Thank you wordpress for the fun times, but now that I am an author, I need to do a little advertising of my publications.

So check it out. And I’ll start doing more writing instead of playing with websites and blogs.

You can find it at cynbagley.com

Come by and take a look. Anyway, I am getting together a collection of memoirs and reflections about chronic illness. It should be up in the next couple of weeks.

It is so freeing to be able to put up my writings in a readable format.

So come and enjoy some modern poetry about wildness and possibly spring. She does a good job picking out the best poems.

The last time I saw Al, he had stopped me at the commissary and suggested that I see a doctor.

“You’re forty, right?”

I wanted to slap him. No one should ask a woman’s age and especially not an old professor. He smirked a little as he adjusted his leather beret. When he was my biology professor, he had told all the women in the class that he liked young women with self-esteem issues. I wasn’t young and I didn’t have the self-esteem issues.

My hubby had been trained to tell me I was beautiful on a regular basis. Check good self-esteem.

“Well?”

“Yes, I am forty,” the exasperation was thick.

Then he went serious. “You do remember that before I taught, I was a primatologist.” My first thought was how did this have to do with my age. He continued, “Most of the older female chimps start to have physical problems when they reach forty. It’s rare for them to live past that age. So go see a doctor.”

I was insulted. I walked two or more miles per day. I didn’t have that extreme athletic look, but my body was toned. I could hike for hours when my husband and I climb mountains to look at castles.

He reached over and grabbed my arm. “You need to listen to this.”

“Okay, okay,” I said. I brushed my arm and walked away. Just showed how smart professors really were. They could use some social training, too. I’ll go to the doctor when pigs fly.

Well, Al’s concern was genuine and one and a half years later I was in the hospital for kidney failure and vasculitis disease.

The chapbook was reviewed by some good friends who have also published small literary journals for poetry. Plus I received a review on Smashwords that was thoughtful and great:

A survivor of a chronic illness, Ms. Bagley invites the reader into the experience of pain, the deliverance of the afflicted person into hyperconsciousness, and the mind-body struggle for recovery. As the poet obviously has experienced in her remarkable life, her poems reflect the triumph of the human spirit.

–Chantale Reve

It is free so take a look.

My collection of flash fiction “I’m A Flasher”: Individual pieces are previously published on Helium.com. Also “Shira: Hero of Corsindor” has some excerpts on Helium too. (not under that name- but you can find them under my author name)

So yes, I am having a blast. You can have a blast too if you are so inclined in becoming an indie.

Since I now have this group published, I am working on “Conjure Man” (a book I stopped in the middle cause it made me too scared) plus I will put my poetry about Wegener’s Granulomatosis on Smashwords with pictures (still working on the formatting) for free. Please donate to the Vasculitis Foundation. They are the only group that really cares what happens to the vasculitis patients. And yes, the money goes for research.

So come by. I give out free samples (20 percent). And if you like it, buy it.

Self-publishing is becoming more acceptable since Amazon, Borders, and other booksellers have started the ebook revolution. I first became interested in this type of publishing when I began to read J.R. Rain. He just finished a collaborated ebook with Piers Anthony. I have always liked Piers books so I was impressed that JR Rain had the opportunity to write with him. Plus Rain has self-published all of his books so far.

I have to admit that my CW could still use an editor’s touch, but I have done the very best job I could while taking chemo. I am uploading another book to smashwords called Shira and then I will continue to finish my book Conjure man.

Since I can see them in digital print, I have more energy to complete my writings.

Thanks Smashwords. You are the greatest.

Read the rest here.