On this episode of Book Journeys, Vice President for The Author Incubator, Jenn McRobbie, interviews Dr. Ron Holt, author of Pride: You Can’t Heal if You’re Hiding from Yourself.
Ron was born and raised in rural Nebraska, which wasn’t a good place to be born and raised in as a gay man, which Ron was. Ron was, in his own words, “bullied and victimized” by his homophobic father while he was growing up, and the impact of that was only mitigated after years of therapy. It was after that therapy that Ron realized that there was nothing wrong with being gay, and that his treatment at his father’s hands was due to his father rather than to something he did and was, after which he was able to accept and love himself for who he was.
Ron became a board certified psychiatrist and took a corporate job which he would eventually hold for twenty years, and in that time he also felt compelled to share his story and possibly help others out who were in the same situation as he was, so they could live their life authentically. Ron has been speaking in front of audiences for seventeen years, and he remarked that he had influenced not only gay people like himself but others, as well, who could also help gay relatives or friends out, such as the grandmother whose grandson told her he was gay years after she had attended one of Ron’s talks, and despite the passage of time the grandmother knew just what to say to her grandson.
Ron wrote the book to reach others who couldn’t attend his talks, remarking that those who read Pride could do so in the privacy of their own homes and discover the lessons within and apply it to their own life in their own way and time. Ron sees writing the book as an extension of his sharing his story and the message behind his story with others, remarking that he feels that it would be selfish of him if he didn’t share these.
Ron’s mother passed away while he was writing Pride, but she did live long enough to read the book manuscript. On her deathbed, she remarked to Ron that she now regretted not doing a lot of things in her life, and that she didn’t want that to happen to Ron, and the day before she died Ron promised her that he would follow his heart, which was why he soon quit his corporate job of ten years so he could then focus full-time on speaking and telling his story, with the intention of helping others.
Ron found the actual writing process easy, thanks to Angela Lauria’s program, remarking that he had tried to do so once but didn’t know how to put it all together. It was thanks to the program that he learned all of the steps that went into writing a book, and his advice to would-be authors is to not hide from themselves and bring their message out into the world.
Ron recently finished publishing an LGBT coloring book, which is available for free as a .pdf on drronholt.info. He also has a new website, drronholt.com.
Listen to the Dr. Ron Holt Interview on Book Journeys Radio
(Transcript) Dr. Ron Holt – Book Journeys Author Interview – March 9, 2017
DOWNLOAD the PDF: Book Journeys Author Interview – Dr. Ron Holt – Mar. 9, 2017
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