Hodgen's Advice

Say What You Know, Know Something Interesting, Know What You Know.

This is the advice of John Hodgen, a man who told himself he couldn't be a writer and so read other people's crap for seven years before he got up the confidence to do what he was made to do.

And I realize that, with enough self-assurance to put it out there, I have a story to tell too. I think many would perceive me as far too young to have some undiscovered knowledge to convey, but the things that happen to us in our coming of age usually are the most interesting, defining moments. And I think my growing up story is just enough mainstream, and just enough weird, to be interesting. I think the hardest trick of this is knowing what I know. Which is sort of anti-Socratean wisdom, but that's just part of the job.

So with Hodgen's words to guide me, I think I may just write a book. I'll call it something like, Third-gender and Clueless: An abnormal individual's encounters with very normal situations.
Here's my first go at the table of contents:

1. Why this isn't just any coming of age story.
a. being smart and not pretty
b. very different fantasy-play
c. parents and hiding in plain sight
2. puberty and identity: the guy with nice boobies.
a. being shaped by girls
b. being wanted by boys
3. Falling in Love with a Boy
4. Falling in Love with a Girl
5. Rebounding over a Boy with Girls
6. An Indifferent Coming-Out
7. The First Time a Boy Lives with Me and My Parents
8. College Boys (who are decidedly not High School Boys)
a. College Girls (not what you think)
9. Being the only Guy in a Girl's Dorm
10. The First Time I Live with a Boy and His Parents
a. being a "wife" with a "mother-in-law"
11. Leaving College, aka Going Back to High School

I'm sure that if I undertake this endeavor, I will have more chapters to add by time I catch up with now, but hell, as a confused teenager with angst and identity issues, if I had seen this table of contents and a free e-book chapter, I would totally fucking read it!
So this is a stand-alone post, and because it's what I've been dealing with all day (I would say chiefly morning, but this it's now 4:30 so eh), I will start with Chapter 10-a.