The comedy self-help memoir I’ve just had published, “My Wild Ride: How to Thrive After Breast Cancer and Infidelity,” references almost 70 books, including one of the most quoted books in modern spiritual literature, the bestseller “Love without End” by Glenda Green. I was fortunate to be able to study with Glenda in person at a seminar in Texas earlier this year. She is renowned worldwide as a speaker and writer of contemporary spirituality. Glenda is also an accomplished painter and artist of the internationally acclaimed portrait of Christ, “The Lamb and The Lion.” Her paintings are housed in major art collections, including the Smithsonian Institution. Glenda has taught on the faculties of Tulane University and the University of Oklahoma. I mailed her a copy of “My Wild Ride,” with tags marking the pages where I had mentioned her work, even though I knew the subject-matter was unlikely to be her cup of tea. Every Sunday, Glenda offers a free blessing service, where listeners can call in to ask questions or request specific blessings. I was delighted that at her latest Spiritis Church Sunday Service on December 11, Glenda praised my book and gave me this wonderful endorsement. It was totally unprompted as I did not think it was appropriate for me to try to solicit a review from her. But nonetheless Glenda gave me one that truly came from her heart, and I was blown away by what she told me:
“I have a compliment for you. I picked up your book last week and I would recommend it to anybody. I hadn’t picked it up before, even though you acknowledge “Love without End” several times in it, because the content wasn’t really a topic of interest for me. But you are of interest to me, and I was interested in your comments, so I picked it up and I thought, okay, I’ll spend a little time reading. I started reading and I was captivated by your writing, by your way of presenting subjects that could be frightening for some people, that could really be off-putting for many people, and you handled it with so much charm and candor and polished writing, that I just kept reading. I didn’t want to put your book down. So I went from being someone relatively not interested in the subject to someone who didn’t want to put the book down. But first of all, I will say as a writer and as a teacher for many years at the university level, I really admire good writing. I get sucked in by good writing, and I’m so glad you either took the time, had the talent or had the help to make the writing really flow well. It makes all the difference in getting the message across to other people. I didn’t read the whole book, but I’m sure it’s wonderful.”
At this point I interjected: “It’s a comedy self-help book about breast cancer and infidelity, so that’s not really something that is relevant to your life at the moment, Glenda.”
“That subject was not very interesting to me, frankly, but I think there’s probably no-one in this world who doesn’t have at least some connection with someone they love, who’s been through part of this, or will be going through part of this. And your book provided such a loving embrace, I guess that’s the way I would describe it, such a loving embrace, intelligently presented—very, very readable.”
“So Glenda, would you be willing for me to put some of your comments on my website as an endorsement of my book? Are you OK with that?”
“I am. Sure! I am so ready to endorse all contributions to the betterment of humanity, I truly am. Anyone who reads your book will be grateful!”