Being Ellen

Advocacy with Heart

Coming Up for Air

Wow. I started this blog back in January intending to write at least monthly, if not more frequently. While that worked for a while, my posting entirely dropped off three months ago. The reason?

I was in writer’s hell finishing my second book, Being Ellen: A Second Chance at Life. The revising and proofreading became near-constant, sapping my energy for anything else. Heck, even my bike riding went to the wayside—a huge no-no for me!

However, I’m now pleased to report that Being Ellen is done and published. You can check it out here on Amazon. And here’s the website for the book. It’s all such a relief to finally have that book done!

In case you haven’t heard about the book, Being Ellen chronicles my “womanhood journey” of the decade and a half that followed when I first came out as “Ellie.” The book shares stories about relationships lost and repaired, and about how I found my chosen family, centered around “Thap,” my best male friend since eighth grade. All this is an extension of the story set forth in my first book, Getting to Ellen: A Memoir about Love, Honesty and Gender Change, which was published in 2013.

Being Ellen also chronicles my roles as a nonprofit leader, columnist, radio/podcast host and inclusivity speaker/workshop presenter, all in a quest to fulfill what I call my “mission work” to change the world for the better. As Ellen—”Ellie”—Krug, I’ve very much felt a need to work for positive change for all humans (and not just for transgender folks).

Beta readers and my editors found Being Ellen engaging and touching. One reviewer, Reid Forgrave, an author in his own right, wrote, "In a brand-centric age when true authenticity is in short supply, Ellie Krug's raw rendering of her journey to become her true self is a breath of fresh air. Telling her story with equal parts intimacy, humor and heartbreak, Krug's tale transcends the typical coming-of-age memoir and delivers a fearless tale that brings a dose of empathy to a politically divided world."

Just as Reid intimated, the book represents my effort to bridge the horrible divides that increasingly plague America. I know, it all sounds a bit crazy: a transgender woman with a man’s voice is going to show others how to get along? About how we can live together?

Frankly, my answer is “I don’t know,” followed by, “But I’m darn well going to try.”

It turns out that I learned a few things on this womanhood journey of mine. As you may read in Being Ellen, I repeatedly reached across the divide with a message of compassion, inclusion, and self-value. Rather than being rebuffed, I found that the message resonated time and again. It didn’t matter if I was in blue Minneapolis or deep red Texas—people repeatedly demonstrated that they cared about others, even total strangers.

Yes, America faces incredible challenges right now. Still, the human heart hasn’t changed. It’s just that when people are stoked by fear, they say and do bad (and sometimes horrific) things. Yet, most people (like ninety-eight percent) have good hearts. When you touch hearts, incredibly good things can happen!

My goal is to keep working to touch hearts. Everywhere. Please wish me luck!

ellie