“How the Hell Did I Not Know That?: My Midlife Year From Couch to Curiosity,” written by Lucie Frost, follows a woman who found meaning in her life outside of work and ways to heal her self-perception from learning unconventionally.
When trying to get a book published, the process is always a lengthy one, and it differs by genre.
“For non-fiction you write a proposal then you send it to these agents, but you’re in their slush pile so most of them don’t see it,” Frost said. When Frost sent her drafts of “How the Hell Did I Not Know That?,” the feedback was the same song of “come back when you have a following.” If Frost wanted to be accepted by a publishing house then she needed to learn how to be on camera.
“You have to put yourself out there in various places.” Frost said.
Under the username “luciehfrost,” Frost was able to get enough clout to be scouted by Trinity Book Publishers. With the support of her family and her being under the wing of Trinity, Frost was able to draft, edit and publish her book this past August.
The book starts off with Frost explaining how she became stuck on her couch as a result of unemployment, where watching reality television became central to her life. She decided that instead of regretting the drunken resignation text she sent to her boss, she would put all of her focus into learning and researching. While watching reality TV, she would look up any word she did not know. She found the answers to any questions she had about the programs she was watching — like how one could get their overseas boyfriend to the states and legally marry him. Frost called this research project “Couch to Curiosity.”
This book is essentially a published log of Frost’s findings. She writes in a way that makes readers feel like she is in their presence , informing readers about her research. All of her weird factoids and definitions are compiled into this novel, filling readers with the same knowledge she gained during her research. The flow of her writing feels so natural. The way Frost shifts from one topic to the next feels almost conversational. She commonly bears off topic to a little side quest conversation but then immediately hops back on track once she is done articulating her spontaneous ideas. The information she finds is not formatted as a list. There is a process Frost endures to get to the actual finding, story, topic and explanation. Pages jump from Frost and her husband going out to eat to the proofing of alcohol but formulated in such a way that all of her stories connect, even when she explores mundane topics.
Frost also does not shy away from talking about herself, either. It takes a lot of courage to write down every insecurity and fear onto paper and to publish them instead of hiding behind the research and hoping no one questions the author. She talks about her insecurities when it comes to quitting but also speaks on the purpose of her project and the purpose of her retirement. She even talks about her past struggles with her weight — a battle that many fight on a daily basis.
Any reader who needs a break from stories of a boy fighting dark wizards and tales of kids battling Greek monsters should consider “How the Hell Did I Not Know That?: My Midlife Year From Couch to Curiosity” by Frost — a mother, a retired lawyer, an avid learner and, now, a writer.
