Published books are a collaborative process, in which the author is surrounded and supported by a team of literary midwives. There is no way to overestimate the role of this support team in bringing a book to life.
I thank Mickey Maudlin at HarperCollins for his positive response to the idea of Divine Compensation. His organizing the transcripts of my teleclass in order to lay a groundwork for the book was a gift without which I wouldn’t have been able to write it. I hope our association will continue to be both productive and fun.
I thank Ellis Levine for his wise and excellent counsel. I’m very grateful to know that you have my back.
To the brilliant, adorable, young-but-mature-beyond-her-years Liana Gergely, who spent many hours editorially assisting my process as I wrote this book, I bow in deepest salute and gratitude. As a summer intern who simply appeared “from out of the blue,” she turned out to be a miracle sent from “a thought system beyond our own.” I’ve told her this many times, and I’m happy now to have a chance to tell the world. She is one of those young people who give you faith in what the future can be.
To all the team at HarperCollins: executive managing editor Terri Leonard, production editor Lisa Zuniga, copy editor Kathy Reigstad, Kathryn Renz, and anyone else who helped make the book into what is hopefully a gift to its reader, my deepest thanks. Also, to Emilia Monell for final help with the manuscript.
To my friends Richard Cooper, David Kessler, Frances Fisher, Roger Wolfson, and Victoria Pearman, my thanks for the emotional support that only true friends can give. And thanks to Jennifer Ritchkoff for your willingness to share your story.
To Tammy Vogsland, Wendy Zahler, Drea Dauer, and Jill Angelo, my thanks for assisting me in holding the earth together while my writer’s head was in the clouds.
To my daughter, India, there are no words for the love and gratitude I feel for who you are and what you are to me. As I’ve said to you from the time you were a little girl, it is truly an honor to be your mom.
To my readers and audience, particularly those at my lectures in Los Angeles, I thank you for keeping me on my toes. The depth of your searching, and the kindness that you show to me, are the inspirations behind this book.
There are others who have brought great light to my life, and you know who you are.
My love and thanks to all . . .