A Longer Journey

We aren’t doing many road trips these days, so I’ve been writing about our journey through the pandemic.  Although that journey continues, it seems to be dribbling out (rather than concluding).  But during this time, Andrea and I have been on an even longer journey.

Five years ago I began writing a story for my daughter about my journey from being born transgender 20 years before the word existed and navigating life toward wholeness.  I was encouraged to publish it to a wider audience and continued to work on it, editing and rewriting.  Last year I published In Between in softcover and as an ebook.  It has been well received.  My heart has been warmed by the responses.

While getting the book into publishable form, the story came to the attention of an independent filmmaker working in the area.  He came to us wanting to make a movie of the story.  After some persuasion, we agreed.  That was in 2018.  He wrote the screenplay, then he and I worked together for about six weeks rewriting it.  He cast Andrea and me to play our parts.  

Since we had no acting experience, we went to acting classes for a couple of months.  It was a fun experience.  We were easily the oldest students, but the others welcomed us as we developed some new skills and they honed theirs.  Filming began in May and continued into July of 2019.  Then post production began.  

I have always enjoyed films as a consumer and have had only a vague idea of how they move from idea to finished product.  It was wonderful to get a chance to look behind the camera and see the energy and various talents needed to create the world we watch sitting in a theater or on our couches.  We were fortunate to work with an enthusiastic crew, who brought their considerable talents to the enterprise.  The days were a combination of fun and hard work and long hours.  And then we could only wait, as more work was done behind the scenes.  It has been a lot of waiting while others did their work.  Through the efforts of all those involved, we have a beautiful little film.

Beginning today, the film Strictly for the Birds is available on several streaming platforms: iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, and Vudu.  You can watch the movie trailer here.

It has been an amazing journey – one we never expected to undertake.  And the journey continues.  We didn’t do this just to have a book and a movie be done.  We did this to help people understand what it is to be transgender, and to spread a message of hope and love.  A message that love can find you at any age.  And that with understanding and the kindness of others, we can each grow into who we are meant to be.

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