Mary Briggs: A Common Life

 Calvin Community Presentation On May 30, I did a book talk at Calvin Community, a faith-based, not-for-profit retirement community in Des Moines, Iowa. About half of the presentation attendees grew up in Iowa and most of those grew up in rural areas so they could really relate to the story of Mary's life, even though they were a couple generations removed from Mary's time. We had an engaging conversation about how their memories compared to Mary's story. It was great for me, because I got to hear about a "summer kitchen" from someone who actually had one on the farm where she grew up. Research is great but nothing beats first-person experience!

 Another Successful Author Fair The Ankeny Kirkendall Library hosted a very successful event April 20, 2024. I hadn't been to the new library location before and, Wow! what a great facility. There were approximately 60 authors set up in rooms for non-fiction, fiction, and kid's books, plus some author tables outside the rooms. It was a great opportunity to network with other authors, talk to people about my book, and see some old friends, family, and classmates from high school. Oh, yeah...and sell some books. 😁