Create Your Legacy: E-Publishing

Four authors with recently published e-books will discuss the approaches, research, and writing techniques used to successfully prepare and conserve their own stories and those of their families.

Most of us share a strong core value regarding the importance of better understanding our roots and family histories. Those who come after us will want to know about us. Times are changing more rapidly than ever, and unless we capture and share the stories that relate the history and lifestyles of our generation and those before us, they will be lost forever.

The four authors—Nick West, Ginny Brinkley, Faith Connors, and Tracy Connors—invite you to join them for a panel discussion and informal “workshop” colloquy to explore the how-to’s and why’s of legacy e-publishing. The authors will talk for about fifteen minutes each about their personal e-publishing experiences. Then, the four will assemble as a panel to answer, individually or collectively, any questions posed. Feel free to submit your questions in advance to the WAG Program Coordinator, Kimberley Mullins. The panel will also welcome questions from attendees on any aspect of legacy publishing and/or e-publication.

Faith R. Connors, a retired Associate Professor, University of Maryland (UM), directed and managed community service clubs and educational youth programs for UM’s Cooperative Extension Service. She attended the University of Oslo’s International Summer School, and completed other graduate level studies at Bowie State University, the University of Maryland, and Hood College. Her work has been published in British Business Today, All Hands Magazine (U.S. Navy’s flagship publication), and the Longman Dictionary of Mass Media and Communication. She is the author of three books, Love Midgie, Flavors of the Fjords, and Clark’s Hill Cat.

Ginny Brinkley has been writing almost her entire life. As a young girl growing up in Virginia, she composed stories about her dog and cat, illustrating them with photos from her Brownie Hawkeye camera. Her sci-fi novel, EarthQuest, was begun by her “mad scientist” uncle, and completed by Brinkley and a fellow writing group member after her uncle became incapacitated. Her most recent book is Goddess: A Child of the Sixties, which looks back on her life and the excitement of her first love against a backdrop of the Vietnam War and the iconic music of the 1960s.

Nick West, a Gainesville native, attended Gainesville High School and the University of Florida. He is a veteran of the United States Navy and, together with his family, has owned and operated a landscape business in the area for over forty years. He began his writing career in 2010 when his first novel, The Great Southern Circus, was published. His other print books include The Long Road Home, The Sandspur Special, and To Light A New Fire. He recently published an e-book of historic fiction, The Great Southern Circus: From the Big Top to Gettysburg, which incorporates, expands, and updates The Great Southern Circus and its sequel, The Long Road Home.

Captain Tracy D. Connors, USN (Retired), graduated from the University of Florida (BA) and the University of Rhode Island (MA), followed by graduate study in public communications at the University of Maryland and human resource development at Bowie State University. In 2013, he was awarded a Ph.D. with distinction in Human Services at Capella University. Connors has published two major military history works: Baited Trap, the Ambush of Mission 1890 and Truckbusters from Dogpatch, the Combat Diary of the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing in the Korean War. He served as editor of Leading at the Strategic Level, published by the National Defense University. He published the first volunteer resource management handbook in 1995 and has published eight major handbooks for nonprofit organization management.