I'm a wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister and friend. I come from a long line of creative, energetic, inspiring women who have been my strongest encouragers. I'm a business owner, entrepreneur and a national speaker on business management, healthcare and life transformation. I'm an explorer--life is just too short to do one thing. Whether it's taking on a new challenge, biking a new trail, visiting a new place, planting a new flower, trying a new recipe, I relish change. My family and friends are the center of my life and they all agree that someday my tombstone will be engraved, "Don't have too much fun without me!" Someone once said that a life-threatening illness can be your mentor. Breast cancer became my mentor in 2002 and led me back to the joy of writing. The end result is The Blue Tattoo Club--the book I wish I'd been given when I was first diagnosed.

Christy Schwan, The Author

Linda Gerard Dzik, The Artist

Linda is a lifelong artist whose painting, Wise Warrior, came to life in the summer of 2002. A mixed media of watercolor, colored pencil and torn paper, the female image stands in a strong and solid yoga warrior pose. "As a watercolorist, when I create an abstract, I let the paint determine the illustration. I decided to experiment with a special textured paper and I glued it into wet paint unsure of how it would look when it dried. After it dried, a breast was obvious, a woman emerged and the Wise Warrior was born." Linda had considered donating the picture to a benefit auction shortly afterward, but her husband intuitively suggested that Wise Warrior had another purpose. It hung in Linda's studio for nearly two years until we met in July of 2004. We agreed that its destiny was the cover of The Blue Tattoo Club. The illustration is rich with symbolism for all women, particularly breast cancer survivors. Some see wings. Some see a third eye. Some see the spiral of life in the breast area. It speaks to each person differently. We see a strong, solid woman poised and ready to take on whatever may come her way.