I never thought I would write a memoir, and still maintain that no one ever should. There are far too many memoirs published already. But … well, there it is. I wrote one, and it’s out this week. I hope it is funny, and insightful, and honest, and all the things I look for from the authors I admire. You be the judge, and let me know.

The book is the product of my failures at twelve different spiritual practices, including mindfulness (what does that even mean, anyway?), fixed-hour prayer, fasting, an Orthodox Jewish Sabbath, financial generosity, and others. If you’ve ever felt like you are flunking sainthood — that you think you might love God but don’t quite measure up to the standards you set for yourself — then we are probably kindred spirits.

The book was featured in a lovely story in USA Today yesterday about religion and humor. The underlying question is always: Can God take a joke?

I’m counting on it.

I’ll post some over the coming weeks about book events, but I don’t want my blog to devolve into being about me, me, me. I hate that. So here’s a working schedule of the next few weeks:

• Saturday, October 22: Books by the Banks Festival, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati, Ohio
• Saturday, October 29: 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Reading and signing at Innkeeper’s coffeehouse in Galesburg, Illinois
• Wednesday, November 2: Reading and signing at Benchmark Books in Salt Lake City, Utah @ 5:30 p.m.
• Sunday, November 6: Reading and signing at Church of the Redeemer in Cincinnati @ 11:15 a.m. (All Saints Sunday!)
• Friday, November 11: Reading and signing at the Diocesan convention in Dayton, Ohio, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

I love to meet readers, so if you’ll be around at one of these events, be sure to say hello and tell me how you flunk sainthood.