Coming out later in life

Remember the blog party last summer? (The only correct answers is, "YES!") Remember Susan Gabriel? Remember Seeking Sara Summers? Links below, if you don't.

If my memory serves me right, Ellen DeGeneres was the first celebrity I remember who came out and was accepted by everyone, the public and the Hollywood gang. It was no big deal to me, she was still funny and generally her humor is intellectual. I tend to prefer intellectual humor/humour to slap-stick, so I was and am still a fan of hers.

Long ago, a friend -- a nun, to be more specific -- took me to lunch and came out. I have to admit, I probably didn't give her the response she was expecting. She said she was gay and leaving the convent. She was a great nun, so my mind was racing with, "What? You're leaving the convent?!!!" You know those guys are celibate, (well the nuns are more than the priests, it seems), so what did it matter which gender she preferred as a partner. Right?

She might as well have said, "I'm gay, so I'm giving up chocolate!" I totally missed reacting to the gay part of the conversation. Giving up chocolate? She was leaving the convent? Well anyway, she did. She left the convent, not the chocolate thing.

Last week Meredith Baxter, 62, came out. I watched the interview video. It was sweet and I felt for her as it was obvious she is a private person and that personal stuff on TV was difficult. Bless.

So from there Susan Gabriel was one writer the press located to interview on the topic of late awareness of sexual preference. In Susan's book, Seeking Sara Summers, by accident Sara discovers the solution to her dud marriage. She has done all the expected things, expectations she shared, like marrying her childhood sweetheart, raising a family, becoming a teacher in her hometown high school, but breast cancer pushes her to ask, "Is this all there is?" Sara's life wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. See the link to my review of Seeking Sara Summers, below.

As far as marketing goes, this topic with Meredith Baxter is pie from the sky for Susan. As a fellow writer, I wish her well. Buy her book, Seeking Sara Summers, if you want to understand this topic better.

I guarantee each of us know someone who is going to say..."I'm gay and I'm giving up chocolate." So be ready to pay attention and understand.

To be fair to guy celebs let me mention George Takei from the Original StarTrek and David Hyde Pierce from Frasier. There. Done.

Interviews of Susan Gabriel: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/091203/entertainment/out_late_in_lifehttp://www.brandonsun.com/story.php?story_id=172606
Susan at the world's most awesome book blog party: http://www.brandonsun.com/story.php?story_id=172606
Book review of Seeking Sara Summers: http://nadinelaman.blogspot.com/2009/06/buzz-buzz-book-buzz.html
Susan Gabriel: http://www.susangabriel.com/

I forgot to say, there was no compensation for this post.

Party with SUSAN GABRIEL!

Talk about a party! We have had over 3,112 page views so far + YOU! We aren't breaking blog records, we are setting them! Everyone is welcome to join in and win autographed books from the authors!

Connie (USA) won Andrew's book yesterday, autographed and all that jazz. Congratulations! Email me, please.

Susan Gabriel is my new friend of the summer. Remember the kid you met at camp or Grandma's house that becomes your BFF? I just started blogging in April (09) and was searching writer's blogs to figure out this new world. I came to Susan's blog and started my routine exploration.

Me: "Book: Seeking Sara Summers."
Me: "Cool! Alteration in her title, clever. I like it."
Me: "Chapter 1...read, read, oh wow, read...how do I buy this book?"

See what I mean? Is this a strong first paragraph or what? THIS is Seeking Sara Summers!

Sara Stanton stopped at an intersection and stared at the red traffic light ahead of her. She wasn’t the type to go off driving into the night. Not without a map and her destination circled in yellow highlighter. Her grin grew into a smile. She had managed to surprise herself. What if she just kept driving? The possibility intrigued her. She could be one of those people who went into the store to get a pack of cigarettes—in her case, a quart of Rocky Road—and never be seen or heard from again.

I sent Susan and email that was basically..."love your book, posted a review on my blog." (I think it is only right to warn people.) We emailed back and forth and became 'instant' friends. Susan is genuinely warm, caring, and fun. http://nadinelaman.blogspot.com/2009/06/buzz-buzz-book-buzz.html

Here's a review from Amazon.com:
Elena (Spain) The story of Sara (Summers) Stanton sounds like that of many women who live their lives trapped into a life of mostly self imposed expectations. The transformation that occurs in this story shows not only the struggle to let go of the "acceptable" status quo and emerge as an individual that follows her heart instead of her mind, a mind that has kept her in a cell of her own making for most of her adult life, but also that of changing one's mind and the dead weight it has uselessly carried all along. Sara's breakthrough takes time, being sure of what she really wants doesn't happen overnight, letting go of years of unsatisfying habits is the process that we read about in this book.

This is an intimate story with a single POV, the reader is inside Sara's head all through the story, and to me this made the struggle very personal, and somewhat painful. I had this urge to step into the book and scream to Sara it was all right to follow her heart.

Sara's cancer read to me like an allegory of Sara's state of affairs, it didn't feel so much like a physical malady but more like a symbol that the way we live our life can just as easily kill us within. Sara's worst enemy doesn't seem to be her physical cancer, but the mental one.

Supposedly, the light in this story is cast by Sara's friend, Julia, and by the wonderful Italian scenery. But that isn't the light I saw, I kept focused on that bright light at the end of the tunnel that Sara was navigating, and that I kept hoping she'd reach before perishing of self imposed darkness.



Susan is another writer who is also an accomplished musician. It shows in the pacing in her writing. I can almost hear the background music change as Sara travels to Italy with the fountains, statues, shops, and countryside. It has certainly been a while since I enjoyed a book this much.

This is beautiful. From Susan's Blog: http://www.susangabriel.com/blog/writers-and-writing/a-blessing-for-writers/

Party Game: Susan sends Sara to Tuscany. In the comment section, where would you send a character? Feel free to ask any writer questions too. Post comments to win an autographed copy of Seeking Sara Summers.

**If you need help navigating blogger, here are some basic instructions: http://nadinelaman.blogspot.com/2009/08/just-few-basics.html

The comment section is below this line. Click on the word "comments." That's where you can leave a note. eMail me if you have trouble with this...NadineLaman(at)aol.com

BUZZ-BUZZ, BOOK BUZZ

SEEKING SARA SUMMERS by Susan Gabriel is one of the most engaging novels I've read lately.

Susan Gabriel perfectly captures the twenty (plus) year marriage of most of the women I know, including me. The writing is superb, and for those who must have third person POV, here it is -- well done.

Sara's self-rediscovery is encouraging, though her life takes on a twist that most women won't experience. It is hopeful that the cautious-caretaking-zipyourcoat-fastenyourhelmet-Iloveyou mom can learn to breathe easy again and find her forgotten self after the kids are launched 'safely' into adulthood. I only hope we are as brave as Sara.

Seeking Sara Summers is a great read and if I did book reviews, I'd give it a million stars for courage and hope.

Find signed copies here: http://www.susangabriel.com/