August 19, 2016

Author Showcase

Along with Member Highlights, we want to give our readers the chance to get to know other midwest authors we meet from time to time. Here is Connie's story. 

Connie Condron Dow is the author of her first children’s book, Mary Rose and the Secret Horses. The setting of the book is the area around Blue Mound, Missouri and takes place during the Civil War.  

She grew up in a large family on a farm near Blue Mound, which has been in the family for six generations. She spent many years as a teacher and is currently retired, but continues to substitute teach on many days.

Getting a teaching degree from Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph was a goal she set for herself as she was raising children and working as a teacher’s aide and secretary at Southwest School, Ludlow, Missouri. With that accomplished, she began her teaching career at Cameron School and then at Chillicothe R-I Schools in the Early Childhood Program, while completing her master’s degree at Northwest Missouri State University.  The next goal was to obtain certification in Gifted Education in order to teach the WINGS Program in Chillicothe. 

Connie has four children, Eric, Shane, Jill, and Caitlin and she has six grandchildren. She is married to Al Dow, who is a math teacher and a technology consultant.  Besides writing fiction, she enjoys reading mysteries, photography, sewing quilts, painting, and of course, spending time with her family.

Her book can be found on Amazon. She is currently working on an additional book for the Blue Mound Series. To find out more about her and her books, you can visit her website at  http://authorconniecondrondow.weebly.com/about.html 

August 8, 2016

Member Highlight: Vashti Daise

Vashti Daise is a high school math and science teacher and has been blessed to live a life full of adventure! One of the best compliments she has ever received is when several of my students recently agreed that they "want to be Mrs. Daise when they grow up!" Her students get to hear of her many fun adventures living on a sailboat, swimming with whale sharks, studying sea turtle conservation in Costa Rica, and traveling to various countries, and they see that at the age of 53, she has published her first books. She always tells them, "See, being 'old' can still be exciting!" 

Vashti owes her adventurous spirit to her parents who were always taking us off on some fun adventure. Some of those adventures included: moving to Nigeria to teach for two years, fossil hunting, camping, finding edible wild plants and creating homemade radio shows. She  had a wonderful time growing up with her family, who were full of creative pursuits. She also contributes her spirit to her husband, Larry, who is always up for something new! He also recently wrote a great sailing novel, "Seeking the Green Flash", which is LOOSELY based on our life aboard the "Lazy Daise" (good name, huh?)

To find out more about Vashti or about her writing, please visit her website at http://www.vashtidaise.com/ or visit her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/vashti.daise.

August 2, 2016

Member Highlight: David Noe

When David was younger, he never knew if he would ever be a published writer. He did, however, know he was going to be a writer. No matter what else he was, he would be a writer. But life, being what it is, often got in the way, and writing was difficult to commit to, even with a burning desire to do so. So, in January of 1996, he started up his own small press magazine called, TYPO Magazine. It was just eight pages of stories and poems, but it gave him and other an outlet. More importantly, it gave him a deadline. If he was to publish this magazine, he would need enough content to fill it every single month. Happily, he has been producing Typos for all these years, never missing a single month in all this time. After some near misses in the early 2000’s, wherein he had two books published before the company nearly went bankrupt and had to change formats, he finally found a competent and valuable and local editor and publisher, Amazing Things Press.

To date, he has had several books published in varying genres, often thanks to the years of toiling in the wilderness with Typo. Dave grew up on a small farm in Helena, Missouri, a non-incorporated village in Andrew County. After some college at Missouri Western State College, he moved to Gower, Missouri, a slightly larger small town located between St. Joseph and Kansas City. He is married and has two grown daughters. He rents property and apartments and mobile homes and works part time at a local convalescence center in order to pay the bills. David was born on Valentine’s Day, and he puts his heart into everything that he writes.

For more information on David and his portfolio of work, visit his website at http://authordavidnoe.weebly.com or check out his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/tradeofthetricks/