The Dooryard

The Outsports Revolution

It only took two years from conception to publishing, but my first book, THE OUTSPORTS REVOLUTION, is finally on the shelves. Woohoo! I hadn't given it much thought in the last couple of months until I ventured into a bookstore in Provincetown this past weekend and saw it on the shelf. The clerk asked me to sign it, which was cool.

Early reaction has been very strong. Bob Lipsyte, who is one of the most respected sports journalists in this country, emailed us and said "it's great, a terrific read AND an important source book." To get that kind of praise from him is pretty incredible, to me. Other straight and gay people who have read it have told me they really enjoyed it. "I couldn't put it down," one told me. Maybe that's just because I know them, but I don't think so.

Please do buy a copy of the book - you can get it at Amazon. From the early reaction I've heard, I think it's safe to say you won't hate it, and you'll definitely learn some things. We'll be having some book signings here and there, so stay tuned for that too. Thanks!

"Debt free at 33"

If there's one area in life that I was never very smart, it's with money. Through school, I never quite learned how to budget well or how to manage credit cards. When I moved to New York almost three years ago, I was approximately $16,000 in debt to credit cards. And that's not counting my school loans. My credit card APRs were hovering around 22%, which meant I was not likely to get out of debt anytime soon.

Luckily, I'm married to a man who does understand how to budget money. Dan made it a priority for me to erase my debts (except for my school loan, which was about another $3,500; but at 5% interest, he says it's not big deal). Around the time Dan was setting me straight, I stumbled across The Credit Counseling Foundation. It's a non-profit 501(c)(3) that negotiates debt with credit card companies and helps people like me erase that debt.

I called them on the phone and they were incredible. It took about a month to get everything going, but they reduced my APRs to under 10% and put together a five-year plan to erase that debt. I completed the plan in two years. Just this past Monday, TCCF returned my first payment as a congratulations for completing their program.

This is not an advertisement, and TCCF has no idea I'm writing this. But, if you have credit card debt that you just can't seem to get out from under, please do yourself a favor and give them a call at 800-790-3882 or visit their Web site, www.godebtfree.com. They're located in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., but they service the entire country; and they'll give you a free consultation. You owe it to yourself to start enjoying more of the money you earn. There's nothing wrong or shameful with going into debt; the wrong thing is staying there and letting it undermine your ability to achieve happiness.