Leonora Found, author of I’m Fine: What Three Children Taught Me About Embracing Emotions and Parenting, has always been a storyteller. At 21, during a year abroad, she wrote 160 letters home—not because she had to, but because she loved it. She documented her years homeschooling her kids with the same enthusiasm. She wrote through COVID. The stories poured out of her naturally.

But for decades, one belief held her back: she wasn’t a “real” writer because her grammar and punctuation weren’t perfect.

“I grew up in an era where writing was about staying within the lines,” Leonora explains in our recent interview. “That squeezed the life out of the joy of writing. I thought, yeah, I love telling stories, but I can only do it for my friends and family. You can’t take it anywhere else because you never got an A for English.”

That changed when Leonora finally decided to stop waiting for permission and start writing the book she knew mothers needed to read.

Stepping Into Her Own Identity

After years as a stay-at-home mom to three children—now 26, 24, and 18—Leonora felt a pull toward something more. Not away from motherhood, but into her fullest self.

“I wanted to step into my being,” she says. “I wanted to step out of the role that I’d become fused to—which is motherhood—and into something bigger. But I recognized I needed to write something I was passionate about, something I could live and continue to speak.”

That something became a book about the emotional journey of motherhood: the struggles, the guilt, the moments of getting it wrong, and the wisdom that comes from staying in the trenches alongside your children rather than trying to fix everything for them.

One story stands out—a time when her daughter, Michaela, faced the pain of being ostracized by other girls at school. Every instinct screamed at Leonora to storm into that school and take those mothers down. Instead, she did the harder thing: she stepped back, held space, and let her daughter walk through the experience herself.

“In that moment, I got it right,” Leonora reflects. “In many moments after that, I didn’t get it right. Because we get things right and we get them wrong. We learn from experiences. But she grew way more than me by me stepping back.”

A Book for Every Stage of Motherhood

What makes Leonora’s book resonate is its honesty about still being in process. She didn’t write from a pedestal of expertise—she wrote from the trenches.

“Every time I finished a section, I would check myself: Am I in the trenches? Is the person sitting next to me?” she explains. “I wanted to feel like I’m talking to someone across the table. As soon as I felt myself veering away from that, I had to undo things.”

The result is a book that meets mothers wherever they are. Whether you’re in the thick of raising teenagers, looking back on your parenting journey, or watching your adult children leave the nest—as Leonora is this year, with one getting married and another heading off on a gap year—the book offers both laughter and understanding.

“No matter what stage of motherhood you’re in, this book will make you laugh, it’ll make you cry, and it will help you feel heard and understood,” Leonora says. “That’s the bottom line.”

The Unexpected Gift of Publishing

Since publication, Leonora has watched doors open that she never anticipated. Podcast invitations have rolled in. Speaking opportunities are multiplying. And something even more surprising has happened: she’s found her voice.

“I’m an introvert by nature,” she admits. “I could happily just scroll away and write the next book. But this has given me a voice. It’s actually encouraged me to come out of my shell and speak. And I’m loving it.”

The book has also given her children something unexpected—a deeper understanding of their mother and their upbringing. “My kids see me in a new kind of light now,” Leonora says. “Which is wonderful.”

Her daughter, Michaela, put it best at the surprise celebration she organized for her mom: “So many people want to write a book, but you’ve done it. Look at the doors, it’s already opening for you.”

Why She Chose Partnership Over Going It Alone

When asked why she didn’t self-publish, Leonora doesn’t hesitate: “That would have taken me forever. I’ve had so many people say, ‘Oh, I want to write a book, what do you think of doing it myself?’ And I think, oh my gosh, don’t go there. You have no idea what it involves.”

Working with Summit Press meant she could focus on what she does best—writing—while the technical complexities of editing, publishing, and distribution were handled by professionals.

“There are different types of editing—line editing, developmental editing—the average self-publisher isn’t even aware of that,” she says. “It would have taken me five years to work it all out myself. But this made it so much more enjoyable. It meant I could just write.”

The most liberating advice she received? Stop editing. That’s not your job.

“Right at the beginning, Ann told me to stop editing and just write,” Leonora recalls. “I was restricting myself with all of those old fears about grammar and punctuation. Working with a team allowed me to write honestly and freely, knowing someone else would pick it all up.”

What’s Next

Leonora is now channeling her passion into a bigger mission: bringing her message into schools. She envisions a three-pronged approach supporting children, parents, and educators—with a particular focus on helping mothers develop the language and self-awareness to support both themselves and their children through life’s pressures.

For a woman who spent decades believing her writing couldn’t go anywhere, Leonora Found has proven that the only thing standing between her and her dreams was the decision to start.

“The book has gone from being something I really wanted to do into something that’s going to drive my business forward,” she says. “It’s opened doors I never expected. And we’re just at the beginning.”

Want to connect with Leonora? Find her at leonorafound.com or on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.