My Mom Marni

Are you an aspiring author who has been writing a short story, a novel, or a children’s book? Maybe you’ve written a recipe guide, business guide, or a fitness book?

You can make your journey to becoming an author more comfortable by participating in some writing contests. DARE to subject your work to careful scrutiny and expert review by entering contests. If your work is accepted, you will take the first giant step towards a successful career as an author!

For half a century Bob Frakes pursued his “Forest Lookout Tower” hobby. All the time he collected papers, pictures, stories and friends. He was urged to put his memories down in a book and not let them be forgotten.

“Remembering Missouri’s Lookout Towers – A Place above the Trees” is finished.

It contains history. What preceded and created a need for the towers? It has stories. What is the goat doing on the top steps? It has technical information. What is the difference between an LS-40 and a MC-39? It has interviews. Those who worked the towers remember. It has submissions. Individuals who lived the life share their thoughts on themselves, what it was like and relatives. Others share their technical knowledge on fire finders, dispatch maps, the forest today, map projects, dozers, etc.

And of course, there are the pictures. The book contains over 300  images. Some are archival and one of a kind and many are in color. You can take a tower trip and never leave your living room.

You will also find tower names, towers moved, Bucksnort Foodstand, tower mysteries, Smokey Bear, the Royal Order of Squirrels, wood towers, steel towers, lookouts not towers, drone shots, and much more.

Missouri is often cited as the nation’s #1 conservation success story. Come examine this part of the story as to how it got that way.

Sharing his life story for the first time, renowned psychotherapist Dr. Darryl Wheat tells of his early years of trauma, parental abandonment, and being left to live with his grandmother. His defiance led him into numerous jails, detention houses and reform school. Young, brash and reckless, Darryl racked up over 40 arrests, 12 institutional escapes, and endless parole violations. He is seemingly destined for an early death, when miraculously, his loving grandmother intervenes. “Nanny” instills wisdom, which, at age 19, results in turning her grandson’s life completely around. Darryl then sets out to accomplish what people tell him is impossible. This is his unbelievable, yet true story.

There’s no doubt that law enforcement comes with its immense stress.  Sometimes it feels like our world is nothing but chaos; chaos at home due to stressors at work, chaos at work due to the stressors at home, but mainly the chaos we make for ourselves from unnecessary, falsely perceived stress. But what if you could control all that by simply adopting the virtues of the stoic philosophy? Stoicism teaches how to find inner peace amid the chaos of our perceived external world.  With a mixture of stoic aphorisms and personal stories, The Stoic Cop explains how it is possible to  handle the daily stress and chaos of law enforcement with a little mind control.  Learn to bridge the gap between police and citizen relationships, deal with difficult people, navigate department politics, and more. Learn to control your perceptions, opinions, and emotions and become a better, more virtuous police officer. Most importantly, control your perceived chaos.