I’m so excited to share a few things with you. The first is that I have finished the first
draft of my first novel. A dear friend,
in Australia, has just completed a beta read and the first basic edit, and I
hope to have it to a professional editor by the second week of March. My goal is to self-publish in May. I want the release to coincide with another
milestone, in my life, that I will tell you about in a moment.
The novel, Almost Home is about Stephen Bennett, a
thirty-two year old HIV positive man who has just lost his lover to the ravages
of AIDS. The couple have a fourteen year
old son, Caden. This all too common
tragedy happens a mile above the Castro District, of San Francisco. Convinced, as many were, in the 1990’s, that
he would inevitably succumb to AIDS, Stephen must do something to ensure Caden
is cared for. Faced with his own
mortality and confronted with a growing rift between himself and his teenage
stepson, he decides to move them both, across the country, to Minnesota. This is in an effort to reconnect with the
family he’s been mostly estranged from, since he was just a half decade older
than Caden. Through relationships found
or rediscovered, secrets are revealed.
Old resentments and new beginnings send Stephen and his extended family
hurtling towards one shocking night, New Year’s Eve, 1993, when a heartbreaking
act of violence threatens to shatter all of their worlds apart.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I have talked about writing,
nearly, my entire life. I started on a manual
typewriter when I was twelve years old. I
didn’t know how to type, so I hunted and pecked away at the keys of that
ancient machine. To this day, I type
with two fingers. Teachers, in high
school and college, attempted to break me of the habit, to absolutely to no
avail. For many years, I stopped with
the typing altogether, handwriting poetry.
There were a couple of attempts at novels, but nothing like this. I am so thrilled to have come this far.
Now, about that second milestone, on March 8, 1989, I tested
HIV positive. In a couple of weeks, it
will be twenty-five years. The quarter
of a century, now more than half of my life, that I have lived with HIV, has
been challenging certainly, but mostly, it’s been rewarding. I’ve been gifted with too many beautiful
friendships to count. I have been
showered with support from family and friends.
Since 1990, I’ve participated in twenty AIDS Walks, in LA, San
Francisco, Seattle, and now Minnesota. This
year, on Sunday, May 17th, I challenge my friends and family to join
me. I’ve set a fundraising goal of
$5000. Personally, I hope to raise half
of that. Beyond that, if 20 friends each
raise $100, we’re nearly all the way there.
The novel is a reimagining of some parts of my journey. I look back on the 1990’s, when I, too, felt
there was no chance I’d survive the decade.
Almost constant battles with drug changes and the nagging side effects
that accompany each change have certainly challenged me and those I love and
work for, and with. I’m very happy to be
able to tell the story of a man and his extended family facing similar
struggles, apart and, hopefully, together.
It seems apropos to combine the publication of my first novel, with the
25th anniversary of my testing positive, and the AIDS Walk,
immediately following that milestone.
The book is called Almost Home,
so I’ve started a team for the Walk, by the same name. You can register to walk at www.mnaidswalk.org Choose to join a team and find Almost Home. You can pledge me, personally, or the team,
by going here: http://mnaidswalk.org/kev1229#.VNz8huk5CUk
It has been the biggest pleasure to take this journey with
all of you. Expect the launch of a
personal website within the next month, where you can follow the progress of
both projects. Again, I hope to have the
book, in at least Kindle and paperback form, available for purchase on Amazon,
in May.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!
