Wow, what can I say? I'm quite new to actively using Adland (even though I've been a member for a while) and would never have thought I'd get chosen as a *Shining Star*. Mega Cool!

So where do I star? Probably right at the beginning, huh? Well, I was born in North East England way back in 1968, so that makes me 37 and a half as of this writing. Believe me, I feel a LOT younger and I still don't act my age ;)

My brother came along 10 months later in the October of 1969, 2 months ahead of time.

My parents split up when I was 5 and my mother moved out with us kids. It was a terrible struggle for her, due to the fact that my father wouldn't sign the divorce papers so she wasn't eligible for benefits. She worked a lot and drank a lot more resulting in alcohlism and depression. Eventually my brother went into care as he was too much of a handful and my mother couldn't cope. I took on the role of 'mother' as best I could.

We were constantly forced to pawn everything my mother owned and then buy them back when she got paid from her job as a barmaid so we never really had anything we could call our own.

When I was 11 or so she met a Norwegian guy and went to Norway on holiday with him. She came back full of life and happier than she'd been in years, telling me that we were moving to Norway! We moved there when I was 12. It was THE best choice my mother has ever made. She quit drinking 'cold turkey' and deserves the highest respect for that. To this day, she knows if she touches a drop of alcohol she'll be back on the bottle right away. 

I hope you all can spare a thought for EVERYBODY who has managed to kick a habit like that, it's got to be one of the hardest things on earth to do.

I had a nice life in Norway, the poverty was gone. We still weren't by any means wealthy, but we were comfortable. The standard of living over there is so much higher than it is in the UK.

I worked from the age of 14, cleaning everything you could ever imagine and doing a great job of it. When I was 19 or 20 I decided I wanted to go to Australia, but then fell pregnant with my first child. It was a simple choice for me, I wanted the child more than I wanted Australia LOL

I ended up as a single parent with 3 kids while I lived in Norway, but even though I was alone, life was good and my mother was always there to lend a hand with the little uns. Then she moved to America for 2 years. I got to do plenty of travelling in that time and visited the states 5 times, for a whole 5 weeks every time and saw quite a lot of the country. what a beautiful place it is too!

My mother then moved back to the UK and a few years later (1999) I followed her so that the kids could be close to their nan. I met a guy and got married. It was a huge mistake, but I learned some valuable lessons from it and also conceived my 4th child who I wouldn't be without for the world. So although it was a disastrous marriage, I can't say I regret it.

I started internet marketing quite soon after coming back to the UK. I'd never touched a pc before and had gotten one for the kids to be able to keep in touch with their friends in Norway. Needless to say, once I was on it I was hooked LOL

I got scammed a few times, burnt badly once or twice, then decided I wanted to make sure others didn't go the same route. I was helping so many people individually that I found it took up so much time I needed to find a way to help more people in one go and started up my ezine at http://annamarketing.com 

I started writing articles about internet marketing for beginners and it evolved into writing ebooks. I'd just started earning from one of my ebooks: 'Focus: The Key To Success'  when I fell ill and was offline for about a year. Still haven't found out what's wrong with me after an endescopy, and waiting for a colonoscopy, but I'm back! And with a passion LOL. I missed being online and helping people so much. I hadn't realised how much a part of my life it really was. I guess I just like to feel useful ;)

One of the first things I did when I got back was check in here at Adland and boy am I glad I did! It's a great place and I'm meeting so many new and wonderful people. I also started re-visiting various marketing forums and started on a new ebook which should be ready soon. It's a whole bunch of interviews with real life internet marketers that are making good money online and I'm having a blast reading through the interviews and learning so many new things.

Apart from that I'm now engaged to the most wonderful man and planning our wedding. We can't get married until my ex signs the divorce papers (can you say 'deja vu'??) or until I can get an 'auto-divorce' in a year and a half, whichever comes sooner. But that's cool, Hugh reckons I'm worth waiting for ;) The kids love him to pieces and he gets on really brilliantly with him so we're ALL happy and enjoying life!

My best advice to everybody? Never give up! Decide what you want in life and just go for it. If you want it badly enough you'll get it, and it'll be worth any trials and tribulations that you have to go through to get to that final destination :D

Thanks again for the honour of being a *Shining Star*. I still can't believe it LOL

Anna