Heartfelt Advice

The subtitle of Betty DeGeneres’ new book says it all.

“Just A Mom” (Advocate Books, $24.95) is subtitled “Heartfelt advice from a mother who understands what it means to love and support a gay child.”

In it, DeGeneres discusses giving love and support to family members and friends who happen to be gay. For the unaware, Betty is mom to son Vance, who appears on Comedy Central, and daughter Ellen, a television and film actress. She is also the spokeswoman for the National Coming Out Project by the Human Rights Campaign--and she’s the first heterosexual to fill that role.

DeGeneres will be at Ojai’s Local Hero Book Shop on Sunday to sign and discuss her book.

Ojai is home for now, although her house is on the market. “It’s up in the air, and where I fall, nobody knows,” she said recently, laughing. Though some friends tell her she should be settled, she said she enjoys her life as it is.

Active in Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, DeGeneres tours the country speaking on human rights and signing books. As a breast cancer survivor, she occasionally appears at charity events on behalf of breast cancer research.

She’s also an advice columnist for PlanetOut.com, under the header “Ask Betty,” and has her own Web site at https://www.BettyDeGeneres.com.

Among her plans are studies toward a master’s degree in psychology, because it will help in writing her column, she said. Fiction writing is another goal--she has been working on short stories.

The future for gays and lesbians is mixed, she said, as more gays of all ages come out, saying they are happy to be gay.

“We are seeing a lot of reaction to that,” she said. “Hopefully, like any other movement for equal rights, things will calm down. Some reactions are mean and are coming from the extreme conservatives who don’t want anything unlike themselves.”

DeGeneres touches on the religion question in her last chapter, where she quotes Jonathan Swift: “We have just enough religion to make us hate one another, but not enough to make us love one another.”

But if you buy the book looking for the inside story on the Ellen DeGeneres-Anne Heche breakup, forget it. The book was already at the printer when the couple separated. Besides, she said, it’s history.

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First-time author and Thousand Oaks resident Stacy Erin Myers will be signing her picture book, “Maremaid--A Pony’s Tale” (DeFranco Entertainment, $15.95), in Thousand Oaks on Sunday.

Myers, who grew up in Brentwood, worked at a restaurant for 10 years. The flexible hours allowed her to freelance as an artist, she said.

Inspiration for the “Maremaid” book came from the pony Myers had as a child, along with her fixation on mermaids--she never forgot the sculpture of a mermaid she saw in Copenhagen when she visited there at the age of 3, she said.

Myers is planning four other children’s books, all featuring a character who thinks it’s an underdog but isn’t.

After a recent presentation to more than 500 third- to sixth-graders at Glenwood Elementary School in Thousand Oaks, Myers has a handle on what kids like. She brought along her book, all her original art and a projector.

“I talked to the kids about what it takes to write down your little imagination stories, create illustrations to them and make your own book,” she said. “The kids were fascinated. They all wrote me letters afterward,”

Now Myers is on a circuit, speaking at other elementary schools in Ventura County. Meanwhile, she works at her day job, managing a boutique shoe store in Westlake.

HAPPENINGS

* Sunday: 10:30 a.m. The Meaningful Life Book Club will discuss “Book of Jewish Values, A Day-by-Day Guide to Ethical Living” by Joseph Telushkin. Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 446-2820.

* Sunday: noon. Author Stacy Erin Myers will sign “Maremaid--A Pony’s Tale.” Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 446-2820.

* Sunday: 2 p.m. Betty DeGeneres will sign and discuss “Just A Mom.” Local Hero Book Shop, 254 E. Ojai Ave., Ojai. 646-3165.

* Tuesday: 9:30 a.m. Story time on “Angelina Ballerina” stories by Katherine Hollabird. Ventura Barnes & Noble, 4350 E. Main St., 339-9170.

* Tuesday: 7 p.m. The Second Tuesday Contemporary Book Group will focus on “Behind the Scenes at the Museum” by Kate Atkinson. Borders, 497-8159.

Information about book signings, writers groups and publishing events can be e-mailed to anns40@aol.com or faxed to 647-5649.