Although I don't write "gay fiction," Bernie Freed and Erik Donnekin, major characters in all three of my "Sara Stories" novels are gay, and their stories, including Bernie's coming out, are integral to the plots of Sara's Year, After Sara's Year and The Emmeline Papers.

And although the following scene from Sara's Year didn't play out identically in my life, I did have a similar experience with a friend who, with good but misplaced intentions, tried to push me out of the closet by telling me that I was gay. He was right, of course, but it would take another year for me to get to the place I describe in my Acts of Surrender memoir.

book excerpts, LGBTQMark David GersonJune 2, 2024coming out, LGBTQ, excerptComment

Hello, Yellow Brick Road! – Day 474 – 2024-05-19 – Evening

Whether this journey lasts another day or another 474 days, I need to remember that what I’m doing is making a difference. It may not always be the kind of visible, demonstrable difference my conscious mind would prefer. It may not show up in books sales or coaching clients. Yet the fact that it isn’t always visible or demonstrable simply forces me to trust that much more. And whether I’m on the road or off, trust is what I’m all about.

A Star(Quest) Is Born...

“Not only am I not yet finished with The MoonQuest (as I thought I was), its StarQuest sequel will take me eleven confused and frustrating years to complete. Not the book itself. The first draft!”

Q'ntana, writingMark David GersonApril 16, 2024q'ntana, the starquest, the moonquest, writing, writers lifeComment

It All Started with “The MoonQuest.” All of it…

I am still The MoonQuest story, just as I was that March evening in Toronto 30 years ago…the story of a bard who follows his heart and lets the tales that move through him reveal the way forward as he journeys on a quest to return story, imagination and vision to the land.

The MoonQuest: A 30th Conception-iversary!

It is March 28, 2024 – thirty(!) years, more than twenty books, many thousands of miles and countless lifetimes since the moment of The MoonQuest’s conception. It’s hard to remember that Toronto writer who was so stressed by the loss of control The MoonQuest demanded of him. After all, when you have no idea what you’re writing from one word to the next, you have to surrender a hell of a lot of control!

writingMark David GersonMarch 28, 2024epic fantasy, writers life, fantasy, q'ntanaComment

A Different Kind of Independence Day

March 26, 1984: With my mother gone, all her hopes, fears and expectations for me were gone too. Suddenly, without being conscious of it or of what it meant, I was free.

memoir, book excerptsMark David GersonMarch 25, 2024memoir, parenthood, deathComment

AIDS Beyond Dec. 1

Although I am posting this memoir-excerpt-as-tribute on World AIDS Day, it's important to remember that AIDS/HIV is with us 365 days a year...and not only in the West and not only in the LGBTQ community .

memoir, book excerptsMark David GersonDecember 1, 2023aids, LGBTQ, Montreal, gay, coming outComment

Hello, Yellow Brick Road! – Day 282 – 2023-09-21 – Afternoon

When at age twenty, a few months into my first job out of college, I announced that I was moving out, my mother announced that if I was going, my dog would have to go with me. Seven years of pee stains had been enough. She wanted her house back. (This story may appear to be unrelated to this Yellow Brick Road journey of mine. However, if you read through to the end, you'll see that it has everything to do with it!)

book excerpts, hello yellow brick road, memoir, My Fool's Journey, sedona, pilgrimage IIMark David GersonNovember 12, 2023dogs, memoir, excerpt, fool, pilgrimage IIComment

My Top 10 Writing Tips (They’re Not Just for NaNoWriMo)!

Let these writing tips kindle and empower your creativity all year long, not only during November’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). And apply them to all your writing, whatever your form, media, subject or genre.

writingMark David GersonNovember 1, 2023writing tips, writing inspiration, writing adviceComment

Hello, Yellow Brick Road! – Day 263 – 2023-10-21 – Evening

It’s a scary, tightrope-walking way to write. It’s an ever scarier way to live. In both instances, however, at least in my experience to date, the results are always more wondrous, enriching and miraculous than any conscious mind could ever conjure up, because our conscious minds have access only to the visible portion of the iceberg.