There were many times when I would write a bit, then go cry, and go back to it again. The sections where I am most vulnerable were most difficult as they carry risk, and I struggled with how much to reveal. 

Francene Gillis – 22 June 2025

The Back Flap

In Where Did i Go? a Memoir Plus by Francene Gillis, the author tells her story of the arduous years and months that followed a tragic accident–a slip and fall on black ice on her way to work as a high school English teacher that caused a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), the symptoms of which lasted many years. Francene shares her story of the uphill battle that ensued in the hunt for the right treatments and providers at a time when the simplest task was nearly impossible due to the ‘hidden’ injury she suffered. It’s a story related to post concussion, post traumatic stress disorder, and what can happen when the unexpected crashes in and life takes you on a sliding, downward trajectory. Her symptoms were very real, from severe balance issues and brain fog, to speech impairment and more. Along with being a teacher, Francene was also a regular columnist for her local paper, both of which came to a halt following her injury. As she slowly regained the ability to focus for short periods of time, she began writing her story in the hope that she could help those with brain trauma and other ‘hidden’ injuries by sharing her research and others’ stories of resilience and perseverance.

The book holds seven stories plus hers to inspire those fighting battles relating to health, injury, or loss, and while raw and difficult to read at times it shows how mindset, support, and the right treatment is imperative to recovery.

About the book

What is the book about?

Where Did I Go? is a collection of stories dealing with unexpected trauma, tragedy, fear, and acceptance relating to head injuries, concussion, whiplash, paralysis, loss, depression, PCS (post-concussion syndrome), and PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). It is primarily the story of the author’s struggles after she slipped and fell on black ice going into her school on February 1, 2016, and fell from a standing position onto the pavement. She expected to be better within weeks, but her recovery did not go as planned. As a professional writer and teacher, to balance her story, she interviewed others who also suffered an injury that changed their lives.

When did you start writing the book?

I started writing the book as a journal as suggested by my occupational therapist. It was one of the skills I was able to use as opposed to so many other activities that I could no longer do and that caused tremendous frustration. I did not realize at the time how mixed up and confusing my overloaded thoughts and words were. I wrote in my journals what I was learning as I went from knowing nothing about concussions to understanding and continuing to learn for years once I found where to get help, which took over four months. It only developed into a book when I started going back and reading strategies that could help me and I realized I might be able to help others who found themselves in the same boat. I use the metaphor of the ocean and boat because for weeks after, that is how I felt—like I was constantly on a small boat in rough waves, swaying back and forth, off balance, in a fog, and exceedingly tired.

How long did it take you to write it?

The book itself, I wrote over seven years in pieces as I was able, gaining the information I needed to help me. I picked at it as I was able for the first few years, and then in 2023 I started putting everything together and writing for an audience other than myself.

Where did you get the idea from?

The idea came from my own experiences and frustration in trying to learn more about head injuries, and why I was not recovering as fast as I wanted to get back to my career of teaching high school students. Besides keeping a journal, I was also going for eye therapy because I was diagnosed with post traumatic eye syndrome, and a midline shift, so I was encouraged to do things to help my eyes. Because I could not read text very well, or keep my place, and letters changed sizes, I started working on visuals to help summarize my experiences and the knowledge I was getting from experts, so when I looked back, I could absorb the information more easily.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

I think I struggled with most of it, but getting my experiences on paper did offer some release from the frustrations I felt. There were many times when I would write a bit, then go cry, and go back to it again. The sections where I am most vulnerable were most difficult as they carry risk, and I struggled with how much to reveal. I did not want people to get discouraged by my long recovery and struggles, and I did not want people to think I was, excuse the word, a nutcase, or worse that I was imagining my ailments. But I had to be truthful and that is what I was and am. My fatigue was real, my fog, real, my vestibular and visual issues, real. The medical world is sometimes ignorant and nonempathetic when it comes to invisible injuries, and if a female of a certain age, the seriousness and truth of the condition or disability is sometimes downplayed and the disabled left to feel “it is imagined.” Luckily functional neurologists and the specialists in concussion like Dr. Charles Tator (Canadian Concussion Committee, chair), know concussions and their sly affects are very real.

What came easily?

At first, the pouring out of my condition and symptoms, frustrations and fears came easily, when it was just for me, but acceptance of what had happened and what I experienced was tremendously difficult and led to tears and more tears as well as anger and more frustration. Being out of my classroom I was lost, scared, and upset and felt I was no good to anyone. I lost my identity and was grieving for the first few years. I could not handle daily functions for far too long, and a classroom with its multisensory environments with thirty-plus students and numerous lessons, was beyond my reach. I needed to give my unexpected ninety degree turn purpose and the fact that I believe I could help others gave me the drive to write and create visuals, and so I did. I added humour and uplifting quotations because they helped me when I was in a funk.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

All of my stories were done through interviews or personal accounts and are nonfiction, as real as people are. There is nothing fictitious in this memoir-plus. All expert advice is evidence-based, current, timely and referenced as I felt the narratives needed to be backed up by those who study concussions and head injuries in their professional lives as there is so much to learn about the brain. Even the cartoons are based on real experience.

Do you have a target reader?

I think there are several. First and foremost, those with a head injury and their families or loved ones. I am also targeting anyone with an invisible injury as the after affects are similarly frustrating, for anyone who suffers a tragic, unexpected accident. All of us in the book face insurmountable obstacles and I believe the shared stories can help people who find themselves facing any severe obstacle or storm life throws at them. This book covers disability, depression, mental struggles, emotional struggles, grief, loss of identity, ridicule, strength, resilience, fortitude, acceptance, kindness, and more. It is for those who like reading true stories, the good, bad, and ugly, and all things in between. It is for medical practitioners as various therapists share their expertise and suggestions for those working with people with head injuries. There is a large awareness and educational piece to this book as well, so it can be used with medical students, nurses, those in concussion clinics, schools, sports, or part of a brain awareness group.

About Writing

Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?

I go on the seat of my pants although I know I should have an outline. Because I taught the writing process to high school students for over twenty years, I think it is cemented in my brain. When a seed is born, I write it down as soon as it jumps into my head and go from there. If I let the ideas on the page take over, I find details and more ideas appear than if I planned what I was going to write, especially with fiction. I like the characters and plot to develop unexpectedly and for them to form the writing rather than me. Then I go back and put the details or glue in to make the ideas more cohesive. My background in journalism helps with nonfiction and the who, what, when, where how, why, process. I’m thankful for that.

Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?

I don’t outline, but the basics of the writing process in fiction and nonfiction are always floating the periphery of my mind, and so are adhered to when I go back and do a checklist, to make sure I am not missing an important component. Checklists also help with development. Only after writing a first draft, do I start working on revision, diction, sentence structure, literary devices, and so on. It is curious though, sometimes chapter headings will come first, or titles, whereas at others I have not a clue until I finish and go back over my work. I truly believe in letting the writing and words speak, which means getting them down even if I do not know where they are going, rather than me always knowing. I am not sure that makes sense, and I do advise using an outline if not familiar and well- practiced in using one.

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?

I do both. If an error in grammar, spelling, or punctuation I try to catch it right away, but I do not get overly concerned with a first draft. The revision related to syntax, diction, and author techniques I leave for later unless something comes to mind as I am writing. Once done I go over it and use Prowriting Aid, which is an electronic platform to check my work for me.

Did you hire a professional editor?

Sometimes. My first book: A Rose in November, I had several proofreaders and did most of it myself. This memoir plus is published through OC Publishing so they hire professional editors, and I am glad they did for I still have difficulties in my writing especially in relation to coherently organizing my ideas. I believe in the first of my story we left some of my difficulties in writing so the reader can experience a bit where and how my thoughts were “all over the place,” and repeated, as I forget easily and have trouble with recall.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?

Absolutely not. I need silence so I can hear my thoughts and get them down on paper. I am still bothered by multiple senses and do best when I can control my environment. Silence is golden.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

I am too afraid of rejection especially at my age. I truly hope the world is not ageist when it comes to older writers, and I feel everyone over 65 has a lot to say and a lot of experiences to share. With this memoir plus, I was lucky to find Anne O’Connell who upon hearing my story was game from the go, and I appreciate all she has done to help me bring this book to reality. She shares my desire to help others. If I were younger I would, but right now, I have dozens of manuscripts I want to make available to readers and so I will go the indie or self-publishing route.

What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?

My age, to be completely honest, and my desire to get my books in the hands of readers and have more control over the finished product. I am not out for big money, I just want to break even and pay for all my expenses. All my manuscripts are written out of a desire to educate, make people aware, and/or help them deal with life’s hardships. When I published A Rose in November back in 1994, it was frowned on and seen as vanity publishing, and my path to selling and marketing filled with roadblocks even if the book sold over 2000 copies without much publication beyond local. No Internet back then. But today indie publishing is respected and being given the due it deserves, and the Internet is a friend and tool for promotion.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?

I get an image in my head of what I want and away I go creating possibilities; in the end I did my covers myself after getting input from others.

Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?

I am winging it but also with direction and guidance from my publisher, OC Publishing, particularly Anne O’Connell who is well versed in marketing and the publication world. I do not feel I could do it without her encouragement and expertise.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?

I would say, go for it if you know your writing is ready and has been read by others, revised, revised, and revised a hundred times and more. Well, maybe not that many. But writing a book is no small feat and requires commitment, knowledge, and purpose. You need people who know about writing to read your work and to offer suggestions for improvement. You need beta readers, proofreaders, and editors to polish your work so it will be your best. In today’s world indie publishing is a gift and avenue that did not exist decades ago. If your writing is ready, indie is a viable, respectable way to go.

About You

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in a rural community of Port Hood on the western, sunset side of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. My parent’s house, and then my house when I married is on a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, kind of at my back door overlooking Port Hood Island. It is the best place in the entire world, and the ocean a part of my heartbeat.

Where do you live now?

I still live with my husband in my community of Port Hood, on the hill overlooking the ocean. I could never move away.

What would you like readers to know about you?

Perhaps my education and experiences in life, why I write what I do, why I feel so strongly about helping others. I share those answers in the book as head injuries can cause us to be triggered and remember trauma and so I needed to provide back story of before my head injury and why my therapists felt I suffered PTSD as well as PCS, which really complicated matters. All head injuries are very individual and how we recover is based on many aspects of our lives; my age and other health conditions further complicated my situation. I would like my readers to know that I am not always serious and that I can be funny. Inside me is a mischievous little girl trying to be silly, vivacious, full of life, ready to have fun, and celebrate the many blessings in life. I love meeting people, helping people, and spending time with them. It is through other people we learn and grow and become better people ourselves.

What are you working on now?

I am presently working on a creative, nonfiction historical book chronicling the story of four brothers called into the Second World War, and their lives as boys, soldiers, and men before, during, and after the war, as well as that of their family back home and their mother who lived to see three centuries, born in 1898. It focuses on family and how difficult it was for their mother, all mothers when their children went to war, and is called, Momma Cried. It is told through the sons in first person narratives and winds through their upbringing in rural Cape Breton, NS, signing up, and fighting in Italy, France, Belgium, and Holland at different times and unknown to each other. Born in the States, Joe the oldest signed up with the American army. Danny was assigned to the Cape Breton Highlanders, Richard to the West Nova Scotia Regiment, and the youngest, Pat to the Cape Breton Highlanders a few years after Danny, and not in the same unit, but on the Frontlines during the worst of the fighting. The parents also narrate stories of home and of the harsh fighting in the Atlantic. Unlike most war books, after each son narrates their war experiences, we get to see what happens to them as men, if they all return, and experience the battles fought on and off the battlefield as they age. It is more than a war book, its stories are universal, timely, heartfelt, and raw, and its themes go beyond the Second World War and into daily living, local history, and prominent world events. To help, over one hundred old black and white photographs are included.

End of Interview:

Get your copy of Where Did I Go? from Amazon US or Amazon UK.