Lesbians Rock Volume 2: Stories of Women Loving Women (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781493600359)

Ann Gross Patterson, now living in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. with her partner/wife of fourteen years awaits the day when her state will join sixteen other states to allow gay marriage. They own their home and have pets including two small dogs, one adopted cat, a cottontail rabbit, four laying hens and a pet turkey named T-Bird. Ann, a teenager in the 1950's, knew her romantic heart was different than her sister's who was 'boy crazy' and had a boyfriend from her early teens. Ann knew she had a 'girl crush' on various girls, then women; even so, she married a man who pursued her throughout her college years because the pressure from parents, church and society. She divorced after sixteen years and three wonderful children, when her husband became abusive. After raising her children as a single mother and her first grandson his final teen years, she followed her heart and came out publicly as a lesbian. From that day forward, she has remained proud and happy as the lesbian she had always known she was. Her children accepted her decision and continued to love and accept her as they always had. Ann began writing at the age of sixty-nine and found her primary genre to be lesbian romance. Her stories tell about ordinary women, lesbians whose hearts are naturally attracted to women, not men. The characters in her stories live real lives in ordinary homes, facing real and ordinary problems while sharing the same romantic love known by heterosexual/straight couples. Together they purchase homes, enjoy pets of all kinds, go to church when accepted at the church of their choice, take vacations, grill steaks on the patio, face their problems and contribute to their communities while also enjoying the company of gay friends and straight friends and neighbors. Her stories are written not only for lesbians and their friends but also for Questioning youth, Just Out women and for family members of gays and lesbians who desire to understand the ordinary lives of gay couples. Ann graduated from Modesto High School and Fresno State University, both in California, and taught "Creative Writing" to eighth grade students starting in 1960. From that day she intended to write a book but put it off for fifty years. Today, she encourages anyone who has ever said, "Someday I'm going to write a book" to do it now instead of waiting for the years to pass. She served in official capacity as management for numerous nonprofit organizations in Idaho before moving to Oregon.