative in this way, you are very welcome to submit poetry too. The aim of the blog is to give you a platform to express yourself through writing in whatever way works best for you.

Can photos be included?
Yes - you are welcome to include photos in your blog post of yourself, or anything else, just not other people (this is because I am unable to check on permissions for photos for all blog posts that will be submitted).

Before submitting your blog post
Please read the information on this page. After you have submitted your blog post I will ask you to confirm you have read and understood this, and ask if you have any queries. This is important information for all writers!

What information do I need to submit along with my blog post?

1. Please give your blog post a title.
2. Please confirm whether you wish to be named as the author (whether first name, first name and initial of surname, or just initials - for an explanation of this see here), or remain completely anonymous.
3. Please let me know your age. I will tag each post according to age group (20s, 30s or 40s) as this is one of the ways in which readers of the blog will be able to search for particular posts.
4. Please let me know if you have a primary or secondary breast cancer diagnosis. (Again, I will be tagging posts so that readers can search for particular posts).
5. Please let me know if your blog post has been published anywhere else.

Submitting a blog post
Please email your blog post and the information above, along with any images if they are to be included, to ywbcblog@yahoo.co.uk. I will respond to you and add your post as soon as I can but please be patient - this is something I'm doing in my spare time outside of work and my own breast cancer treatment!

Queries?
If you have any queries or want to check anything before writing, please drop me a line at ywbcblog@yahoo.co.uk. As above, I will respond as quickly as I can but please be patient if you don't hear back right away!