Writing Her Own Path to Success

Photo Credit: Gavin Fernandes @photaugraf

At 71, and locked up because of a pandemic, Anne Fotheringham is finally doing exactly what she has always wanted, but getting here has been quite the ride. 

Eleven years ago, at 60, she went through a divorce, she was downsized at work, and she experienced a massive life shift from working Mom of four boys to part-time caregiver for her elderly parents, all within a few months. In short, the life she had built collapsed in a heartbeat, and she was lost. 

“It was very difficult. Sometimes I wasn’t really sure who I was anymore,” Anne remembers. “But my Mom said, ‘you’ve got to write.’ And I said, ‘I know, I’m writing.’ And she said, ‘well do something with it!’”

But that, Anne has learned over a lifetime of struggling to find her place as a writer, is the hard part - doing something with it. “Because you can write from here to Kansas,” Anne jokes, “but until you get it out from the box under the bed, you’re not going anywhere.” 

Anne was 9 years old when she began dreaming of a writing career. She describes herself as a person with a lifelong love of words. She turned that love into a career in journalism, communications, translation, and publishing, but publishing her own work kept getting pushed to the back burner. 

“I wrote a book in the ’80s,” Anne recalls. “A children’s book that was illustrated by Michael Marchenko, and it did get published. At that point I thought I would continue going with children’s books, but I had a son born prematurely with health problems and I became very focused on that. And by the time he was better I was busy with everything else in my life.” 

When she speaks, Anne punctuates her sentences with laughter, or more accurately soft giggles. It’s a tangible sign of the life philosophy she says she has learned to adopt. “If you can do something about it, then do it. But if you can’t change it, you may as well laugh about it,” she shares. 

That period, eleven years ago, when it all came crashing down for her, is clearly still challenging for her to discuss. “I was 60 years old when I left my husband and that caused a lot of repercussions for me. My four boys were pretty much grown up at the time, and I was working full time. But as soon as I got my divorce I was let go at work. I literally went to human resources to advise them of the change in my marital status and two weeks later I was downsized. It was funny because part of me was gravely upset, I wanted to throw desks at people. And part of me was going ‘woo-hoo!’ I don't have to go to work tomorrow!”

She thought she might use her time to get her writing out to the world, but her father was in advanced stages of Alzheimer’s and her parents needed help. So she went from caring for her own family to caring for her parents. But, she recalls, they also cared for her.

“My Mom was the one who said to me, ‘You need a website.’ And I said, ‘Of course I need a website but I don’t have money for that.’ And she said, ‘Here, there’s a course at John Abbott, go take the course, I’m paying for it.’ She was 86 years old.” 

Anne took the course and set up the website where she offered herself as a freelance editor and worked on some really good books - written by other people. She did that for years, all while cooking, cleaning, and caring for her parents. Then her Dad lost his battle with Alzheimer’s in 2013, and her Mom died two years later. 

“I wouldn’t trade the time with them for anything,” Anne recalls. “My mom really pushed me to get my writing out there. I can still hear her voice in my head saying, ‘what the heck do you think you’re doing?’” 

When her Mom died Anne vowed to share her writing with the world. And then, she took a bad fall. “I almost lost the sight in my right eye,” she shares. “My retina detached. I had to have two surgeries. Then I went on two vacations because I felt I needed them. Then I came back and promptly fell again and cut my head open. So now I figured the universe was trying to get my attention.” 

And if the message from the universe wasn’t loud enough, her son made it perfectly clear. “He said to me, ‘Mom, you’ve got all these stories, and books sitting around. We’re not writers. And if you don’t get these stories out there, there’s a dumpster sitting outside.’ And I thought: ‘OH! All my stories in a dumpster!’ And, like my mother, he said, ‘Well DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!’ So I got really serious about my writing.”

“I had belonged to a writers group for twenty years, I had earned my Master’s Degree in writing popular fiction when I was in my 50’s and that’s where the first chapters of the Lamb’s Bay series were conceived. I had always been planning for this, so after that conversation with my son, I really pushed myself. I finished the first book in the Lamb’s Bay series then promptly got the second book done, and I wrote the third book before the end of 2019. So I figured if I had three in the can then I could publish them while I was writing other things. And then COVID hit.” 

For Anne, the pandemic was just another call to action. “To me, that was the universe saying, ‘Okay. You can’t go anywhere. You’re immunocompromised. So sit down, get your butt in the chair and do this.’ So that’s what I did.” 

Anne published her first three books, and she wrote three others in 2020. She also has four books that she completed throughout her life that she’s ready to share with the world now. “I’m going to be busy for the next couple of years. I’m planning to make it to 90 like my Mom.” And now that the writing is flowing, and she’s found the courage to share her stories, she reflects on what was really holding her back all this time. 

“I always had this thing in the background. I could be doing the most stellar things at work and I would still think I wasn’t doing the right things. I think that would reflect on me not getting my books out there, because I would think it’s not good enough. That’s not as important as driving my son to a hockey game or this, that, and the next thing. That's something I finally overcame. I finally asked myself, ‘why am I so worried about what people think?’ I think that’s the thing that holds us back in life. I had to learn to be me and accept me. A lot of my friends have said, ‘You're not the same person you were 10 years ago.’ And I say, ‘Thank God!’”

Anne’s books are available through her Amazon page.

You can read more about her on her website.