Updated: 05/14/2008

 estlund ann author

    More than you may care to know...

                                       About Annie ,

                                author of  For Widows Only!

       I, Annie (Thompson) Estlund, was born and reared in Wisconsin and, except for a two-year stint at Cottey College in Missouri in the 1950s, I spent most of my life there until 1994.

     The writing bug bit in 1956, when my new husband, Bruce, and I owned and were co-editors of a tiny weekly newspaper, The Muscoda Progressive, in southwestern Wisconsin. As co-editor, I was privileged to write important news articles, a humorous weekly column, miles of local "items," AND sell advertising, maintain the subscription list, hand-set type for job printing, run the addressograph, run the job press, pitch in with the huge press and folder when necessary, and clean the office occasionally, AND keep the apartment and family in some kind of order at home. Bruce's load was heavy, too.

     With little Cindy looking on from her playpen, and her brother, David, trying to kick his way out of my tummy, we decided the daily regimen of a small weekly newspaper was a whole lot more stressful than satisfying at that time.

     Soon we and our two, woops make that three, little ones, C, D and E (for Eric), moved on to bigger Wisconsin towns and bigger jobs for Daddy, while Mommy stayed home and ran the house and family. I continued writing, when time allowed, for magazines, newspapers and newsletters, gradually honing my craft, and making a few bucks.

Death.. Birth of an Idea

     At the age of 29, I began planning a self-help book for widows with my recently widowed best friend, Pauli, also 29. We had become lifelong friends while attending Cottey College. In spite of our enthusiasm, that project soon became a struggle...with me living in Waukesha, a Milwaukee suburb, and Pauli living in Minneapolis. It withered on the vine as we each succumbed to the time required to care for three babies and maintain a home.

     I finally received my bachelors degree in journalism, from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, at the age of 45, shortly after my youngest departed for college. I had co-authored a book about working mothers that was "almost published" in the '70s, and I wrote 4 (mediocre) romance novels in the '80s, just for fun. But mostly I wrote articles for (much bigger) newspapers, and for regional and national magazines.

     After a stint as Public Relations Writer for the Milwaukee Art Museum, I worked as the editor of several area newsletters. In 1986 Bruce and I retired to write full time and moved to our little log cottage on the rocky shores of Lake Michigan in beautiful Door County, Wisconsin.

     Then "IT" happened. At age 55 I was suddenly widowed. I was completely thrown, and quickly realized that my "study of widowhood" years earlier was of little help to me now. I learned the hard way that only a widow can understand the harsh realities of widowhood well enough to comfort another widow. And I soon knew in my bones that I was going to write that long overdue book to help as many widows as possible through this trauma.

     From Day One I began keeping an intimate journal of my turmoil and grief, and soon I began designing what I still think is the perfect book to help widows deal with the agony and challenges of widowhood and life alone. 

     For Widows Only! is that book. It became available to readers in 2004. Why not read a few excerpts right now. I'm sure you'll agree.

Meanwhile...  

    My new man, Bob, and I now make our home in Paradise, known to some as Ft. Myers, Florida. Our second home is "Dutch Treat," a roomy forty-foot Island Trader motorsailer, which usually can be found in and around the waters of Ft. Myers.

     Bob and I spent the summers of 2002 and 2003 doing the 5,340 mile "Great Circle Loop," which took us up the U. S. east coast, mostly on the Intra-coastal Waterway, to Chesapeake Bay, where we lingered and visited with Annie's kids a bit. Then we sailed around New Jersey and up the Hudson River to New York's Erie Canal, where we left Dutch Treat high and dry for the winter.

     After a long winter's rest, we put her back in the water and headed north, across Lake Ontario. We enjoyed weaving through Canada's lovely Trent-Severn Waterway, crossing Georgian Bay and meandering through the spectacular North Channel. Then, too soon, it was time to head south, back into the U.S., under the Mackinac Bridge, down the picturesque Michigan shoreline and across the top of Indiana into Chicago's Sag Canal. This was our entry into the country's variable inland river system that slowly carried us to the Gulf of Mexico and back to Ft. Myers.*

     Dutch Treat is recuperating in the canal behind our home, (Anybody wanna buy a boat?) while Bob (who provided the photo for For Widows Only!'s cover) and I readjust to life inside our much less confining home on dry land.**

What a trip!
(Click to enlarge)

     * Thanks to some of Bob's generous friends, I was able to "jump ship" in Destin, FL, (where we were delayed by the weather) to get back to Fort Myers, so I could oversee final publication of For Widows Only!

     ** "Yes, Bob and I are still speaking to each other."