I’ve always been a reader. The first author I fell in love with was Shel Silverstein. As a child, I read The Light in the Attic and The Giving Tree over and over, delighting in the silliness as well as feeling a hint of understanding of the deeper meanings.

The second author I fell in love with was Toni Morrison, in college. Her stories opened my world to another perspective and the vastness of how life could unfold.

As an English major many people would ask me if I was going to teach. “No, I had no interest in teaching.”

I wanted to be an artist. So I pursued art. I volunteered at museums and artist studios. I enrolled in art college.

Life was twisting and turning. I fell in love and followed my love to Chicago. I took a job with AmeriCorps, integrating arts into school curriculum for a short time. It was a blast. I thought it was because of the art.

I continued to move forward with my career in art. I took a job at a university art museum… and I was miserable. It was boring and not at all creative. The art was all around me, but it was out of reach. I longed to be submerged in the creative process.

I surprised myself by finding my dream in a public elementary school in Chicago. And so, I became a teacher.

There is so much I love about teaching, but overall, it is the brilliance of the students. I am continually amazed by what amazes them. Since my first step in that classroom twenty years ago, I have explored many ways of being a teacher. What I discovered to be the most fun was creating enrichment programming to bring out individual brilliance.

One program that I created was a summer nature program, and lurking inside the experiences of the children in this program was the beginning of a story, several stories actually.

But I never thought I would be an author.

Nevertheless, in 2015 I was inspired to turn this collection of nature stories into a book and I self-published Many Ways to See the Sun in November of that year.

 

These days, I’m still pursuing art, I still teach and continually dream up ideas to spark the imaginations of children, and I’m still a reader. The author I am in love with most recently is L. M. Montgomery. Her descriptions of nature and the beauty of her characters bring me to tears.

We all have a story to tell. And if you have dreams of being an author, I would love to help you bring your story into the world.

Let me more formally introduce myself in a nutshell…

My name is Brooke Dierkhising. I am a teacher, artist, author, and entrepreneur. I have a an MS from Northwestern University in Education and a BA from the University of MN in English and Art. I’ve been creating and leading enrichment programming since 1998. In 2015 I self-published my first book and more recently I’ve been inspired to help others self-publish too. Currently I live in Minneapolis with my family, two cats, and a dog with big ears.

I invite you to tell me about you, your story, and your dreams.

Please contact me to schedule a  free consultation.