Time for the next chapter
Elaine Whiteford (née McPherson) (MA 1986) had aspired to be a writer since her first year at St Andrews. After a successful career in local government – and a few lessons learned along the way – a change of path made that ambition a reality.
St Andrews was (and still is) the best university in Scotland, and it was beside the sea. Those were the reasons I applied and subsequently matriculated in 1982 with the intention of studying English and French and becoming a writer.
At an induction event at the start of the first term, I took my seat in the Younger Hall. On one side of me was a girl from Paisley, on the other a girl from Orkney. I’d grown up in Stirling. We got chatting and discovered we were all staying at David Russell Hall and all studying English.
We immediately clicked and became firm friends, sharing digs, laughter, hopes and dreams. Fourth year was our best, when we bagged a flat together in Market Street. It was cold and draughty, had sloping floors and threadbare furniture, but we thought it was the bee’s knees. Our food budget was £1 each a day and we took turns cooking a two-course dinner. I recall my speciality was stuffed peppers.
A change of course
When we graduated in 1986, I emerged not with a degree in English but with a degree in Economics with International Studies. Having taken Economics as my third subject in first year, I’d continued it into second and added Politics to the mix. When it came to choosing which honours course to follow, I wanted to pursue English and Economics. However, a minor timetable clash wouldn’t allow it. I plumped for Economics with International Studies instead (the latter with the wonderful Dr Trevor Salmon), moving away from my first love – English.
I started working life in investment analysis with a major company in Edinburgh. However, I quickly realised that I was temperamentally unsuited to the financial sector, and after 12 months I moved to the public sector. That was the start of a 31-year career in local government, the last seven of which I spent as a council Chief Executive.
Pursuing passions
It was a very rewarding career, and I hope that I did some good in it. I certainly had some great experiences – big and small. In 2018 I was considering a move to a new council, but after a spot of soul-searching, I decided to step away from local government completely and pursue the ambition I’d held since I was a fresher.
I’d done some writing in the intervening years and had even had moderate success with the publication of several photo articles on scuba diving and underwater photography in a range of magazines, as well as the first chapters of two novels in a literary magazine.
I started scuba diving as a hobby at the age of 38 and fell in love with it. I qualified as an instructor in 2005 and dive all year round in the North Sea and sea lochs off the west coast of Scotland. I’d enjoyed photography before I discovered diving, and so taking pictures under water seemed a natural combination.
As my career had taken off, I’d become less able to focus on writing fiction, which was what I really wanted to do.
When I left local government, therefore, I embarked upon an MLitt in Creative Writing at Stirling University to provide me with the structure and discipline to get back into the swing of things. The course was initially both terrifying and liberating. Reading an extract of my novel-in-progress to a small group of fellow writers made me ridiculously anxious, even although I was 54 years old and, as a Chief Executive, had presented to hundreds of people and appeared on live television.
Nerve-racking as it was, exposing my work to the judgement of others also allowed me to take myself seriously as a writer. I settled into it, and the positive feedback I got for my dissertation persuaded me that there might be some merit to my fiction.
Achieving the ambition
Since then, I’ve written three novels and a local history book, and established my own imprint. One of the novels and the local history book were published last year. The Rescue Sisters is set in Stirling and Quebec in 1900 and has child rescue and migration as its backdrop. My main interest is historical fiction, inspired by women’s social history of the late 1800s and early 1900s. My next novel comes out this year and I’ve already completed the research for the one after that.
I’ve finally achieved the youthful ambition I had when I started studying English at St Andrews in 1982. It may have been a long and winding road, but it was the right one for me and I wouldn’t have changed a thing (except perhaps that timetable clash between Anglo-Saxon and Econometrics!).
I have also enjoyed having more time for diving and photography. My work has featured in several exhibitions and has been short-listed for national awards.
I got a lot out of my time at St Andrews. It was an excellent academic experience, an opportunity to explore new disciplines and it gave me the chance to live independently as a young adult. But the most valuable thing I gained was enduring friendship. Those three girls who met at St Andrews on day one are still friends 42 years later. In 2024 we had a series of special outings to celebrate our respective 60th birthdays.
Options and opportunities
Looking back after four decades, my advice would be to follow whatever path feels right for you. I’d also recommend taking advantage of the breadth of study options offered at St Andrews. I may have applied to study English and French but thoroughly enjoyed discovering economics, zoology and politics along the way.
Whatever you choose, it’s never too late to change your path. Sometimes in life you need to take the long way round to get to where you want to be. If you open your mind and take advantage of the opportunities that arise along the way, you’ll get there in the end.
Elaine is a writer and underwater photographer. You can find out more about her work here.