Join us as we celebrate books by four local authors!  Our community is lucky to have so many talented writers and this is a great chance to hear about their lives, their writing experience, and how they came to create such fascinating books.

A Common Life is a look back into the daily activities of an ordinary woman living an ordinary life on a farm in Dallas County, Iowa at the turn of the twentieth century.  In the first entry of her diary, Mary Ann Briggs describes her existence by saying, “it is but a common life.” Looking back from the Twenty-first Century, it may seem anything but. While she dies in 1922, her voice lives on through the words she left in her diary.

Sue Burns is a lifelong Iowan with solid, living roots to a family farm in northern Polk County. She currently lives in the Des Moines area with her husband.  After graduating from Iowa State University, she began a thirty-year career in information technology with a locally headquartered, global agricultural company. She ended her career there as a business analyst with well-honed skills in data analysis, research, and software testing and implementation and traveled the world teaching the software programs to agronomist employees, documenting processes, and providing technical support.  In retirement, the author worked part-time for five years writing grant proposals for a non-profit immigration legal services provider.  Her experience being in plays in high school, teaching classes during her career, and as a live storyteller prepared her to address groups with confidence. She participated in the premier Des Moines Storytellers Project event, on stage at the Des Moines Community Playhouse February 16, 2016.

Conversation Gardens is a book that shows you how to commit, create and cultivate healthy relationships through conversation.  It’s a beautiful confluence of landscape architecture, biophilia human’s innate tendency to seek connection with nature, social horticulture, interior design, environmental psychology, philosophy, plus health and wellness in all its forms. You’ll be inspired to cultivate relationships and make a plan for creating space where these relationships can grow and pause long enough along the way to get intentional about what you want or need from the relationships in your life.

Lynn Kuhn grew up in small-town Iowa spending much time in the yard with her nine siblings; playing, doing garden chores with Mom and Dad, and relaxing in the sun.  She reflects on how these childhood experiences shaped her design sensibilities and landscape ethic.  After graduating from Iowa State University with a landscape architecture degree, she spent over fifteen years in the nursery industry as a landscape architect, making clients happy by creating beautifully landscaped spaces. After a few years at home with three young boys, she returned to the world of plants as a consultant, then as the first Executive Director of the Brenton Arboretum near Dallas Center, Iowa. Her book emphasizes how our own back yard can be critical to our wellbeing.

My Silly Granny is a heartwarming story of a little girl known as Sweetheart and her dear Granny who has dementia. On a visit, Granny explains to Sweetheart how a few simple acts of kindness can tap into her youthful spirit and help them both navigate the day with love and positivity. Her gentle, innocent voice explains how simple pleasures like laughing and singing can keep her in the present and what it’s like when she begins to lose track of things.  This book was written to provide some insight into how people with dementia behave in hopes of reducing children’s anxiety about their elderly relatives who may sometimes forget important things or act in strange ways.

Terri Leedom is a retired graphic designer and lives in West Des Moines, Iowa. As a child, she enjoyed drawing and writing stories. It wasn’t until years later that she tapped into her creative spirit again and began writing short stories. When Terri’s mother was diagnosed with dementia, she was inspired to write “My Silly Granny,” a light-hearted children’s book based on her experiences.  Terri enjoys spending time with her family and romping with her grand dogs. She also enjoys traveling, photography, music, dancing and the Green Bay Packers. Terri feels most comfortable when she is outside connecting with nature. This is where she is most inspired.

The Shamrock Principle is a three-step process to grow into your authentic life dedicated to those of us with anxiety and depression who struggle to make decisions. Her personal journey with depression and anxiety taught her the hard way how they impacted her ability to make sound decisions. This book is founded on her personal experiences of making poor decisions due to anxiety and depression which has led to long term negative consequences. Readers will learn how to use a personalized three-step decision making process and discover a more peaceful way to live with more positive outcomes.

Kelly Welch is a life coach, speaker, advocate for mental health, and a mother of three.  She has a deep belief that everyone deserves opportunities to grow and become more. In her book, Shamrock Principle, Kelly instructs readers how to get started on developing tools to make better decisions.