Cheryl’s published works cover a wide range of topics: travel, Northwest history, findability, writing, gratitude, journeys, animals, mental health, and homelessness.
Cheryl’s book events and speaking engagements
The Best I Can Do
Winner of the Gold Book Award for Nonfiction from Literary Titan and the Silver Book Award for Nonfiction from the Nonfiction Book Awards
First place in the Biography category from the International Firebird Book Award
Cheryl thought she knew her husband. Nine years after marrying her college sweetheart, the middle-class woman wondered if his odd episodes of paranoia were more than just work stress. But when his condition worsened significantly after being laid off, she made a surprising discovery that revealed the depth of his mental deterioration.
Stunned when he vanished without a word, Cheryl was left with a pile of guilt and empty bank-accounts and being forced to live in her car. As she looked back on their past, their moments of bliss fought with the gut-wrenching despair of his downswings and launched her on an emotionally draining roller coaster.
In this raw and compelling account of her battle against her spouse’s mental illness, Cheryl provides a lifeline of hope to anyone in the same position. And after witnessing her resilience, caring, and final revelations on how to cope with the impossible, readers will discover renewed optimism and courage in the face of adversity.
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For book clubs:
Download a list of questions for discussions about The Best I Can Do.
List of resources about mental illness and homelessness:
Download the resource list. The links to the websites in this list are active. This list will be updated periodically.
Rainbows in the Snow
First place in the Nature, Photography, and Travel categories from the International Firebird Book Award
Journeys come in different shapes and sizes. They aren’t necessarily a trip from one point to another. They can be the experiences along the way, such as a transformation, a realization, a discovery, or a resolution. Rainbows in the Snow is a celebration of these journeys through stories, photos, and an occasional haiku—from a cat diffusing a heated conference call to a conversation with a bored ten-year-old during a ride on a ferry. The photos are from Cheryl’s travels.
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Those Wild Northwest Days
Those Wild Northwest Days is a lively collection of 25 true stories about the pioneers who settled the Pacific Northwest and the towns where they lived from the late 1800s through the early 1900s. Among the characters you’ll meet:
- Lyman Cutler, whose disagreement with a pig almost caused an international incident
- Elijah Elliott, who led a wagon train onto a new shortcut from the Oregon Trail to the Willamette Valley and became lost in Oregon’s high desert country
- Fern Hobbs, the personal secretary of former Oregon Governor Oswald West, who shut down a rowdy mining town on the banks of the Snake River
- Noah Kellogg, a down-on-his-luck, jack-of-all trades whose misadventures with a stubborn mule led to the discovery of one of the richest silver lodes in the Idaho Panhandle
- Asa Mercer, who played matchmaker for the lonely male settlers in Washington Territory by recruiting “brides” from the northeastern United States
Second edition coming soon!
Beautiful America’s Seattle
Beautiful America’s Seattle is a coffee table book featuring an overview of the city’s culture, neighborhoods, and tourist highlights, along with a chapter of things to do outside the city. Cheryl wrote the text, and Jamie and Judy Wild provided the pictures.
Beautiful America’s Idaho
Beautiful America’s Idaho is a coffee table book highlighting the state’s beauty and destinations. Cheryl wrote the text, and a range of Northwest photographers contributed the pictures.
Published Chapters, Essays, and Photos
The Community Book Project: Celebrating 365 Days of Gratitude
(2023, 2024, and 2025 Editions)
In The Community Book Project, writers with a wide range of backgrounds and professions contributed 200-word thought-of-the-day essays filled with an appreciation for life. In the 2023 edition, Cheryl wrote two essays about her seatmate during a flight from Havana to Miami and one of the special cats in her life. The 2024 edition has essays about Cheryl’s experiences in Normandy and one of her happiest birthday celebrations that occurred during a difficult time in her life. In the 2025 edition, Cheryl wrote about her wedding anniversary and Lead Editor Donna Kozik republished three of Cheryl’s essays from the 2023 and 2024 editions.
In Rescuing Cats I Lost My Mind But Found My Soul
This book by Cheryl Kwasigroch contains 19 heartwarming short stories about cats based on her experiences in animal rescue and working in animal shelters. Some stories are written from Cheryl Kwasigroch’s point of view, while others are written from the cat’s perspective. Cheryl Landes provided photos for this book and edited it.
The Language of Technical Communication
Fifty-two top technical communications professionals contributed chapters to The Language of Technical Communication. Each chapter is a term and description related to the field of technical communications. Cheryl wrote the chapter about findability and indexed this book.
The Language of Content Strategy
Fifty-two top content strategy professionals contributed chapters to The Language of Content Strategy. Each chapter is a term and description related to the field of content strategy. Cheryl wrote the chapter about findability and indexed this book.