Writers put their talent to good use with new books

Reporter Marybeth Niederkorn works day in and day out to bring our readers news on business, Jackson public affairs, education and community. She hustles in and out of public meetings, over to city hall for checks on business licenses. She loves interviewing people about their passions and enjoys writing stories about endeavors in our community to help people, such as the Safe House.

But Marybeth enjoys other types of writing, including poetry. She has a gift with word play, and this is evident in her first published book, "Times Knew Roamin'".

It's exciting to work with a person so passionate about the written word, but also who is inspired by things she sees and experiences no matter where life finds her. The book was essentially inspired by Marybeth's commute to work at a community college, where she taught remedial writing to students who were struggling with basic writing concepts.

So while many of us struggle to keep our minds occupied while driving to and fro, Marybeth was thinking while driving, putting her drive to work in a very artistic way. We'd like to congratulate Marybeth on her first published book.

Speaking of published books and passions, a Bollinger County genealogist stumbled upon an interest of her own and dedicated countless hours to documenting murders in Bollinger County's history.

Su Stanfill's historical research took her across several paths of murder, prompting her to write "Bollinger County Missouri Murders: 1855-1955."

"The idea for this book began when I was researching in Bollinger County Archives for my own families' histories," Stanfill said. "I came across the 'Register of Prisoner Book 1899-1932.' I was surprised by how many people had been in jail on murder and various other charges. When I started talking to people at the archives about the prisoner book and the murders it included, they started telling me about various murders that they had heard of or read about in the county. These conversations raised my interest, and I decided I would try to compile the murder information into a book with the encouragement of the workers at that time at the Bollinger County Archives."

Publishing books takes passion and talent. Even though their content and approach could not be more different, we tip our caps to both these writers for their perseverance.