Meet the Authors 1: Gail Rubin

Gail Rubin is the author of A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning For Those Who Don't Plan To Die, as well as Hail and Farewell: Cremation Ceremonies Templates and Tips. 

Gail prefers to read and write only nonfiction, and began her career in Washington, DC with a focus in public relations and an interest in event planning. She loves to speak to the public more than write, but found that she can satisfy her need to help plan events and complete community outreach with a focus on death ceremonies and planning. While she has always had a vested interest in death and the concept of death, she found herself focusing on this topic as a writer after she discovered that there was a huge response from ABQ residents to information in the ABQ Tribute for death and funeral information.

Prior to this, she had focused on relationships and romance and had published the book, A Girl's Pocket Guide to Trouser Trout: Reflections on Dating and Fly-Fishing. If you hadn't guessed by her incredibly creative choices in titles for her non-fictions, she believes that humor is best when it comes to getting people to acknowledge and talk about difficult things like death and dying. She said she found that less than 30% of people plan for their funeral. This demonstrated to her that people needed a guide to help them plan, and knew that humor might help to draw out the majority of people. She says we need a creative guide to death ceremony planning, and to personalize celebrations of life.

Do you believe that more people will focus on funeral planning and preparing for death if there are more inviting sources? Or do you believe that people will continue to avoid the subject all together?

Thanks all!