About Me — Tucker Lieberman
Delighted to be 40. Travel at your own speed.
Pleased to meet you!
I was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and I lived in the Boston area until my late 30s. Stuff I have done:
- got degrees in philosophy and journalism
- worked for an investment company for a decade
- trained as a life coach with (and for) gay men
- co-organized a transgender-inclusive open mic series
- volunteered for a peace organization, traveling to Washington, D.C. a half-dozen times for conferences, training, and lobbying
- spent a summer on a canoe expedition and another summer working for the U.S. Army ROTC
- traveled to the bordering countries in North America (Canada and Mexico); South America (Paraguay); Europe (Italy, Greece, England, and Iceland); the Middle East (Israel); Africa (South Africa); and Asia (India)
In 2016, I met a man online. Four months later, I took a plane to meet him in person, and another four months after that, we were married. He lived in Bogotá, Colombia, so eventually I moved there to live with him.
What I write
I‘ve written two nonfiction books about laser-targeted gender topics — Ten Past Noon and Painting Dragons — as well as a mental health memoir, Bad Fire. I have a poetry book about grief, Enkidu is Dead and Not Dead, and as of 2020 I’m looking for a publisher for my speculative novel, which I call Most Famous Short Film of All Time. You can find all of my publications on my website: tuckerlieberman.com
I’ve written all my life, producing about a thousand online articles and several essays printed in anthologies, but I didn’t begin publishing my own books until I was 38. I always had ideas for books, but they were complex and research-based, so I never managed to pull them together until I set aside uninterrupted time for writing as a “full-time job.” It’s just as well that I waited because I needed maturity to handle these topics properly. Many artists say they wish they had produced more art at an earlier age, but I figure that any piece of art comes to fruition in its own time.
Most of my work is in English, but now that I live in Colombia, I am starting to do more in Spanish.
What motivates me
When I can’t get unstuck from my own quirky fascinations, I take them seriously and work them out for publication because I assume that someone out there must have the same fascinations. It can’t just be me. Right?
Alternatively, when I encounter ideas (someone else’s or my own) that seem jumbled, incorrect, or harmful, I feel the need to sort them out for myself and see if I can produce something better and clearer. I want to help the next person find the kind of information that I would have benefited from.
Either way, I don’t usually pounce on the “hot topic” of the moment. Instead, I spend a long time writing (and rewriting) essays that I hope will stand the test of time.
Often, my writing focuses on democracy, which can include discussion of how different identity groups understand and relate to each other and other aspects of peaceful coexistence. I care very much about the natural ecosystems on which all life depends. I’ve always been interested in ethical theories and the mysterious workings of human emotion and cognition.
Using my reading list as fuel
I’m an avid reader. If it’s got an ISBN and if I’ve read it cover-to-cover, I log it on Goodreads. There, you’ll find over 1,500 books I’ve read over the past eighteen years, and there are 2,000 more on my “Want-to-Read” list! You’re welcome to connect with me on Goodreads!
As the novelist Isabel Allende put it:
“I never feel I have a duty to read something. I read because I love it like I love chocolate. I don’t read a book because everyone else likes it.”
I like to build on what I’ve learned from others, so I often write about books. My recent articles on Medium include “Why Deal with the Devil?” for Curious and “American history to explain ‘How did we get here?’” for Books Are Our Superpower.
What I’d like to do next
I enjoy editing other people’s work on a freelance basis. Most prose written for adults (fiction or nonfiction), as well as paperback and ebook formatting, is something I can handle. I’d love to do more of that. (If you’ve got something you’d like to workshop, contact me.)
What I’d like you to do
Be the best version of yourself, use your talents, do what makes you feel whole, and contribute to making the world a more beautiful, healthy, kind and fair place. Travel at your own speed. Go easy on yourself. And don’t compromise on what matters most.
If our energies resonate, why not make contact? You can follow me on Medium [or — 2024 update — Bluesky or Mastodon]. You can also say hello in an old-fashioned way or in some way I haven’t imagined yet.
