I'll see you at the Tiger Tailgate!

Hi, my name is Laura (Brandt) Miller, and I’ll be selling and signing my books at the Tiger Tailgate in Independence, Mo. on Aug. 4. For those who are unfamiliar with the event, it’s a family-friendly evening of barbecue, vendors and a live and silent auction. AND this year, former MU football coach Gary Pinkel will be making an appearance! The Tiger Tailgate is one of two big events the Kansas City Chapter of the Mizzou Alumni Association hosts every year to raise money for future Tiger scholarships. So, whether you’re a Tiger fan or even a fan of that team across the state line, I hope you get a chance to come out, have fun and help further the education of a future Tiger!
 
And for those who don’t know me, I’m a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, and I have a degree in newsprint journalism from the J-School. While at Mizzou, I was co-captain of the track team. And it was on that team that I met my husband, Channel 9 meteorologist Neville Miller. And together, we’ve eaten our fair share of Shakespeare’s Pizza and The Heidelberg’s happy hour wings.
 
Today, I write novels about small towns and small-town people. But my stories go back a little further than my college days.
 
I spent the first years of my life in the Berger, Mo. river bottoms, 70 miles west of St. Louis, on a hog farm. And then, the Flood of ’93 happened. And after several boat rides over flooded farmland to get to our house, we called it quits and moved to a big hill outside of New Haven, Mo. It was there that I went to high school.
 
I finished my first novel while living in Charleston, S.C. It was published four years later in Columbia, Mo. At the time, I was working as a government newspaper reporter and was more accustomed to planning and zoning ordinances and trying to figure out the difference between a container and a cargo ship than make-believe. But that same year, my debut novel hit the Amazon Best-seller’s list, and from there, I decided to wash off my ink-stained hands and give this make-believe thing a try.
 
I now live in the Northland, here in Kansas City, and write my stories looking back. I’m inspired by the little towns and small-town people that make up my childhood. I have seven novels published, and in them you can find towns that closely resemble places like Detmold, Mo., New Haven, Berger, Hermann and Columbia. And characters include a girl who grows up in a little river town of 200 people, a quiet World War II veteran that bales hay with his grandson, a newspaper editor who patiently endures the townspeople’s conspiracy theories and a firefighter who dreams of becoming a country music star. Additionally, all my stories have one other thing in common—love.
 
I really hope you get a chance to check them out. As I mentioned, I’ll be at the Tiger Tailgate Aug. 4. But in the meantime, you can find digital and paper copies of all my books on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iTunes. I can’t wait to see you soon! M-I-Z!

For tickets to the Tiger Tailgate, visit Mizzou.com!