Single Bald Female

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I’ve written a diary since I was a little girl, but for some reason, when I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 29, I stopped. There’s an entry from June 2012 where I told myself I’d be just fine, then nothing, until I finished treatment eight months later. My path to publication wasn’t simple. Since graduating from King’s in 2005, I have always used my language skills – first as a journalist covering Latin American news, and later writing about Latin American restaurants (yes, it’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it). It took me five years to complete the novel, squirrelling myself away to write on weekends and evenings. When it was finally ready to send, I was delighted to receive interest from several top literary agents who wanted to represent me. I was blown away by fellow King’s alumna, Sophie Lambert at C&W Agency, who showed such passion for my book and my characters. I also felt a strange affinity with her because we’d both studied at King’s. I signed with her straight away. So when I lost my long hair during chemotherapy after I was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 29, it didn’t feel like the end of the world. In some ways, it was an opportunity.

Find a writing community. Writing is a lonely business and it’s easy to throw in the towel. Instead of sharing your work with friends and family (who will only say nice things), find a group of fellow writers who will give you honest, constructive criticism and encouragement. Breast Cancer Now is a company limited by guarantee registered in England (9347608) and a charity registered As every cancer patient knows, life is short, and there’s no point putting off your dreams for some distant future day that might never come. I fulfilled my childhood dream to write a novel and I’m so proud of it. When will you write yours?Write! Simply put, your book won’t write itself. I make notes on my phone whenever I think of good material, so that when I sit down at my computer, I have a starting point. If you chip away at it gradually, you’ll have a first draft before you know it. By the time active treatment ended, I wanted to meet someone, but was unsure what to write on my dating profile. I settled on the truth, listing myself as a ‘single, bald (possibly infertile) female’. Then, just three months after my book launch, after suffering from pain in my sternum, I found out the cancer had spread to my bones and was now incurable. A whole 10 years had passed since my primary diagnosis. I was distraught – I had only just met the love of my life – but I also found myself filled with gratitude. I had a whole decade of being cancer-free, and I stuffed it full with life. I wrote the book I’d wanted to write since I was that little girl scribbling in her diary every day.

Simply put, I think bald women are beautiful': author Laura Price on what losing her hair to breast cancer taught her about beauty

The novel isn’t about my own life, but writing it helped me to process my grief through my characters and everything they represent. Read, read, read. Read everything you can get your hands on, within your own genre and outside it. This will feed your brain while helping you to hone your own writing style. Four years later, I began to write. Instead of memoir, I opted for fiction, creating characters, friendships and love stories to escape my own world. Although cancer is the saddest of subjects, I peppered the novel with humour – I wanted it to be uplifting because no one wants to read a book that makes them cry from start to finish.