I became a writer by accident. In grade eight, a poor mark on a piece I was proud of convinced me I wasn’t a good writer. I didn’t yet understand that writing is about connecting with your audience (in the case of my English class, the only audience was my teacher).

My first career as a telecommunications product manager introduced me to the world of technical writing. I worked closely with a technical writer, who became my writing mentor. She edited my work, and through that process, I learned the skill of technical writing. This skill set evolved into a career in technical writing and instructional design, roles I’ve succeeded in for over 20 years.

In 2008, my husband and I decided to take a 16-month sabbatical. We cycled across Canada and traveled the world without using airplanes—an adventure we called “Going East.” During this time, I put my writing energies into blogging.

In 2011, I began a PhD in Education, where I helped professors and clinical educator by producing and publishing ebooks for faculty development. But my path took another dramatic turn in 2014, when I was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer. The writer in me needed to share my experience. I stepped away from my PhD to focus on my blog, BC Becky, using my writing as a way to process not just the events, but the emotions of living through cancer treatment.

For a second attempt at the PhD, I shifted direction. I knew there was educational value in the blog I had written during treatment and wanted to use it in some way. I explored autoethnography and then discovered evocative autoethnography via Bochner and Ellis. I used my blog as research material for my project, and drafted my first memoir, Never Knew I Wanted to Be a Breast Cancer Survivor, based on my PhD work. I self-published the memoir two years after stopping the PhD.

I blog about writing, instructional design, breast cancer survivorship, and the places I visit.