In the late 1970s when I was teacher/advisor to Bittersweet, the Ozark Quarterly, published by students at Lebanon [Missouri] High School, we interviewed Taney County, Missouri's story teller Douglas Mahnkey, son of Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey, and became good friends with him. At a suggestion from one of the Bittersweet readers, one of my students did an article about Doug’s mother’s poetry. I borrowed a book of Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey’s poems from the library. I had previously not heard of her, but a bit of research proved she was a long-standing correspondent to local papers and a regular columnist to the Springfield, Missouri, News Leader. She was also a fine poet, writing many short lyrical poems similar to those of Emily Dickinson. But Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey’s poems were about the Ozarks and its people--just exactly what our publication was about.

After our article was published, Doug then asked me to write his mother's biography. I was very busy at the time, though I did talk to several publishers on the idea. No interest at all. No matter how accomplished and interesting, early twentieth century farm women from the Missouri hills were of no interest to Eastern publishers.

However the idea continued to bug me. When Bittersweet ceased publishing and I had more time, I researched and wrote the biography based on Mahnkey's many journals dating from her childhood, from her published weekly columns (1891-1948), and from personal interviews with Douglas, her grandchildren, and former neighbors.

After submitting the manuscript to fifty houses and having five publishing companies back out of their agreement to publish for various reasons (none of which were about the manuscript itself) I decided to publish the book myself so that 95 year-old Douglas Mahnkey could see his mother's life in print. Bittersweet, Inc. backed me, and in 1995 I was able to publish the book. A CANDLE WITHIN HER SOUL became a finalist for the Western Writers of America Spur Award, and won first place for a Major Work from the Missouri Writers Guild.

Though I’ve not self-published any of my other books, I am very glad I did this one, not only to keep alive a great lady’s work, but for its financial success. Though it has taken ten years, it has brought in more income than any of my other published material. Some things you just has to do yourself. :-)