Reba Riley remembers her 29th birthday well—she was weeping on the floor of her closet while friends and family waited to help her celebrate.
That closet experience prompted her to make a decision to take back some of the power in her life, which was racked by physical and spiritual pain. “I realized that as sick as my body was, my spirit was sicker. I had been ignoring the spiritual pain for a decade, but physical illness takes away the ability to ignore things. I was desperate.”
Riley decided to test/visit/try 30 different religions before her 30th birthday. She learned about Scientology; spent a day with the Amish and attended a church service: took part in a tribal sweat ceremony; and visited a Buddhist temple, an Islamic mosque, and Jewish synagogue. Not to mention churches from all manner of Protestantism, Catholicism, Mormonism, and even Wicca.
“I discovered that the Godiverse will meet you wherever you are or aren’t. God’s love is bigger than everything, bigger than all the boxes we try to put around it,” says Riley, who turned 33 in mid-May. “I had been looking for God in the mirror, in the reflection of the religion I was raised with, and in others’ reflections of God. But God is the light in all of these different religions, not the darkness we see in them.”
Then came the decision to write a book, which took a good portion of four years and included 18 months of editing with the help of a professional editor. Riley also blogged about her experiences, which is where Chalice Press found her. Her blogs prompted Chalice to offer her a contract, which she signed in November 2012. Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome was scheduled for April 1 from Chalice.. But the book’s fortunes took another turn when Riley found an agent negotiate certain rights she hadn’t given Chalice.Kathryn Helmers, managing partner of Creative Trust Literary Group, in Nashville, met with Riley based on recommendations from Riley’s editor. “I was struck by what a funny and poignant writer she was,” says Helmers. “By the time I finished the manuscript, I realized what an extraordinary writer she is.” Helmers took her on as a client, knowing her book should have a bigger reach than a small publisher could offer or, perhaps, handle if the book became the success Helmers knew was possible. Thus began a delicate dance between Chalice, who gave Helmers permission to talk to other publishers, and the one publisher Helmers knew would catch the book’s vision.
“The title caught our eye right away,” says Jonathan Merkh, publisher of Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster. “We were asking why we hadn’t thought of this term before. Then we saw how beautiful, funny, and whimsical the book was, and that cemented it. This was a golden opportunity for us.” Howard Books bought out the contract from Chalice, tweaked the title, created a new cover, gave it a quick edit, and will release Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome: A Memoir of Humor and Healing in 30 Religions in August. “I think Reba Riley has tapped into what a lot of people are feeling,” said Merkh. “It’s the kind of book that will have people sharing it with their friends; they’ll laugh about it, but also be moved about what it says and totally get it.”
The book is endorsed by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, and William Paul Young, author of The Shack; Riley is touring with Young starting in May.
Howard Books is giving away copies of the galley for Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome at the Simon & Schuster booth (2620, 2621) on a first come/first served basis throughout the show.
