Writers@Work: How use the 100-Day Project to Write a Book

An Interview with Kimberly Knowle-Zeller

by Rochelle Melander

Welcome, Kimberly. Tell Us About Your New Book.

Small Steps: Blessings to Lift Your Soul on the Pilgrimage of Life is a collection of blessings, poetry, and essays that meet the reader in their everyday life: the nitty gritty, down-in-the-dirt, dishes-piled-in-the-sink, carpool-waiting, caring-for-family-and-friends-life. Your life as it is. In all the joys and challenges. In the moments when you’d rather stay inside, block out the news, and retreat with only your family. In the hours you spend putting one tired foot in front of the other.

Small Steps is divided into seven sections, based on the stages of pilgrimage. I am an avid walker, and one summer I spent a month hiking the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain. The Camino is an ancient pilgrimage route that traverses France and Spain, with the destination of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. The way leads through large cities, small hamlets, vineyards, and open fields. Over the course of 33 days and 480 miles, I encountered rain and fog, mud and pain, sunshine and beauty. I was met by the kindness of strangers as well as hours of solitude and stories from fellow pilgrims. 

Pilgrimage is a lens through which I view the world, a lens that teaches me to keep going, in any circumstance. To move through the world paying attention and trusting that each step is an act of hope. Small Steps uses this lens—attention, hope, and faithful movement—and encourages readers to see the life before them as holy ground.

Blessings aren’t meant to be kept to ourselves, and in reading this collection the reader is invited to see their whole life with the reminder that God is always with them, wherever they go. 

What was the writing and publishing process like for you?

I’ve been writing prayers and blessings for a long time now and have found that this type of writing gets the most reader engagement. There’s always been an energy around my faith writing and I finally listened to that external call and kept going deeper with my blessings. I wrote the opening and closing blessing for the collaborative book You’re In Good Company, and when I read one of the blessings out loud to the other writers they encouraged me to keep writing blessings. It was with their support that I decided to compile all my blessings from over the years and see what shape they could take in a book. 

I sent a few samples to my agent at The Bindery and had a positive response, so then I got to work on a proposal. Once the proposal was finalized, my agent shopped it around and I had one yes from Church Publishing, Inc. I worked with them on The Beauty of Motherhood. 

As a parent of young children, what tools did you use to write the book?

On a whim I decided to do the 100 Day Project (the day it started) writing a blessing a day. I set the parameters low in that I didn’t have to write a full blessing, but at least some words or phrases of a blessing. I’m proud to say that I completed the 100 days and didn’t miss a day! I’m not one to be very disciplined so this was an accomplishment. Many of those blessings did end up in Small Steps. I would write them at the end of the day. Between putting the kids to bed and reading with one kid, I’d slip into my room and write a blessing by hand. This practice really helped me see my day and focus on particular events and sensory images. 

My kids are in school during the day, so I’m able to write in a quiet house. But that doesn’t mean I’m not distracted or have a list of other things that need to be done. We all need food and clean clothes. I looked at how many blessings I needed to write and divided that by how many weeks I had to finish the manuscript, so at least I had a goal each week for how many blessings to write. 

I write in Google Docs or by hand. I wish I was more organized but I’m not! As I was in the editing phase I printed the whole manuscript and read the blessings outloud. 

(For more on the 100-day project: https://writenowcoach.com/how-to-spark-creative-play/)

What are you reading now?

I always have a few books going at the same time. In the morning I’m reading Laura Fanucci’s Living Easter: 50 Days to Practice Resurrection. I also have Sue Monk Kidd’s latest book of nonfiction which I am loving: Writing Creativity and Soul. 

This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page. This is my book club’s pick for this month and it’s a book-lover’s dream of a book with so many literary references and delightful characters and such heart.

And with my kids we just finished Jasmine Warga’s A Rover’s Story which was so great to be reading while the Artemis II rocket was traveling around the moon! 

Is there a blessing that writers can use before they write?

A Blessing for Facing the Blank Page

by Kimberly Knowle-Zeller

When you come to the blank page

or blinking cursor

when the canvas before you 

is waiting to be brought to life,

may you think in possibility

dreaming of what will come.

You may doubt what you have to offer,

start writing anyway. 

You may think you’re not qualified enough,

put your stories down on paper.

You may worry about others 

having already said what you want to say

or having said it better.

But don’t hold back on releasing your creativity

for your words are the ones we need to hear. 

Look in front of you at the page

and bring your whole self,

your memories 

the secrets you’ve never shared

the prayers you release in the dark of night

and take this first step

one word at a time. 

Start small with where you are

with what you love

and how you feel

what you see

how the light shines through the windows

the sound of the leaves rustling

the pitter-patter of footsteps down the hall.

Be only with the page

don’t worry about others

and what they’ve written before

or what they’d say or think

just trust yourself

and God’s Word dwelling in you.