Gomer the Gassy Goat got me an invite to be a host on a live TV network. How did that happen? Well, it’s a bit of a shaggy dog, or maybe I should say shaggy goat, story. Back on June 30, 2021, I was a guest on the Crazy Sexy Midlife Love podcast, hosted by Morgana Rae and Devin Galaudet, to talk about my first book, Adulterer’s Wife: How to Thrive Whether You Stay or Not. The discussion covered such diverse subjects as crazy relationships, coping with infidelity, the joys of midlife romance, farting during sex and how to keep laughing whatever happens.

Both Morgana and Devin were kind enough to write me stellar reviews for Adulterer’s Wife, and I wanted to return the favor by reading and reviewing Financial Alchemy: 12 Months of Magic and Manifestation, written by Morgana. It’s a great book that aims to improve your relationship with money and bring abundance into your life. So I ordered it used on Amazon but never received it. Instead I got a children’s book with a bizarre title—Gomer the Gassy Goat: A fart-filled tale. I know I shouldn’t say this but I will—I KID you not! I was taking a break from doing standup comedy at that time, as I wanted to focus on getting my second book, My Wild Ride: How to Thrive After Breast Cancer and Infidelity, ready for publication. But getting a farting goat book instead of one on financial alchemy was a comedic gift I couldn’t pass up. I had to do a standup set about it. The vendor, GoodwillTucson, told me I had to pay the UPS shipping to send it back and get my refund. That would not have brought abundance into my life—it would have cost me $35 to get back $20. So I explained the situation to GoodwillTucson, saying that it made them look like BadwillTucson, but I also thanked them for giving me new material for comedy standup. “Keep the farting goat book for your standup,” they said, and gave me a full refund. There’s proof of the benefit of being a comedian!

I emailed Devin and Morgana to tell them the whole story and also asked if they knew any media folks who might like to interview me about My Wild Ride. I gave them the YouTube link to my standup set on farting, which they loved. Plenty of people had reviewed Morgana’s book, but nobody else had included it in a standup routine.

A few weeks later, I received an email from Devin, introducing me to Sabrina Protic, one of the main producers for the Thriving Women Network (TWN), a live TV internet network broadcasting via e360.com on Amazon Fire, Roku and Apple TV. Devin had been one of the co-hosts of TWN’s Bookish Talk show. Sabrina invited me to be a guest on not one but three of TWN’s weekly shows, Uncomfortable Conversations, Thriving Women Talk and Bookish Talk. Sabrina and TWN founder, Darryl Johnson must have somewhat liked what I said, because next thing I knew, I was invited to be a co-host on Thriving Women Talk and Bookish Talk. And all because of a farting goat book.

Still on the subject of farting animals in print, I’ve done a lot of projects involving the publisher North Atlantic Books. They publish pretty serious stuff—social justice, martial arts, meditation, Eastern religions. However, probably the most successful book they ever released is Walter the Farting Dog. The publishers never expected it to do that well and the rumor I heard is that they only took Walter on as a favor because they knew the author. If you prefer something more highbrow, North Atlantic Books also has an edition in Latin, seriously—Walter Canis Inflatus, to give you a more intellectual look at farting. The English language version became a New York Times bestseller. I write comedy self-help books about breast cancer and infidelity and they haven’t become NYT bestsellers. Maybe I should switch topics and just write about farting.

So I think I’ve got a great title for my next book— CJ the Farting Brit. What do you think? It’s bound to be a bestseller.