A local elected official has recently fulfilled a lifelong dream of becoming a published author.

Washington County District Four Supervisor Stan Stoops has recently published a book of 23 short stories titled, “Good Days & Better Days.” These are all true stories from Stoops’ life, and he shares that he got to work on putting together the book a couple years ago when he went on an 11-day kayaking trip down the Skunk River, “And I kept a journal and I farmed that journal out to a few folks and there were two people who made the same comment when they read the journal and they said ‘I felt like I was there.’ That was good encouragement, I thought maybe I can write an interesting story.”

Stoops says one of his book’s first editors was his high school English teacher Virginia McCurdy. A couple twists and turns later and Stoops’ novel was published containing stories that try to point out the humor in his life experiences, traversing around the globe from Vietnam to southeast Iowa. With one book under his belt, Stoops is now confident to resume writing a work of fiction. “Good Days & Better Days” is available for purchase through various online book retailers, and for rental at the Washington Public Library.