"Questing"

I live in Melbourne, Australia. Iím a writer and a television journalist by profession and I have a number (eight to be precise) of books on various subjects to my credit. Most recently I had published what was described (on the cover) as "an unusual family memoir". Some of you may have seen a review at TG Forum. This was an extensive hard back book of the early life I shared with my brother and describes in some detail (among many other things) my early cross-dressing experiences. I was "out" as we say, well before this but the book effectively "outed" me to the whole country. There have been no negatives arising from this revelation. I have not lost my job/s nor come under any heavy criticism from any source. In fact, to some extent quite the contrary has occurred. I have become a sort of ex-officio spokesperson for the Australian CD/TV community.

And yet another door has opened as a result. I have been able to interest my publishers in a new work on the subject of cross-dressing. The work which has been given the working title of "Questing" will take the form of a number of mini-biographies,. written by myself but with the aid of selected members of the community, hopefully around the world. It is expected that the publication date will be towards the end of 1999.

My motives for producing this book are entirely altruistic. I am sure thousands of people who are or who close to cross-dressers will benefit from it with a new and broader understanding of the subject. I can say this with some certainty simply because of the extraordinary reaction to my own book.

Some people will have seen Mariette Pathy Allenís brilliant book, "Transformations". Where this publication was primarily photo oriented mine will be text oriented. "Transformations" provided only thumbnail word pictures to support the excellent photography. I want to expand this into a format which gets into the detailed nitty-gritty of the development of cross-dressing as a phenomenon as experienced by a number of individuals.

So now I am about to make an appeal for help. In doing so I probably need to further qualify myself so if you read this and you are interested but would like even more information, please do any or all of the following.

1. Email me at peterw@books.aus.net

2. Go to my HP: geocities.com/WestHollywood/Stonewall/1703

Itís not much but apart from meeting personally I canít give myself much more of an up-front recommendation.

Whatís in it for you? Not much. But then thereís not much in it for me either if we are talking about money. One does not make any money, other than covering some costs of time, from publications of this nature. Iím doing it because I want to and because I think itís important. But how good, how complete and how honest it will be will depend upon the talent I am able to coerce, induce or persuade into being a part of it.

Now down to the details.

I hope I am inundated with applications but in any event I will have to cull. Some people who apply to be part of this may miss out. Sorry about that but please try anyway.

Firstly; age groups. I need three people from each of the following age groups:

Under 25.

25 - 35

35 - 45

45 - 65

Over 65

Thatís a total of 15. Each of these participants will have about 15 pages of the book devoted to them exclusively. Thatís not a lot when one talks about a full biography but itís a good deal more than most of us provide in the biogs we supply for Home pages, for example.

It is essential that all 15 who are in a relationship tell their SOs and/or spouses whatís happening because I would like to have some notes on the relationship included. So I guess it is significant that SOs are, at least, cooperative. If you are not in a relationship thatís okay too.

Eventually I will need a photograph. Only one Iím afraid. Tasteful and representative of your image of yourself. But I donít need this with the initial application. Thatís will come after the cull, as it were.

There is no need to provide, ever, your real name, address or any personal details which might reveal who you are. This is confidential. But I will need an email or snail mail address for obvious reasons. We will need to communicate.

To begin all you need to do is write to me, via email, about three or four paragraphs, telling me you want to take part and are willing for me to begin to work with you. Give me some brief background, a some of mini-mini biog if you like. I will collect all these and begin the cull.

You donít need to be a great writer. Thatís my job. But you will need to be honest and you will need to reveal a great deal about yourself. I have to know who you are, what you are, where you are in your head and what you know about yourself that might be relevant. And, inevitably, I will be asking a lot of questions.

Okay, please go to it. Always remember this is for us and is directed expressly towards greater understanding.

Peta Wilson