Anne Spry
Anne Spry got her first writing accolades in a fifth grade What I Did Last Summer assignment, then laughed at and with herself as a personal columnist in her own Missouri newspaper for 27 years. She sold the newspaper in 2013, supposedly retiring, but fooled everyone (even herself) by launching a new writing and book publishing career. By then she had pushed southward into Jesse James territory and landed book clients with famous relatives like Satchel Paige, or the author who crossed the state line to write historic stuff about Jayhawkers and John Brown. Then she really became a traitor to her Mizzou Tiger journalism roots by landing in Jayhawk territory (Topeka, KS– her birthplace) in 2018.
The best thing she did since moving back to her birthplace and settling along the Wakarusa River was joining the Kansas Authors Club. In
2024 she served as state president of the organization. Her fellow club members
have inspired Anne to try her hand at writing poetry, but she is primarily a memoirist and a book publisher who has helped several writers launch their personal histories. She has a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a master’s in
communication arts from Memphis State University.
Her first memoir was a collection of newspaper columns called Letters from Home. She has co-authored other books, including a
true-crime memoir, Searching for Summer: A Solved but Unresolved Missing Persons Case that launched in 2019. In 2022, as the pandemic was morphing into an endemic, Anne collaborated with business partner Cheri Battrick to publish a book of photos and poetry called Finally Noticing. She always has at least two memoirs in progress. One is Taking the Long Way Home: Finding Purpose and Place in the Peace Corps. A second work-in-progress, to be published in 2024, is
Riding Rainbows through the Storms: Finding Perspective and Hope by Journaling
Through Traumas.
Anne's Books
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Letters from Home: A Newspaper Column and a Memoir
Regular price $12.00 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$14.95 USDSale price $12.00 USDSale -
Hamilton, MO: A Place of Pride and Progress (Copy)
Regular price $25.00 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$29.95 USDSale price $25.00 USDSale -
Hamilton, MO: A Place of Pride and Progress
Regular price $40.00 USDRegular priceUnit price / per$42.95 USDSale price $40.00 USDSale -
Journaling with Jesus: Writing to Heal from Trauma (Men's Masterclass)
Regular price $39.95 USDRegular priceUnit price / per -
Journaling with Jesus: Writing to Heal from Trauma (Women's Masterclass)
Regular price $39.95 USDRegular priceUnit price / per -
Tripping Down Main Street: The Fun and Funny of Community Journalism
Regular price $5.00 USDRegular priceUnit price / perSold out -
Finally Noticing: Poems and Photos Prompted by a Pandemic
Regular price $20.00 USDRegular priceUnit price / per -
Searching for Summer: A Solved but Unresolved Missing Persons Case
Regular price $14.95 USDRegular priceUnit price / per
Anne's Journey With Personal Chapters
Anne Spry is Personal Chapters. The company name came in a dream just after the death of her second husband. At 5 a.m. she got on the computer and registered the domain name. Then friend Cheri Battrick came for a visit and the two spent hours in their pajamas conceptualizing a business and a line of products that would help people record their personal history and eventually publish their own memoir or autobiography.
And because she had spent her first career publishing a weekly newspaper, it seemed only natural to begin to publish books. Now she does just that for her clients and for herself.