Wednesday Author Guest-Anne Fowler - Authorship, Publishing, Books and More

Please say hello to today’s guest author and it’s Anner Fowler-

This Writer’s Life-(TWL)-Welcome to the Wednesday blog, happy to have you join us today. Introduce yourself and tell us about yourself, your writing and your books.

Anne Fowler (AF)- I was born and raised in Toronto I grew up an only child in a traditional middle class Canadian family of the 40’s and 50’s. But my life has been anything but traditional! After finishing school my career included flight attendant with American Airlines, model, travel agent, world traveller, sales and marketing plus almost 30 years in Human Resources as an entrepreneur/ business owner. I closed my company and retired in 2001 to take up another role, that of humanitarian. As someone once said when they described my various life pursuits during their introduction of me as that night’s speaker, “and she’s only 108 years old”! I live 6 months of the year in Honduras where I have spent the past 22 years developing a variety of community health and education programs.

Why did I write my memoir? The answer I usually give is, “Covid hit and I was bored.” The truth is, I did it on a dare! For years, friends had been pushing me to write about my life and one finally made a bet with me that I was “too chicken” to do it. Since the Hamilton family did not raise poultry, I accepted the challenge! Remembering events clearly from over fifty years ago was easy; it was the more recent events that were sometimes foggy. So I did what I have been doing for over twenty years. I kept a notepad by the bed, plus one at both the foot and top of the stairs. Then, no matter the hour or where I was in the house, when a random thought or memory struck me that was relative to some part of the story, I’d write it down. In my mind I had a basic outline with divisions of the book so when I started writing, I filled in gaps with my “aha moments.” The process took about 18 months of hard work but I truly enjoyed the experience and found that sharing details of my rather unconventional life gave me a sense of accomplishment/ purpose. As indicated in reader’s comments, my story also inspired people.

TWL-What’s been the biggest struggle and how did you overcome it?

AF-For me the hardest part of writing my story was putting traumatic events on paper and then having to face them. But that was also one of the most rewarding parts of writing this book and it gave closure to some events that I’d never “closed.” Hard for me to give writers “writing tips” since this is my only book. But I can say, if you are writing a memoir, write it as if you are talking to the reader. No matter what the book’s genre perhaps the writing down of any random thoughts/ideas/ no matter what the hour is also a help, although I cannot imagine that most writers do not already do that!

Rather than running on about “what” I do in Honduras, it can best be explained by taking a look at my web site: http://anne.honduranhope.net

When I’ve Worn Many Hats was first self published on Amazon just over a year ago, in order to market the book I joined the Face Book community, something I swore I would never do! However, since the profits of the book were going to be used to help fund my children’s annual dental program in Honduras, I bit the bullet and joined! An unexpected benefit has been the encouragement and assistance I have received from many authors and author groups who have given me exposure. Reader comments have been positive. This one summarizes what many have said: . “Her candid account spanning decades of a long bumpy life evokes many emotions; laughter, empathy, shock, admiration. As I read the first half, I kept going back, re-reading and thinking, she did what?!?? In the second half of the book, I discovered what inspired her to make such a drastic change in her life and accomplish “all this.” The memoir is hard to put down, in fact I read it twice! Bravo!”

Although I did not plan to write another book, I am currently working on a compilation of “adventures” submitted by our young international volunteers from the past 16 years. Stories of humorous experiences, dangerous undertakings, romantic encounters, inspirational triumphs and of course situations where I will have to change the name of the writer to protect “the innocent”!!! The proceeds from this book will help fund our new project, a town mobile library.

To reach me:

Email: anne.fowler@xplornet.ca

Face Book messenger: Anne Hamilton Fowler

To order “I’ve Worn Many Hats”

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