ON WRITING

ON WRITING

WRITING WHAT YOU KNOW

When I began to write professionally, in 1983, I followed the age-old dictum: Write what you know. So I started out writing book reviews for the Advocate, the national gay and lesbian newsmagazine.

Looking back I can see I didn’t know a lot, really. I barely knew myself then, at age twenty-five. But my education had given me the tools I needed to gather and analyze information. I had learned how to think critically. And I was curious about the world around me and eager to understand how things work.

As I explored, I learned what I value and why I value it. I realized that growing up in a working-class family in southeastern Connecticut had given me a sensitivity to the struggles of ordinary people to live with dignity in the face of the many indignities they are forced to confront. My (homo)sexual orientation made me aware of what it feels like to be treated with cruelty and disrespect because I was different from the majority.

I also learned more than I cared to know about illness and suffering as I saw my friends, and my father, die from terrible disease.

These experiences shaped my commitment to equal justice for all people, and my intolerance of injustice toward anyone. They also led me to specialize in reporting on the AIDS epidemic and other serious health issues.

I am keenly aware of life’s fragility, and the precious gift of time. I also possess a great capacity for joy and playfulness.

This is why I have authored a “serious” book on AIDS―and other books on the fun of disco and the pleasure of fine cigars.

It’s why I can easily move between the “heavy” subject of illness and death, and the need to be playful and to laugh. They’re all important aspects of a balanced life.

I hope you will find in my writing the passion and pleasure with which I live life. And I hope my insight and observations will enrich your understanding of how the world works, and deepen your own enjoyment of life.

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