Hi! It’s just me, Anne Jones, and I’m so happy you stopped by.

My story has been many years in the making, with plenty of ups and downs, but in 2019 I decided to start a new journey and Fifty & Frustrated was born.

I’ve loved language since I was a child. The way words are put together, the many nuances of meaning they carry, and how everything can change depending on what you emphasize . . . or don’t.

I grew up in NYC watching my mom work long hours as a typesetter. This was back in the days of white boards and X-Acto knives, when you physically cut out a misspelled word, retyped it correctly on a typewriter, cut that out, and pasted it into place. A truly grueling, time-sucking process. You had to really love words to do a job like that.

Most children don’t plan to grow up following in their parents’ footsteps. And yet, somehow, we often do.

I had a love for words from a very young age, devouring my mother’s trove of sci-fi, romance, and other books that I can no longer remember the genre of. Many were thick TOR paperbacks, about 500+ pages long, filled with people who wore next to nothing and yet somehow managed to save worlds and do remarkable things. Those books transported me. They still do.

This led me to writing my own words, mostly journal entries at first, then poems, short stories and then, wonder of wonders, a novel. But, as many people are quick to point out, one does not simply make a living as a writer. So I did the next best thing.

In my twenties, I went to work for a typesetting company.

That turned into a twenty-year career in the publishing industry, where I proofed pages for design errors, edited for clarity and precision, and developed a deep respect for words that actually do what they’re supposed to do.

Later, I found my way into the travel industry, guiding large groups of people through unfamiliar places, acting as organizer, caretaker, problem-solver, and occasional therapist. It taught me that I’m social, that I like people, and, yes, that I tend to be a bit of a people-pleaser.

Life, it turns out, can be frustrating. Which brings me back to the name: Fifty and Frustrated. Fifty is physical (I’m 50, well 56 now in 2025). Frustrated is more of a state of being. For me, frustration isn’t whining; it’s the emotional response to blocked progress—be it in career, in relationships, in life, and sometimes in the world pressing back harder than expected.

This space is about what I do with that frustration. I look for solutions. I set goals. I test things. And when something works (or spectacularly doesn’t), I share it.

Lately, some of these reflections have started sneaking their way into stories: quieter pieces of fiction about women navigating choice, desire, and reinvention in the second half of life. I didn’t set out to do that. It just turns out this is where my pen wanted to go.

We’re all unfulfilled in some way. I just happen to be doing something about it at fifty (+). Maybe you’ll do it younger. Maybe later. Either way, the important part is deciding not to wait.

So, I invite you to come along with me—through the conversations, the experiments, the frustrations, and yes, sometimes the stories—as I navigate this world one day at a time. I promise a humorously fulfilling journey.