Think of this as my official “coming out” party.
Truth Be Told: Adam Becomes Audrey
, currently available through my official author website and major online booksellers, is my first book. It is also my memoir.
In it, I share how I met, fell in love with and married the man of my dreams only to find out that he self-identified as and planned on having gender reassignment surgery to “become” a woman. Yes, the person I once cherished as my soul mate is transgender – or more accurately, she is now a transsexual.
You can well imagine how difficult it was to learn my ex-husband’s devastating secret. After all, we’d been together for several years before we declared our love to the world in a fairy-tale wedding captured on television – so I had no reason to believe my dreams would one day become a living nightmare. But that’s exactly what happened when I learned the truth roughly one month after our second wedding anniversary.
As hard as it was to face the truth back then, writing about it was even harder. In fact, the whole process took more than two years and the final product sums up more than 20 years of my life in approximately 50,000 words.
Make no mistake, I didn’t write this book to “out” my ex. I didn’t write it to get revenge or exploit her in any way. I certainly didn’t do it to exploit my own life. Instead I wrote it to achieve some measure of catharsis and to share a different perspective on an oft-told story.
While many members of the LGBT community often write books about their experiences, we seldom hear about the impact those experiences have on the authors’ friends and family. This issue came to light again this week, when the world learned that a retired U.S. Navy SEAL formerly known as Chris Beck is now Kristin.
As I reflected on the matter in a blog on my author page at goodreads.com:
For all of the sensational headlines splashed across the Internet and all of the details about Beck herself, I found myself thinking about her family and friends. Beck says they’ve been supportive, and while there’s no reason to believe otherwise, I can’t help but wonder how they felt when they first learned the truth. Were they shocked? Scared? Angry? Hurt? Did they feel betrayed? Who helped her through her transition? Who walked away?
Perhaps Beck answers these questions in her book. But from what I can tell from mainstream media accounts, no one has bothered to ask.
That’s sad.
Beck says that by coming forward and sharing her experience in her memoir Warrior Princess, she hopes to promote greater tolerance, understanding and compassion.
By writing Truth Be Told: Adam Becomes Audrey