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When I decided to write about my journey, I deliberately DID NOT read anything that other parents had written about their life/journey with a transgender child. I wanted my story to be mine alone without any subliminal outside influences. Suddenly my vision has become my reality, and my book is a real thing. At least it’s a real thing on the internet, but it will be a tangible real thing that you can hold in your hands in just a few months. My hope from the beginning of this book thing is that there are other parents out there in the world who will read my book, When He Was Anna, and find comfort in knowing that they aren’t alone as they struggle to understand the child that they love so dearly. Since hope isn’t a plan, I’ve realized that I can’t do this on my own. I need help in getting the word out there about my book. People can’t read it if they don’t know about it, and they won’t know about it if someone doesn’t make an effort to show it to them. So, I hired some help. I have people who know much more than I about how to launch a book. They talk to me about newsletters, podcasts and interviews and all kinds of scary stuff. And I’ve been told that it’s time to read about other parents and their journeys; it’s time to learn how others have coped in situations similar to mine. I’m told that I need to be prepared so that I can have an intelligent conversation about a topic that impacts me so deeply but that I really know so little about. Here’s what I’ve discovered—there are some amazing parents out there who have taken time to share their stories which are often so similar to (yet so vastly different from) my own. Love Lives Here, by Amanda Knox, is both powerful and entertaining. Amanda’s story has so many layers, and she peels them back one by one so that her story unfolds in front of your eyes. Raising My Rainbow is Lori Duron’s story of a ‘gender non-conforming’ child. Much like Amanda Knox, Lori is masterful in writing in such a way that makes you smile instead of cry.
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