Author: Nicole Phelon

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Author

Hank Kohler

What’s your genre?
Adventure/conservation

Are you published?
I am published by a traditional publisher

What inspired you to become a writer?
I have written a couple of stories that the Iowa Outdoors magazine published. I hadn’t planned on doing a book but the hundreds of people that followed my One4Water adventure on Facebook asked if I would write about the journey so that they could relive it.

What author do you admire and how have they inspired your writing?
I very much admire Barry Lopez and his book Arctic Dreams. As I was reading it, I realized that I shared many of his thoughts about our planet and its future. I quote him in One4Water.

Name three of your favorite books and their authors
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Into the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides
Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez

What’s one thing readers should know about you?
I’m a storyteller not a scientist. So many others know much more about our land, waters and living things, but I would guess I’m their equal when it comes to appreciation and concern.

What’s one piece of advice you would give a budding writer?
Dream, Plan, Do!  Don’t put it off. Find a trusted publisher and get it going!

Author bio
Hank Kohler, born in 1952, grew up on a family farm in northwest Iowa. He has a degree in Education from the University of Northern Iowa but became a restaurant owner—not a teacher—during his working years. Mr. Kohler enjoys spending as much time as possible on lakes and rivers and was the recipient of the 2016 Olav Smedal Conservation Award sponsored by the Ames, Iowa Chapter of the Izaak Walton League. He has written two stories published by Iowa Outdoors. “Rocks in the River” and “The Ice Shack”. Mr. Kohler lives in Ames with his wife Anne. They have three children: a son Andy and daughters Robyn and Kerry. One4water is the author’s first book. Visit Hank here.

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Author

Dr. Yen Verhoeven

What’s your genre?
Nonfiction education

Are you published?
Indie press publisher

What inspired you to become a writer?
I’ve always used writing as a way to process my thoughts. I’m also a forgetful person, so writing things down is how I remember ideas without keeping them all in my head. About a decade ago, I suffered from chronic migraines — the kind of migraines that put you in darkness and make you do practically anything to make them stop. Writing saved me from the times I wanted to commit suicide. I could escape, and I created worlds in my head where I didn’t have to focus on pain. Fortunately, I found ways to control my migraines. My writing continued, but I’ve learned that writing can also be insightful for others. I see the benefit to others when I share the things that I’m going through.

What author do you admire and how have they inspired your writing?
Helene Cixious is a French philosopher, poststructuralist, and writer. Her essay, “The Laugh of Medusa” was a call to action for women to write themselves into the spaces that at first, did not exist. Cixious talked about writing as women’s way of creating and of discovering who we are. In this piece, she says, “And why don’t you write? Write! Writing is for you, you are for you; your body is yours, take it.” It spoke to me, and how I used to keep my writing secret. As a feminist myself, I’ve spent my life as an educator who empowers students. But as a woman, I know that there are still spaces where we are “lesser than.” It is in those spaces that we must write into—write ourselves into existence.

Name three of your favorite books and their authors
Teaching to Transcend, by bell hooks. She gave words to the things I was feeling and thinking.
Home by Toni Morrison. I could read a passage and just sit there, savoring the beautiful art that is her writing.
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. This book changed my life.

What one piece of advice would you give to a budding writer?
Don’t write alone. You need a community to make your writing better—whether it’s a close friend who reads your work, a writing group, an editor, beta readers, etc., but people get the writing out of your head so that you can communicate what you really mean, and so that people can understand you. Plus, you need people who keep you going. Find the people who believe in you, because you’ll need them during those times when you stop believing in yourself.

Author bio
Dr. Yen Verhoeven is the president and founder of Qi Learning Research Group, a groundbreaking ed tech company revolutionizing how we approach teaching and learning. Yen has over 23 years of teaching experience and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with certifications in program evaluation and online instructional design. She is an award-winning speaker, the author of the book, REBEL Teaching, and sits on the Governor’s STEM North Central Regional Advisory board. She lives with her husband, two sons, a dozen chickens, several fish, and a psychotic dog. Click here to visit her.

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Author

Gary Eller

What’s your genre?
Fiction, novel and short story, occasional nonfiction

Are you published?
Traditional publisher

What inspired you to become a writer?
In short: early encouragement, love reading, opportunity, and disillusionment with my first career choice.

What author do you admire and how have they inspired your writing?
Co-favorites) Raymond Carver, Alice Munro
Carver: simple, minimalistic use of language, his subtexts say so much. And, as he was once described: “He taught us that literature can exist with a bottle of catsup resting on a table in a trailer house.”

Name three of your favorite books and their authors
Where I’m Calling From by Raymond Carver
One-Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Friend of My Youth by Alice Munro

What’s one thing readers should know about you?
I’m a well-concealed introvert whose sometimes dark writing belies the fact that I’m a quite nice guy.

What one piece of advice would you give to a budding writer?
Read, read, read…all the writers you love.
Remember the advice of your old favorite uncle: “Work hard and don’t give up.”
The paycheck should not matter.
And finally, this is related to the previous. Marry well.

Author bio
Born and raised in Rolla, North Dakota, I worked as a pharmacist mostly in Alaska for fifteen years. I became a writer after earning an MFA degree at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa.

My collection of short stories, Thin Ice and Other Risks, was published by New Rivers Press. I’ve also published many stand-alone short stories and nonfiction articles. My novel, True North, was published by BHC Press in late 2021.

I have several writing awards, the most significant being a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. I’ve taught fiction and nonfiction at Iowa State University.  I live and work now in Ames, Iowa, while spending parts of summers in the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota.

Click here to visit Gary.

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In The Media

Writing Through Cancer With the Ames Writers Collective | Unity Point John Stoddard Cancer Center

Our founder, ANA MCCRACKEN is thrilled and honored to be a part of the Unity Point John Stoddard Cancer Center Metastatic Cancer Series.

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Author

Paul Brooke

What’s your genre?
Poetry

Are you published?
Traditional publisher

What inspired you to become a writer?
Always nature has been at the forefront. My work focuses on the relationship of humans with the wild world. I am deeply interested in understanding why we mistreat the earth and how we can live in harmony with it.

What author do you admire and how have they inspired your writing?
There are so many that it is hard to boil it down. In terms of poetry, Gary Snyder was an inspiration early as he understood the complexities of the natural world and he integrated a Zen philosophy, which I found intriguing. Later, fiction writers like Toni Morrison blew my mind with their historical retellings and incredible imaginations. Her book, Beloved, is my absolute favorite. Today, there are so many talented authors that it is a joy to read and discover new voices.

Name three of your favorite books
As I mentioned earlier, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, then Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridan, and Sylvia Plath’s The Collected Poems.

What’s one thing readers should know about you?
I love to travel and that often fills my writing. Recently, I went to Chile and I just finished a collection that fuses nature photography and form poetry. My newest work explores the often unheard side of Antarctica and I plan to go there very soon. For me, it is necessary to have experiences that show me awe and wonder in order to find inspiration. Those moments are transcendent and illuminating. Always necessary to building the best work I can.

What’s one piece of advice you would give to a budding writer?
Revise. Revise. Revise. Be patient with your work and be patient if you send it out. There will be tons of rejections. And for most young writers those rejections can send them running away. Run into the rejection and then submit again somewhere else.

Author bio
Paul Brooke has five collections of photography and poetry including Light and Matter: Poems and Photographs of Iowa (2008) and Meditations on Egrets: Poems and Photographs of Sanibel Island (2010). Sirens and Seriemas: Photographs and Poems of the Amazon and Pantanal (2015) was published by Brambleby Books of London, England, while Finishing Line Press published Arm Wrestling at the Iowa State Fair (2018). Jaguars of the Northern Pantanal: Panthera onca at the Meeting of the Waters was published by Academic Press (2020), while The Skáld and the Drukkin Tröllaukin: Photographs and Poems of Iceland was released by Gold Wake (2022). Brooke recently was awarded both an Iowa Arts Fellowship and a grant for publishing a diversity of writers. Click here to visit Paul.

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Author

Jackie Haley

What’s your genre?
Fiction / Nonfiction

Are you published?
Indie press publisher

What inspired you to become a writer?
I’ve always enjoyed writing and I also had a great support system to continue my writing path.

What author do you admire and how have they inspired your writing?
Jane Austen is one of the great authors that gave me inspiration.

Name three of your favorite books and their authors
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
The Client by John Grisham

What’s one thing readers should know about you?
I founded Dream To Author to help people write, publish and market their first book.

What one piece of advice would you give to a budding writer?
Don’t quit. Keep going and set realistic goals for yourself. Get help from people that have the experience and can support you.

Author bio
Jackie Haley is a nationally recognized, award-winning author, speaker and entrepreneur. She’s appeared on CBS, NBC, among many other major media outlets and traveled the country representing her books.

Her novel, Crystal Beach (2012) is about a “girl next door that stumbles into a James Bond movie.” The anticipated sequel, Truce Island (2017) followed. Shortly after, she was approached by David Schmitz to write his family’s inspiring story about Brenda, his wife who passed from ovarian cancer. Two years after Brenda’s death, her family received a surprising gift from her. Brenda’s Wish (2020) won awards, received national endorsements and more. Now, Jackie helps people write, publish and market their first book at DreamToAuthor.com

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Author

Tom Geraty

What’s your genre?
Memoir

Are you published?
Indie press publisher

What inspired you to become a writer?
Writing, alongside acting and music, is simply (or at times not so simply) a way for me to reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary. I find that all forms of creative expression provide me a direct link to the deepest and most profound places in my heart.

What author do you admire and how have they inspired your writing?
I have a lot of respect and admiration for Colson Whitehead. He finds honest, creative, and compelling ways to tell stories I am familiar with in ways that bring my understanding to a deeper, further, and more personal level.

Name three of your favorite books and their authors
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Twenty Years A-Growing by Maurice O’Sullivan

What’s one thing readers should know about you?
Being a stay-at-home dad was the greatest gig of my life. So great that, although my sons live over a thousand miles from home, the “nest” will always feel full.

What one piece of advice would you give to a budding writer?
My one bit of advice is threefold: don’t listen to naysayers, read the masters, and trust your vision and your voice.

Author bio
Tom Geraty was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa. He attended Dowling Catholic High School in the late 70s and Drake University in the early 80s, where he played football for the then Division One Bulldogs and graduated with a degree in Education with a minor in Theater. Tom acted professionally in Chicago for several years before moving back to his hometown in 2002 with his wife, Katie, to raise their two young sons. He was a stay-at-home dad, continues to perform with local theaters, plays bass guitar, bakes pies, has two new knees, and holds dual citizenship with the United States and Ireland. Since the publication of his memoir, When The Trees Dance, he has learned that he has a younger half-sister he hopes to connect with soon…if he can find her. Click here to visit Tom.

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Author

Patricia Kimle

What’s your genre?
Historical fiction

Are you published?
Self published

What inspired you to become a writer?
Long ago, we followed the Underground Railroad trail from Nebraska City, NE through western Iowa to West Des Moines and Grinnell as a short family vacation when our children were grade school age. My husband developed a story line based on the history, but a job change meant the project fell by the wayside. When said children had all left me with an empty nest, I decided to pick up the story. We say now that I was research and writing and my husband “story consultant.” I had always wanted to try writing fiction and it was an easier start since the basic idea was ready for me to take on.

What author do you admire and how have they inspired your writing?
I grew up not far from the home of Willa Cather in south central Nebraska. I’ve read O Pioneers! and My Ántonia many times from high school to now. In grade school, I loved and read Laura Ingalls Wilder as a child. I’ve always loved prairie stories. Actually any historical fiction with a good heroine will do.

Name three of your favorite books and their authors
My favorites are always changing. I read a lot of books about creativity and recently loved Adorning the Dark, by Andrew Peterson. He is a singer/songwriter and story teller. I’ve loved every Charles Martin book I’ve read. And Susan May Warren is an incredible writer, mentor and businesswoman.

What’s one thing readers should know about you?
I have been an artist for 30 years. As a freelance designer, I published how-to articles and books in the craft industry before craft publishing went the way of the dodo. Next I had a wholesale jewelry business selling silver and clay jewelry until I retired the business during covid. For the last 5 years, I have been painting in oils. I have 5 paintings that were inspired by scenes from my book, The Only Free Road: An Underground Railroad Saga Unveiled, including the cover art.

What one piece of advice would you give a budding writer?
Research can draw you down lots of rabbit holes, and if you are inclined, like me, to keep digging, remember to ask yourself occasionally if you’re coming up with details that actually contribute to the story or take your reader into the weeds. Sometimes its better to make something up and keep moving on.

Author bio
Patricia Kimle is an artist and lover of history. After 30 years in the craft and jewelry industry, she has turned her attention to painting and writing. Historical fiction is her favorite genre to read, so it was fun to make up a story with her husband and work together. Working on The Only Free Road, Patricia indulged her love of research in order to try to get lots of details to enrich the story.

She and Kevin have three grown children and live in Ames, Iowa. Visit Patricia here.

On Sunday, September 24th, Patricia will be a featured author at the 2nd Annual Ames Writers Collective Swift Literary Festival to be held during the Annual Octagon Art Festival. Check our calendar for details.

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Author

Joe Geha

What’s your genre?
Memoir, fiction and drama

Are you published?
Traditional publisher

What inspired you to become a writer?
A teacher in college recognized something in me and encouraged it. That “something” I consider to be a gift as well as an obligation.

What author do you admire and how have they inspired your writing?
I consider Richard Yates a “writers’ writer,” that is, someone a beginner can learn from. Yates is known for the deceptively simple directness of his prose style, the precision of his descriptions, the way he can pierce the reader with a character’s slightest gesture.

Name three of your favorite books and their authors
Eleven Kinds of Loneliness by Richard Yates
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan

What’s one thing readers should know about you?
I use poker to inform my work as an artist. In poker it’s particularly evident that nothing risked equals nothing gained. Therefore, a regular dose of low stakes poker is enough for me to keep in mind the need I have to continue taking artistic risks.

What one piece of advice would you give to a budding writer?
Read, and read, and read. Beyond reading, I would encourage the fledgling writer to approach their work as a child approaches a sandbox—ready to play. For the moment, pay no attention to that killjoy grownup, your internal editor. Instead build and tear down and see what turns up. You’ll need that editor, but not till later, while the child’s enjoying a well-earned nap.

And read.

Author bio
Joe Geha, Professor Emeritus at Iowa State University, is also the author of Through and Through: Toledo Stories, and Lebanese Blonde. His poems, plays, essays and short stories have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies. His work was granted an NEA award, Pushcart Prize, and the Arab American Book Award. Read about Joe’s lastest book, Kitchen Arabic How My Family Came to America and the Recipes We Brought With Us, here.

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Author

Tom Montgomery Fate

What’s your genre?
Creative nonfiction / memoir / essays

Are you published?
Traditional Publisher

What inspired you to become a writer?
My 7th grade English teacher, Miss Herman, asked us to write about “a walk in the woods” we had taken, and then read/record (interpret) it on a cassette recorder. Then we listened to the reading together, while looking at the print, and discussed it. It blew my 13 year old mind.

What author do you admire and how have they inspired your writing?
I read ten of Scott Russell Sanders books while in a writing residency, and learned that my seemingly boring, humdrum life was interesting enough to write about. It was not about WHAT I saw but HOW I saw.

Name three of your favorite books and their authors
My Ántonia by Willa Cather
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Dakota by Kathleen Norris

What’s one thing readers should know about you?
Beauty is defined by flaw not perfection. It is uniqueness and difference that defines beauty, not societal expectation.

What one piece of advice would you give to a budding writer?
There are two things you need to be a writer: passion and patience. These two words share the same Latin root—pati—which means “to suffer.”

Author bio
Tom Montgomery Fate is a professor emeritus at College DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, where he taught creative writing and literature courses for more than 30 years. He is the author of six books of creative nonfiction, including The Long Way Home: Detours and Discoveries, a travel memoir (Ice Cube Press, 2022), Cabin Fever, a nature memoir (Beacon Press), and Steady and Trembling, a spiritual memoir (Chalice Press). A regular contributor to the Chicago Tribune, his essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, Orion, The Iowa Review, Christian Century, Fourth Genre, River Teeth, and many others. Dozens of his essays have also aired on NPR, PRI and Chicago Public Radio. Visit Tom here.

On September 27, Tom will teach a class titled, Writing A Life Into Memoir at the Ames Public Library from 6:30 to 8 PM. Check our calendar for further details.