Julie Silver MD

Harvard Medical School’s CME Writing and Publishing Course

January 14, 2020 by Lisa Tener

Many of the most successful authors I work with have attended Harvard Medical School’s writing and publishing course.

And you may have read my recent interview with the course director Julie Silver, MD, who shared many of the areas that the course is branching out into, such as writing and publishing op/eds, podcasting and how to ramp up your speaking career.

In today’s post, I interview past attendee Carla Naumburg, PhD, author of How to Stop Losing Your S**t with Your Kids, and three other excellent books on parenting. Enjoy Dr. Naumburg’s insights on the power of this course for those wishing to write and publish a book in the health, psychology, parenting or self-help fields, in particular.

Carla Naumburg, PhD on goals and takeaways from Harvard Medical School CME Publishing Course

Atttendees and faculty at Harvard Medical School publishing course. — Hisla Bates, MD, Carla Naumburg, PhD and Lisa Tener at Harvard Medical School CME writing and publishing course.

Lisa: What initially brought you to the Harvard Medical School CME Publishing course?

Dr. Naumburg: I had never before seen a writing course specifically geared towards clinicians. I had been to a number of conferences for clinicians, as well as those for writers, but never both at once!

Lisa: What was your biggest surprise going into it?

Dr. Naumburg: It was refreshing to spend time with other authors (and aspiring authors) of evidence-based self-help books. It was inspiring and energizing to be with kindred spirits.

Lisa: What are three of the biggest takeaways you got from that course?

Dr. Naumburg:

Self-help books matter. They help people in very real and meaningful ways.
Writers need to take themselves seriously, and we need to share our writing with others as often as possible.
I learned a variety of ways for utilizing social media to make connections with other writers and get the word out about my writing.

[bctt tweet=”What a Writer Needs…” username=”LisaTener”]

Lisa: I think you touch on such important aspects of what a writer needs—community, support and then the very specific strategies for success. The writing and publishing course really delivers in all three areas. You’re surrounded by smart people, you get to meet and get feedback from agents, publishers, freelancers, book coaches—a whole variety of professionals. And there’s so much you’re exposed t0. It’s a real crash course in the publishing industry and online media. How many times have you attended (and why)?

Dr. Naumburg: I’ve been to the conference twice. I went back for ongoing learning, as well as support and connection with other writers.

Lisa: What advice do you have for someone looking to write and publishing a health book, or write articles or start a blog in the medical field?

Dr. Naumburg: Get yourself support, from the folks at a conference like this one, and from professionals! Such support can make a huge difference in helping you to take the first step, and ultimately having some significant success.

How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t With Your Kids — How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t with Your Kids has just been published by Workman Publishing

Lisa: Workman has recently published your book How to Stop Losing Your S**t with your Kids. In what ways did the Harvard Medical School writing and publishing course help you get there?

Dr. Naumburg: The course inspired me to continue working on my books even after I was feeling frustrated with the process! In addition, the course introduced me to you, and you were instrumental in helping me revise my book proposal for How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t With Your Kids.

Finding Voice in Writing

Lisa: It was such a fun project to work on. I love your voice and I think it’s one reason your books do so well—you possess a strong voice that’s both authoritative and warm, humorous and vulnerable. Readers feel we’re having a conversation with you as a guide who “gets us.” Anyone looking to write a parenting book or other self-help book would do well to study how you blend these qualities to deliver a tone that gives readers what they need and stays authentic.

I wanted to point out, too, that some of your excellent advice to parents, specifically from the chapter on, “Shit You Have to Do if You Don’t Want to Lose Your Shit” applies well to writing a book. You tell parents to take care of themselves to avoid triggers. Get plenty of sleep. Do one thing at a time, rather than attempting to multitask. Respect your boundaries. Every one of those tips will help you write a book!

Did any particular workshops stand out for you at the course?

Dr. Naumberg: I found the advanced workshop on how to write a book proposal immensely helpful in getting direction, clarity, and straightforward advice on how to write and revise my proposal. It was excellent. Also, Rusty Shelton’s social media presentations and Susan Aiello’s instruction on verbs.

Lisa: Susan and I share a passion for verbs. I first learned about the power of verbs from the late Frank Conroy who served as the Director of the Iowa Writers Workshop for decades immediately after I studied with him. He consistently advocated for specificity in verb use as the way to make your writing sing. I still hear his voice in my head when I edit. I like to tell writers, “Verbs are Your Superpower” as a writer. Adverbs, on the other hand, can be your kryptonite!

Is there anything else you’d like to say about Harvard Medical School’s writing and publishing course?

Dr. Naumburg: Yes, I highly recommend this course for academics and clinicians looking to break into the world of popular writing and blogging. It was incredibly helpful to me!

Carla Naumburg, PhD, is a writer, speaker, and clinical social worker. She is the author of three parenting books: the bestselling How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t With Your Kids (Workman, 2019), Ready, Set, Breathe: Practicing Mindfulness with Your Children for Fewer Meltdowns and a More Peaceful Family (New Harbinger, 2015), and Parenting in the Present Moment: How to Stay Focused on What Really Matters (Parallax, 2014). Carla has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, CNN, and Mindful Magazine, among other places. Carla lives outside of Boston with her husband, daughters, and two totally insane cats.

Working on a Health Related Book? Writing, Publishing, and Social Media for Healthcare Professionals

November 13, 2019 by Lisa Tener

Writing a Health Related Book

Dana Corriel, MD at Harvard Med publishing course — One highlight of the course is the opportunity to network with faculty. Pictured here: Dana Corriel, MD

This morning, I heard from a Family Practice Physician who’s been planning to attend Harvard Medical School’s CME Publishing Course for the past two years. She started on her book idea five years ago and feels ready to dive in. Helping her clarify what she’ll get out of the course—and how to make the most of it—reminded me of some of the ways this course is so effective for physicians and other healthcare professionals:

In-depth knowledge in health and self-help genres: The faculty have a deep understanding of the many aspects of writing, publishing, promoting and selling health related books.
Ability to meet and get feedback from literary agents, publishers, book coaches and book proposal coaches, independent editors and others who can help you refine your ideas—and choose the best one.
An immersion in publishing, so you can see what it takes and expose yourself to a variety of strategies for getting your knowledge and wisdom to the people who need it—from writing a health related book to penning articles to blogging and podcasting.
Guidance and coaching to develop a pitch: I always recommend participants sign up for the optional book pitching sessions. It’s an important step in refining your ideas and sometimes new, highly marketable book ideas emerge in the process.
Advanced Workshops: The final day of the course, participants can take more specialized and in-depth workshops on social media, writing a book proposal, creativity, memoir writing and podcasting, for example.

Over the years, publishing has transformed, medicine has changed and the ways we reach people are almost unrecognizable from the how these fields operated 20 years ago. In today’s blog post, Julie Silver, MD, the course director and founder, shares how the course has changed over the years and what participants can expect in 2020.

What to Expect from Harvard Medical School’s CME Publishing Course in 2020

Lisa: How has the Harvard Medical School publishing course—Writing, Publishing, and Social Media for Healthcare Professionals—evolved over the past 20 years?

Dr. Silver: When I first started directing the course, most of the content was focused on publishing books. Although the course still covers how to publish a book, there is also a lot of other content such as how to ramp up your speaking career or start a new podcast. Physicians and other healthcare professionals have a lot of creative interests, and so we aim to provide them with the training and networking contacts that they will need to be successful.

Lisa: Anyone who wants to write a health related book needs to have ways of reaching their intended audience, and so all of these arenas from social media to podcasting to speaking also greatly support the tribe-building that an aspiring author needs to do. Being exposed to this variety of areas also helps aspiring authors think about how they’ll reach their readers and get a sense of what’s involved in each one. And some participants may even find that they prefer their newfound medium to a book. What are some of the skills and knowledge that participants leave with?

[bctt tweet=”Writing and Social Media Skills” username=”LisaTener”]

networking at Harvard Med School CME publishing course — Networking with course faculty, one of many perks!

Dr. Silver: Participants learn how to make the most of print, live, and online communication channels. Individual sessions focus on:

•Best practices for connecting the public with ideas and insights

•Getting a book published in 2020: new challenges and options

•Lectures and workshops to improve one’s writing and “elevator” or book pitch

•Personalized instruction from top-tier writing coaches, editors, and literary agents

•Social media: introductory and advanced topics

•Self-publishing books, blogs, and websites

•Strategies for impacting national and international healthcare audiences

•Workshops to assist in the development of memoirs and narrative nonfiction

•Training on giving interviews and how to start a podcast

[bctt tweet=”Writing and Publishing Success Stories in Health-Related Genres” username=”LisaTener”]

Lisa: That’s a powerful list! Some amazing things have come out of this course. For example, Jon Lieff, MD was inspired to blog after taking a workshop with Rusty Shelton and myself on the subject.

Rusty continued to mentor Dr. Lieff, and Dr. Lieff’s blog, Searching for the Mind (http://jonlieffmd.com/) was chosen by Best World Wide Online Universities in “Neuronal Plasticity”: The Science of Learning – Resources on How Our Brains Work Best. along with large, distinguished institutions including Stanford and MIT. His blog has attracted researchers and armchair scientists across disciplines, translating the latest research on communication among cells. Dr. Lieff went on to sign a book contract with BenBella Books.

Can you share some more examples of the kinds of projects and accomplishments coming out of the course? What are some of your favorite “success stories”?

Dr. Silver: I have so many favorites that it’s hard to choose. Literally thousands of past participants have gone on to do some really incredible things.

For example, Dr. Yvonne Thornton published a bestselling memoir titled The Ditchdigger’s Daughters that was made into a movie, and she came to the course years later to connect with literary agents and editors so she could publish her next book which is titled Something to Prove.

This year we had Dr. Connie Mariano come back and talk about what it was like to be the first military woman to become the White House Physician to the President the first woman Director of the White House Medical Unit the first Filipino American in US history to become a Navy Rear Admiral. She explained how she published her book titled The White House Doctor and the road to this book becoming a television series.

Sarah Allen Benton is a therapist who did an amazing book pitch at the course and then went on to publish Understanding the High Functioning Alcoholic. Her work and book went on to be featured by Oprah.

Vint Virga, DVM is a veterinarian who came to the course and then published a truly moving book called The Soul of All Living Creatures: What Animals Can Teach Us About Being Human.

In the upcoming course, we’re excited that Dr. Rana Awdish who is known for her bestselling book In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope will be talking about her publishing journey.

What Next?

Lisa: Wow! I’m struck by the variety of the topics and also genres—from memoir to self-help to health books. What else would you like people to know about this course, Writing, Publishing, and Social Media for Healthcare Professionals?

Dr. Silver: We will have more content on publishing articles including op-eds, social media, and turning content into products and services. We’re excited to bring all of these creative and intelligent people in the same room to make some magic happen!

Lisa: Dear Reader, do you need any more to know this is a not-to-be-missed opportunity?! If you’re working with me on a health-related or self-help book, I encourage you to attend, even if you’ve attended before. There is so much to get out of this publishing course, year after year!

Advice from Literary Agents and Publishers

June 12, 2018 by Lisa Tener

It’s become a tradition that I publish a post about the advice from literary agents and acquisitions editors, shared at Harvard Medical School’s CME Publishing Course each year.

I could apologize for how long it languished in my drafts folder, but instead I’ll turn it into a teaching moment. By giving the post some time to stew, I realized I could add some examples to make it even more useful. You may find that with your writing as well. If it’s not jelling, let it go and return to it later.

And, without further ado, here’s the post inspired by advice from literary agents, with my own take on their advice, including examples that I hope bring their pithy pearls of wisdom to life.

Course director and founder, Julie Silver, MD, invited each literary agent or acquisitions editor to end the discussion with a pearl of wisdom. Here’s the necklace of pearls:

This Year’s Advice from Literary Agents and Acquisitions Editors

Debbie Carvalko, Acquisitions Editor with Praeger (ABC-CLIO): “Check competing books. What about the books strike you and inspire you?”

My Take: It’s important to know how your book fits into the market and is both similar to and different from other books in its category. Where can you make your mark and add to what’s already out there? How can you meet needs that other books don’t yet meet? Read the book reviews on Amazon and see what readers like about the books and what they think is missing. Consider addressing their complaints in your book!

Leslie Shapiro, MSW, an expert in treating OCD (and a past course participant!), noted that patients tended to relapse if a specific symptom was not addressed. Yet other books seemed scant on advice about this symptom. Thus, she demonstrated a strong need for Understanding OCD, which was published by Praeger.

Jeanne Fredericks, Jeanne Fredericks Literary Agency: “This is a very accomplished group. Change your viewpoint while you’re here. Think of yourself as a student. Open up and ask questions; make connections.”

My Take: I’ve seen many course participants do a great job of asking questions, being open and networking. One favorite example is Jonathan Lief, MD, who signed a book contract last year with BenBella Books (Jeanne Fredericks is his literary agent). Years ago, Jon attended a blogging and social media advanced workshop with Rusty Shelton and myself and asked more questions than anyone I’d met at the course. Inspired, he decided to blog, worked with Rusty and continued asking questions. In 2016 his blog, Searching for the Mind, was awarded “Best World Wide Online Universities in “Neuronal Plasticity”: The Science of Learning – Resources on How Our Brains Work Best.” Other blogs included MIT’s and Stanford’s! Jon had never thought of his blog as an online university!

More about Jon’s blogging experience can be found in our interview about building an award winning blog.

Jean Black, acquisitions editor at Yale University Press: “Really work on the craft of writing. Consider a writing workshop. And, once a year, read a classic like Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style.”

Harvard Medical School’s CME publishing course

My take: Although I teach writing workshops, I also become a student and take other people’s workshops at least one a year. Writers conferences, with multiple workshops, help you hone your skills, get creative, network and reinspire you. My favorites? Harvard Medical School’s course: Writing, Publishing, and Social Media for Healthcare Professionals and the San Francisco Writers Conference. The International Women’s Writing Guild (IWWG) offers many terrific weekend workshops as well as a summer conference. For a literary conference, consider the Ocean State Writers Conference at the University of Rhode Island.

The past two years I stretched myself and attended the Contemporary Theater Company’s Ocean State Improv Festival. Improv helps you let go of expectations, judgments and “monkey mind” and truly get present. And that’s a crucial skill for any writer to develop.

As to Strunk and White, I agree wholeheartedly. I especially enjoyed an anniversary edition sent to me by Teri Scheinzeit, award winning author of Success Without Stress: Simple steps to Finding Calm for Women Business Owners.

Linda Konner, Literary Agent at Linda Konner Literary Agency: “Write a magazine article or get an essay published on the topic of your book. You can get paid for it and you just may get the attention of an agent or publisher.”

My take: I love this advice and I’ve seen it happen. I would add, consider blogging for a national platform, like Psychology Today. Although you won’t likely get paid for blogging, it can increase your visibility dramatically. After Harvard Medical School’s CME publishing course, many years ago, Dr. Craig Malkin approached me for help with his book proposal. We took a step back and I shared some strategies for developing his author platform. He began a column for Psychology Today called Romance Redux, now one of PT’s most popular columns. After a post of his on narcissism went viral, HarperWave (a division of HarperCollins) approached him about writing a book on the subject. The result was the popular book Rethinking Narcissism.

John Mass, Literary Agent with Sterling Lord Literistic: Know the category you want to be writing in and read all the bestsellers.

My Take: Great advice. In the comps section of your proposal, you’ll want to compare your book to bestsellers. And, in terms of reading, it makes sense to learn from the most successful books. Find out what works. See what others have to say. Don’t write in a vacuum if you’re writing a prescriptive book.

Don Fehr, Literary Agent with Trident Media Group: “Just as we say, ‘Listen to your doctor,’ listen to your agent.”

My Take: This one speaks for itself. Agents know the field. They understand what specific publishers are looking for. They can help you make your book and proposal even more compelling.

Joe Rusko, Acquisitions Editor with Johns Hopkins University Press: “Be sure to involve your audience in your content creation process in some way—have a local book club or library group review a few chapters; ask for feedback on a chat group. Involving your ‘end users’ into manuscript development helps ensure your work will resonate with your prospective audience.’

My Take: I love Joe’s advice. Not only will it help you write a better book, but you’ll have fans who are already invested in its success!

Regina Brooks, Literary Agent and Founder of Serendipity Literary Agency: You need three things to interest agents and publishers: incredible writing, a hook and a strong platform.

My Take: Don’t worry if you don’t have these yet. It takes time to build your platform and write a great book (or book proposal). Give yourself the time to do it right.

I hope you find this advice from literary agents and publishers helpful! Continue to seek out experiences that will help you hone your skills and keep writing!

Writing, Publishing and Platform-Building Tips from #Harvardwriters2017

April 5, 2017 by Lisa Tener

writers at the harvard medical publishing course — Dr. James Zender; Alan Rozanski, MD; Lisa Tener, MS; Candyce Ossefort-Russell, LPC-S

It’s a high moment.

We sit around the oak table in the Oak Room in Boston’s Fairmont Hotel, Copley Square. Harvard Medical School’s CME writing and publishing course has just ended and the air seems charged with enthusiasm and insights.

I am with three clients—Dr. James Zender, expert in auto accident recovery; and two participants in my Bring Your Book to Life® Program, grief expert Candyce Ossefort-Russell and Alan Rozanski, MD, pioneer of Behavioral Cardiology and author of over 200 academic articles and research studies.

We share the takeaways, the shifts, the new ideas.

We brainstorm on the structure of Alan’s book. Alan could write a dozen books and still have more research to share. His challenge? To pare it down to the one theme of this book, yet give readers all the tools they need to implement—and stick with—the health strategies he offers.

James shares the new platform-building initiatives he is planning after speaking with an interested agent.

With Candyce Ossefort-Russell at Harvard Medical school publishing course

Candyce shares how she’d been working on her book on and off for five years until the aha moment swimming at the Y when she realized that if she died that day her only regret would be not having written and published her grief book.

If you missed the course, I hope to share a few insights during the next few days. Today, Candyce, Alan and James offer their takeaways:

Alan Rozanski, MD found himself inspired, “to be among a sea of like-minded individuals in the health field.” Alan returns home clearer on “the need to build a platform and develop a strategy for developing a social media presence.” He now plans to develop both a website and blog. His takeaways:

“It’s important to put yourself in a situation where you need to pitch your book. It helps you refine the idea.”
“I learned from Rusty Shelton that a website needs to gives visitors a clear action step. I’m now working on a short ebook that helps readers assess and improve their current vitality.”
“I realized how important it is to connect with people in the book industry in order to develop an action plan for success. In addition to my book coach, Lisa Tener, there were agents, publishers, a publicist and many types of editors. Just from my 70 second pitch, an agent requested to see my proposal when it’s done.”

Candyce Ossefort-Russell shared this:

“I learned from Dr. Julie Silver that I need to be able to describe my book in one sentence. This challenge forced me to become extremely clear in my own mind about what I’m writing about, which makes my book writing more focused; and having this powerful sentence makes it much easier to share with anyone what my book is about.”
“Rusty Shelton made it clear that social media is not just about numbers. It can be used to build relationships with people I find interesting. Kristin Meekhof expanded on this idea by saying she used gentleness and gratitude to build her online relationships. The idea of building relationships with gentleness and gratitude makes the whole prospect of building my platform a positive challenge instead of a necessary evil.”
“Kindra Hall presented a novel way to think about anecdotes. The typical writing advice is to show instead of tell. By giving us the storytelling basic formula of Normal ->Explosion -> New Normal made the idea of showing come alive in a new way.”

Dr. James Zender’s favorite tips:

“Our brains are wired to connect to stories so the best lectures and writing utilize that structure. Easy to say and easy to forget, but critical to drawing in readers.”
“With the extreme highs and lows one can experience writing a book and book proposal, having a book coach can be a better mood stabilizer than Lexapro!”

I first met Dr. Zender at the conference two years ago. In addition to working together on his book proposal, he has been working assidously on his platform as an author. He developed a new website for auto accident survivors and other audiences, became a blogger for Psychology Today (publishing 18 posts, half of which were featured as “essential reads”), developed a lecture series, keynoted at a conference and spoke at several others, applied to speak at several other national and international conferences, and was interviewed for a series of podcasts by McGraw Hill’s Professional Insights Blog.

If you attended the course for the first time this year, let Dr. Zender be an inspiration to you. List your planned activities for the year. Prioritize them. Implement them. Check them off. From building a website to blogging to writing a book proposal, you can do it!

But you can’t do it all at once. Make a plan that’s do-able. Figure out what you’ll give up to make the time for this. Schedule specific times to work on your book, proposal and platform, each individually.

Course attendees: Share your takeaways and aha moments!

When and How to Write a Second Edition: Author Spotlight with Julie Silver, MD

October 21, 2015 by Lisa Tener

Julie Silver, MD is director of Harvard Medical School’s CME course on Healthcare Leadership and Publishing. I have interviewed her before on how to write a health book and earlier this year on publishing trends and tips. With the second edition of Before and After Cancer Treatment just out–and people all over celebrating breast cancer awareness, it seemed a perfect time to bring Dr. Silver back to answer questions about when and why to write a second edition, how to write a second edition, specific challenges authors face in updating to a new edition and also specifics of what readers will get out of this important book.

Lisa: I’d like to start with the idea of a second edition: Why is a second edition of a book needed? When is it necessary? I imagine that with a book like Before and After Cancer Treatment new treatment methods come up, new research—so that at least some of the information is eventually out of date. Is that the main reason Johns Hopkins University Press published a second edition? Were there other reasons?

Dr. Silver: The second edition of Before and After Cancer Treatment has a lot of new updates that are due to medical advances that support survivors’ recovery. For example, the concept of “prehabilitation” is introduced for the first time in this new edition, and I explain how it is different from “patient education.” Prehabilitation involves actual interventions that improve outcomes for survivors—it helps to empower them and focuses on things that will make a difference in their physical and emotional health. The first edition was called After Cancer Treatment, and for this new edition we added “Before and” to the title to emphasize that this is a book for people who are newly diagnosed as well as those currently going through therapy or finished with treatment.

Lisa: Had you gotten reader feedback that inspired any new features or content? Things that readers had requested or questions they’d asked that spurred new material?

Dr. Silver: The excellent Amazon reviews for this book, and the number of hospitals that ordered bulk copies to give to every newly diagnosed patient has made this book such a worthwhile endeavor.

Lisa: Once you decide to write a second edition, what’s the process of updating the book? What steps do you take and how long did it take?

Dr. Silver: It took about 6 months to do the actual research and writing and then another 6 months for editing and getting to the finished book.

Lisa: [bctt tweet=”What are the pitfalls to watch out for in writing a second edition?”]

Dr. Silver: I was tempted to rewrite more than I needed to. I had to remind myself that the first edition really resonated with and helped survivors. I wanted to be sure that I didn’t change it too much and lose that strong connection with the readers.

Lisa: Great point. Was writing the second edition much quicker than writing a book from scratch or not?

Dr. Silver: Yes, it is definitely faster and easier! As long as you focus on an update and don’t try to rewrite the whole thing.

Lisa: You share some personal details that you reveal are very hard to admit—for instance how hard it was to care for your children at some points, that you just “sat around” at some points during your treatment. Was it a process to decide what to reveal and to feel safe enough to do so? Any tips for authors on how to do that?

Dr. Silver: Yes, that part was and is definitely hard. It’s important to let readers understand your story, but at the same time, I wanted them to focus more on the medicine than on me. So, striking that balance was something I spent a lot of time on.

Lisa: That’s great advice for any self-help author—to consider how much of their story to provide depth and context and how much to leave out, as well. In Before and After Cancer Treatment you share the story of when and why you decided to write this book. It’s a great example of there being books on the subject but that you had something unique to offer that wasn’t out there in the marketplace, in particular, you and your colleagues developed a model for cancer rehabilitation care that you call “STAR” – Cancer Survivorship, Training and Rehabilitation, and developed programs so that institutions could adopt this model which helps maximize long-term survival and prevention of recurrence. When did this idea come about? Did it happen as you were writing the book?

Dr. Silver: A few years after the first edition came out, I developed the STAR Program which is a turnkey solution for hospitals and cancer centers to offer survivors rehabilitation services. Cancer rehabilitation medical care is generally covered by health insurance, but too few survivors get these important services. This means that they live with more pain, fatigue, weakness and disability than is necessary. There is a lot of suffering in cancer, but there’s no need to have unnecessary suffering when cancer rehabilitation can help. Survivors can find a STAR Program near them by putting their zip code into the STAR Program finder on the STAR Program website. If there isn’t a STAR Program near them, they should ask their doctors if they know about it. Many new hospitals are adopting it every week!

Lisa: What are some of the things you are doing to spread the word about Before and After Cancer Treatment?

Dr. Silver: There are quite a few people like you who believe in my work and are willing to share it with survivors. It’s a privilege to be able to help people when they are sick.

Lisa: What would you like to leave our readers with?

Dr. Silver: No book can replace excellent medical care—I want people to read Before and After Cancer Treatment, but I also want them to ask their doctors about cancer rehabilitation medical care and to find a STAR Program near them.

Ask your questions about the book, writing or publishing–our favorite question or comment wins a free copy of Dr. Silver’s book!