The inside story of Zowie in 500 words. Zowie Part 1 is posted on the FROG Blog website and my author page on Facebook (Christina M. Eder-author):
…run. Eight years later, sometimes one sentence at a time, I finished, “Life’s Too Short for Dull Razors, Cheap Pens and Worn-Out Underwear.” I hadn’t titled the book yet. The project generated from a long-time friend’s dare, so I wanted the title to be whimsical and have it published on April Fool’s Day.
Fast forward through a lengthy tedious process, “Life’s Too Short for Dull Razors, Cheap Pens and Worn-Out Underwear” got published April 1st. Thinking the book was my “one and done,” I was shocked when Chris, my publisher asked when the next Life’s Too Short book in the series would be completed. What? Series? Another book? Thinking he was returning my April Fool’s joke, I laughed.
Speed through 30 minutes of publisher-author dialogue…
Chris suggested modeling my website FROG Blogs to create a book series of the FROG stories. Gulp for air.
Fast forward past another year of endurance work on a lightning-pace project, which included 23 other people writing their FROG story….
FROG Blog: Learning on a Lily Pad, the first of a five-book FROG Blog series, was published May 2019. The second book is on my layout/editor’s desk. Unthawed: Lessons From a Frozen Lily Pad is targeted to launch this spring.
I’m on a three-year schedule to complete the remaining three FROG books. This is where Zowie trumpets its grand entrance in this “adventure.”
According to my (emphasis on my, ahem) plan, #3 of the 5 is a children’s version of FROGS called Tadpoles: Lessons from a Tiny Lily Pad. #4 is Poetry Pod: Free-Spirited Living on a Lily Pad. #5 is Knee Deep, yet to have the subtitle.
I planned to work up enough courage to write Knee Deep, the most vulnerable piece, last. I figured 2022 would allow time for my faith to catch up with action. I wanted to save that “last” book for when I had more book sales, more reviews, more trust, more followers, more…yes, courage.
I received some “out of this world” direction and it seems my Eleanor Roosevelt Project spirit has taken a vacation. I am to write Knee Deep, not Tadpoles, while waiting for Unthawed to publish. Zowie.
In October 2019, I began a nine-month writing quest. I started handwriting short letters to God because I wanted to do something unique to recognize the pregnancy of our son 30 years ago.
Those letters are meant to be reviewed after this nine-month venture. I planned a retreat after July 16, 2020, our son’s thirtieth birthday, to reflect upon whatever lessons develop during this literary pregnancy.
I’ve written daily Creator Chats since October and immediately file each letter in a chronologically ordered accordion folder. I stash the letters quickly to avoid my tendency to review, edit, judge, or for some chats, take to a dumpster.
I always thought it’d be neat to publish a short, handwritten diary so I planned to write Knee Deep from pieces of my 2019-2022 journals. I planned to copy the entries that related to the three…
To continued 3/20/20,
Christina