Is this a crazy idea?
The questions that set me on the book-writing journey.
Almost exactly five years ago, my friend Hoël stopped by my apartment on a rainy, weekend afternoon for a cup of tea.
We got to talking about our futures. He was mulling a move to a new city, which he'd end up making a few months later. I was pondering my professional goals, after two great years at my first newsroom job.
"Have you ever thought about writing a book?" Hoël asked.
Honestly? I hadn't. I came to writing a bit later than most of my journalism peers. I had started out as a photojournalist, and was reluctantly dragged into writing in the latter half of college. But I grew to love the keyboard just as much as my camera.
So, what about writing a book? At this point the longest thing I had written was a 2,000-word feature article.
But Hoël and I didn't wallow in the particulars; with some encouragement, he pulled more than a few book ideas out of me. The one that immediately stood out: A narrative history of LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Boy Scouts of America.
By the time Hoël left that day, I was enamored by the idea, but found it highly implausible—not least because I didn't think I had the writing chops. And a topic this big and thorny? A 24-year-old journalist hardly seemed the right person to take it on.
So I called another mentor, an author and journalism professor I had in college, named Mitchell Zuckoff. I pitched him on the book and asked, "Is this a crazy idea?"
Mitch didn't hesitate. Of course not, he said. Write it.
He did not for a moment doubt my ability to pull it off. (I've always felt that his confidence in me was a bit out of proportion with my skills.) But his unflinching support was exactly what I needed in that moment.
I jumped in, interviewing some of the key sources and scratching out some early chapters. I quickly realized I was right about not having all the skills it takes to write a book. I had a lot to learn.
But during the (many, many, many) moments of doubt, I leaned on the words of Mitch, and Hoël, and countless other friends. Writing a book wasn't crazy. It was an immense challenge, yes, but one plenty of others had surmounted. And now five years later, I have too.
It still feels absolutely surreal to hold the finished book in my hands. I cannot believe that, in just four days, it will be sitting on bookshelves and in stores all across this country—maybe, even, in your hands.
Whatever happens next (the book tour, the reviews, the sales numbers) is all just a weird and delightful cherry on top. Because I've already done what I set out to do. I wrote the book. I did the thing. And that will live on forever.
Morally Straight: How the Fight for LGBTQ+ Inclusion Changed the Boy Scouts—And America
This deeply-reported narrative illuminates the battle for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Boy Scouts of America, a decades-long struggle led by teenagers, parents, activists, and everyday Americans.
