Two moms, friends, and sometimes-still-stuck authors, who had an idea…

The 52 Weeks and our blog the52weeks.com was started as a way to shake things up, try new things, get out of our respective comfort zones. Now, a few years later, our book, The 52 Weeks: Two Women and Their Quest to Get Unstuck, with Stories and Ideas to Jumpstart Your Year of Discovery is on shelves nationwide.

A lot more than 52 weeks ago, we were out one night and got to talking (well, complaining really): Edging into forty-something, we found ourselves in a state of stuck. We had checked off many of our major life goals — career, husband, children, friends — but we’d lost momentum. So we came up with a plan. Have some fun, rediscover our interests, face some fears, try new things, and renew our relationships. We challenged ourselves to try one new thing every week for a year — from test-driving a Maserati to target practice at a shooting range to ballroom dance lessons — and to blog about our journeys. It was a lot harder than we ever imagined.

During our 52-week journey a lot of things happened.

Our journey sparked ideas while we simultaneously had some great times together and individually. We also came to some realizations–both big and small–and ultimately felt compelled to share what we had learned with others beyond just our blog.

So we decided we would write a book.

Well, it wasn’t that simple. Let’s back up a bit…

In 2010, while we were blogging, we started to get letters from fans and followers. Then, we received a call from a reporter. She wanted to do a story about us! Pretty exciting!

The story ran in Urbanbaby.com in July 2011. That’s when we started thinking about a book. We weren’t always on the same page but we both agreed that if so many women felt this way, let’s put it out there and see what happens. We wrote letters to publishers and literary agents. We waited. We called. We had some meetings. We wrote a proposal. We edited, we wrote, we edited some more. We went to bookstores looking at what was out there. We knew we had something different.

Then it happened. In May 2012 we landed a book deal. We interviewed experts for the book. We did research. We wrote more! In the end, our book included personal stories interspersed with expert advice from doctors, psychiatrists, artists, and even a poker diva! Our book was published in November 2013 by Skyhorse Publishing.

We are now edging out of forty-something and having fun spreading the word, planning workshops and hoping our book continues to inspire and motivate many. It’s amazing when we think back to how it all started. Talk about shaking things up! We’re authors now!

The bottom line?

Getting “unstuck” doesn’t have to mean running a marathon, traveling the world, or climbing Mt. Everest. We hope that through our experiences and a good dose of no-nonsense advice, readers can see how achieving small goals can give you a renewed sense of accomplishment and how you can keep growing, learning, and moving forward at any age.

Pam Godwin and Karen Amster-Young – The 52 Weeks Auhors