Coming back with a vengeance

[John Foxjohn]

At least I hope and plan to. Most of my friends in the writing world haven’t heard from me in a long time. It has been a year since I have really been on this site.

A little over a year ago, in perfect health, I went to the doctor for a routine checkup. They ran the normal blood tests and things like that and I went home. A week later, I get a call from the doctor’s office about my test results.

This is a normal occurrence, but what wasn’t—they wouldn’t tell me the results on the phone. They wanted me to come in to see the doctor to discuss them—they also advised to come in right away.

From this conversation, I knew something had to be wrong—since I felt really good, I knew it couldn’t be to serious. I was wrong.

If you think it is tough listening to someone tell you that you probably have cancer, try having them tell you they think you have it in two totally different places. The odds of beating cancer has increased, but the odds of beating two of them at once—not as good.

Of course, I didn’t know I had cancer at all, only the tests would tell that. Before I left the doctor’s office, he told me if I didn’t do something about my cholesterol I wouldn’t need to worry about cancer. As it turned out, my cholesterol was at the critical level and that had to be taken care of before the cancer.

To make a long story shorter than it can be, it turned out that I did have the cancer in both places. I’d like to tell you that the treatments were fun, but I think everyone would know better.

However, there are some advantages to the treatments—I’m still alive and want to continue that way. It appears at this point that I just might have survived this.

I had to cancel most of my 2008 schedule, and that saddened me. Some of the events I had planned for 2008 I had tried to get for a couple of years. But again, if I had to make a choice, I’d rather be alive.

My schedule is beginning to fill up with appearances, signings, and I am going to teach several online classes this year. Take a look and if you are in the area, drop by and say hello. If you want to take one of my online classes, I’ll look forward to having you in the classes


On Feb. 13th, I speak to the East Texas Writers Association. My topic will be Everything you wanted to know about homicide investigations and forensics but were afraid to ask. The meetings are held in Longview on the second Friday of each month at Casa Ole (210 N. Spur 63, Longview, Texas). Dinner begins at 6:30 p.m., followed by the meeting at 7:00 p.m.

At 2:30PM on Feb. 22, 2009, I’ll speak to the The Keller/Southlake/Ft.Worth/writers meetup group about Plotting the Mystery or Suspense Novel. The group meets at the Keller Police Department education room. http://writers.meetup.com/614/

For some reason it appears that I have become quite popular in April. Mind you—I am not complaining at all.
April 1-7, 2009-an online class with Elements of Romance.
Topic: The 5P’s of self-promotions-prior, planning, prevents, poor, performance
http://www.elementsofrwa.com
The cost for the class is $6 for element members and $9 for everyone else.

April 19, 2009 from 10:00AM to 4:00PM
Lufkin/Angelina county Downtown Hoe Down
The Hoe Down is a street festival held each spring in downtown Lufkin. Events include arts and crafts sales, entertainment, food, a classic car show, children's games, bed races, wrestling and more. This year also features a book signing by best-selling author John Foxjohn.

April 20-27, 2009-an online class with Elements of Romance.
Topic: Eight steps to murdering a manuscript without a conviction
http://www.elementsofrwa.com
The cost for the class is $6 for element members and $9 for everyone else.

In June, I teach an online class for the KOD COFFIN CORNER 2009
http://www.rwamysterysuspense.org/coffin.html
Eight steps of murdering your manuscript without a conviction


Then in August, I will teach an online class for the KOD COFFIN CORNER
http://www.rwamysterysuspense.org/coffin.html
The topic is Police procedures, and may be one of the most comprehensive classes taught on this topic.