BURTON, Wendy 1951-

PERSONAL: Born 1951; married.

ADDRESSES: Home—Red Hook, NY. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Harmony Books, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Photographer, designer, and freelance literary agent. Stewart, Tabori & Chang, New York, NY, vice president, director of sales and marketing, and associate publisher, 1997–.

WRITINGS:

Joy Is a Plum-colored Acrobat: 46 Life-affirming Visualizations for Breast Cancer Treatment and Recovery, Harmony Books (New York, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, Wendy Burton found a number of self-help books, but many of them had a combative undertone, emphasizing the battle with cancer or ways to become a warrior in your own defense. Instead, Burton turned to deep visualization techniques where she let her imagination roam free and actually found peace, and even a kind of joy, in reimagining her struggle. As a longtime executive in the publishing business, Burton decided to produce her own visualization guide, based on these peaceful images. In Joy Is a Plum-colored Acrobat: 45 Life-affirming Visualizations for Breast Cancer Treatment and Recovery she provides visualization suggestions accompanied by lively illustrations. Among these are umbrellas shielding healthy cells while chemotherapy rains down on the cancerous ones and tiny athletes pushing out the diseased or dangerous cells. While noting that not all images will appeal to every patient, a Publishers Weekly contributor felt that "others, such as imagining oneself atop a 12,000-foot mountain, with green and rust lichen on the rocks beneath one's feet, will provide women with a supportive structure for coping." Library Journal contribu-tor Bette-Lou Fox maintained the book will appeal to anyone who feels that "life-affirming will help overcome life-threatening."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, September 1, 2004, Bette-Lee Fox, review of Joy Is a Plum-colored Acrobat: 46 Life-affirming Visualizations for Breast Cancer Treatment and Recovery, p. 184.

Publishers Weekly, September 20, 2004, review of Joy Is a Plum-colored Acrobat, p. 15.