Humor writer scores medals as good as Olympic rewards. “The Women’s Daily Irony Supplement” is praised by the publishing industry.
Los
Angeles, CA, June 11, 2008 — Two months before the Summer 2008
Olympics in Beijing, one woman has already scored one bronze, one
silver and one gold medal. Remarkably, she captured these awards
without so much as lifting a badminton racket or taking steroids — at
least that she knows of. The unlikely competitor is a 47-year-old
Jewish mother, Judy Gruen, whose humor book, “The Women’s Daily Irony
Supplement.” (Beagle Bay/Creative Minds Press http://www.beaglebay.com $14.95), has just won one of each kind of medal from the publishing industry.
“I’ve wrestled Thanksgiving turkeys heavier than Gwyneth Paltrow, and I
once bowled an 87 even without the bumpers, so I knew it was only a
matter of time before I’d hear my name and the words ‘wins the gold’ in
the same sentence,” said Gruen, exuberant. “Naturally I’m thrilled, and
particularly grateful that I don’t have to stand on a little box
wearing Spandex to receive my awards.”
Gruen’s book captured the Gold in the ForeWord Magazine Book of the
Year Awards; a Silver in the Independent Publisher Book Awards (the
“IPPYs”) and a Bronze from the Independent Book Publisher’s
Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards. Her previous books, “Till We Eat
Again: Confessions of a Diet Dropout” and “Carpool Tunnel Syndrome:
Motherhood as Shuttle Diplomacy,” also earned awards for humor from the
Midwest Independent Publishers’ Association.
In lieu of an appearance on the Olympian stand in Beijing, Ms. Gruen
intends on doing a victory stroll around her block, wearing her medals,
at 10:00 p.m while walking her dog Ken. “The sodium lights are most
flattering at that hour,” she observed.
Asked about the impact of her growing renown, Gruen sighed, “Mostly
it’s been great, except that people often recognize me in the markets,
and so now when I squeeze a melon I have to do it Olympically funny, in
case I’m being watched. Not too bad a trade-off, actually.”
A quip from The Women’s Daily Irony Supplement appeared on 5 million Starbucks cups.
Gruen’s humor has appeared in Ladies’ Home Journal, Family Circle,
Woman’s Day, the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe,
and many other newspapers and magazines. She writes and podcasts her
humor for several print and online outlets, including aish.com,
mommasaid.net, and Jewish Life magazine.
