After finishing law school in 1992, I decided to write a book with my sister, Toni, who is more neurotic than I am, but who is also one of the world’s true experts in the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM). In brief, FAM is a scientifically validated and natural method of highly accurate ovulation detection, and as such, it is a very effective form of natural birth control, pregnancy achievement and empowering gynecological education (And no, it's not the rhythm method!) Although I had never had a course in "Menstrual Law," she convinced me that the information she had been teaching for over a decade could change the world if only it was packaged correctly, and that in essence, all women from puberty onward should know the information that she had to impart.

Toni is a wonderful woman's health educator, but she needed a co-writer to produce the book that she envisioned. I became that writer, and over the next two years, I spent most of my time researching, editing and co-writing what was soon to become "Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control and Pregnancy Achievement." For both Toni and myself, putting together this book was probably the most grueling experience of our lives. But in 1995 it was finally published, and with the help of increasing word of mouth, it has now sold close to 400,000 copies. In fact, a fabulous second edition was published in November 2001, and with a little publicity, I still think it can sell millions! No joke. But don't trust me, click below, and see what some of our readers have told Amazon.com....

By the way, while I am acknowledged as the book's indispensable co-writer and overall organizational backbone (in an official acknowledgement written by, of all people, myself), I chose to keep my name off the title, since we wrote with her voice, not mine, and more importantly, I'm not that interested in being associated with variations in cervical position. Still, if you'd like to see the kind of style in which I wrote, and even how my own friend's experiences aided in the writing of the book, you can read my brief depiction of the curious causes of delayed ovulation.

An Update (7/05): Toni and I have just finished our newest collaboration, Cycle Savvy: The Teenage Girl's Guide to her Awesome Body and other Menstrual Mysteries, which will be published by HarperCollins sometime in 2006. It's going to be very way cool, although honestly, for me, I do hope I never ever ever have to write about cervical fluid again...