Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/85232
and definitely still baking. Baking has become my greatest stress relief. But I am now not afraid to blog about personal things such as what it is like for women like me to receive a breast cancer diagnosis – every aspect of it. I am committed to supporting other women and giving them a safe place to vent. Support groups are thin on the ground for young women who are busy with young children or full time jobs and the demand is there for support but not much information on how to find it. In view of this, I started a support group for young women under 45 dealing with cancer on Facebook called Young Survivors NZ. Anyone who is interested in joining this closed group can search it on Facebook and request to join. Or I can be emailed on ojwill@ihug.co.nz. Blogging ultimately has not just been a creative outlet for me, but within I've found a community of people who genuinely care for one another and inherently know me so well despite perhaps having never met me. It's been a way to communicate with other women who I might not have known otherwise, whom I share a lot in common with and through our blogging we can gain insights into each others lives and share our joys and adversities. And my hope is perhaps through all that someone might stumble upon my blog one day and find comfort in knowing they are not alone. STARTING A BLOG If you are interested in starting a blog, here are some tips for getting started: • Hosts for blogs are numerous. The one I use is Blogger which I found was the easiest and most functional to set up as it has pre made templates and a step by step process to set up your new blog. However there are blog hosts such as WordPress and Tumblr you can use also which are great. B ROLLED CHOCOLATE COOKIES This recipe I chose because it is always one of my go-to recipes for our household. I try as much as possible to not buy biscuits and the great thing about these biscuits is their versatility. Plain, iced, pressed into 100's and 1000's before baking or sandwiched together with ice cream or butter cream icing (like in the picture shown), they are delicious in any form. 125g butter ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla paste 1 egg 1 ½ cup plain flour ¼ cup self raising flour ¼ cup cocoa Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the egg and vanilla paste. Beat until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl sift together the flours and cocoa and add to the butter mix. Beat until dough forms a ball and pulls away from the mixing bowl. Roll out in between two sheets of cooking paper, place on tray and cool in fridge for 30 minutes. While you are waiting you can turn the oven on to 180 deg C. Remove top layer of cooking paper, stamp out dough with cookie cutter in the shape you choose and arrange on tray 2cm apart. Bake for 12 minutes. This recipe makes roughly 40 cookies (depending on size of cookie cutter). • Decide what it is you want to blog about. It could be about your cancer journey or if you may be into scrapbooking, baking or sewing but whatever it is make it interesting for others to read. B • You can have a blog that is either private or public, meaning you can invite specific people to view it or you can have it open to anyone reading it. It entirely depends on your level of privacy you want to keep. B B • Blogging is a wonderful way of joining a community of like minded people. In my case I have a great supportive blogging community I've built up comprising of kiwi mums, local and overseas cancer survivors, fellow bakers and photographers. The key to creating that community is having something for them to read and comment on, and making sure you are reading and commenting on their posts. • Getting into a routine of blogging can be strange at first but I always try (and not always succeed) to do at least one post per week. Sometimes I may do more and then there have been times when weeks have gone by and I've had nothing to give. B • Do some honest writing. Don't be afraid to be real with your feelings. You don't have to give everything away but don't pretend everything is always okay if its not. Its amazing the words of support and care you receive back when you reveal your honest feelings. B