AGT Monthly Meeting for January 2026 

The Authors Guild of Tennessee held their monthly meeting on Thursday, January 8, 2026, at the Faith Lutheran Church, Farragut, from 10:30 until noon.

The following members were present:

Bill Barbour, Gary Butler, Deana Charcalla, Gayle Curtin, Barb Dunn, Leoma Gilley, Jim Hartsell, Wes Hibbert, Ernie Lancaster, Jerry Morton, Kathy Parr, Cheryl Peyton, Nancy Pressley, Ron Pressley, Nolen Rollins, Kit Sexton, Frank Snyder, Art Stewart, Becky Tucker, Jeri Weems, and Curt Young.

Guests: Lois Snow, Clarice Rollins, Jilaine Burley, and Randy Carpenter.

Welcome – Cheryl gave appreciation for renewing members and introduced two guests. Jilaine Burley is a former journalist. Randy Carpenter is a former member. It was good to see him. He continues to write his reflections on Facebook every day.

Treasurer’s Report – Bill

We had a $200 surplus in 2025. Woohoo!!!

AGT Treasurer’s Report For December 2025
Beginning Cash Balance	$          2,935
Ending Cash Balance	$          3,783
Less:	$           (962)	Writing Competition
	$           (213)	Outstanding checks
Net Cash Available	$          2,608
Income
Membership Dues (24)	$              960
Book Sales	$                 64
School program	$                 10
Expenses
Author payments	$                 19
Laura Derr gift	$                 30
Storage Rental	$                 24
Speaker system	$                 81
Fairs Festivals Balance	$                 10

 

Committee Chairs 

Fairs and Festivals – Nancy reported that the House and Garden and Moofest have been removed due to negative feedback. Nancy advised that you not send payments until she writes to tell you, and then pay promptly. On her chart listing shows, RED means it is final. A 10×10 tent takes 3 people. The Lavendar Festival has a 20×6 space for our 8 people. Each person will have 36” space, so we need to limit our book displays to fit. At previous Lavendar festivals, everyone did very well. For all shows, Nancy will advise when your payment is due. If not paid, Gayle will contact to make sure you are still interested. All things are in a new storage facility, so if you need equipment, contact Nancy or Cheryl.

Library – Kit Sexton is our new librarian.  We have a new system for checking out books.  Books will be placed near the door where you’ll sign in to the meeting, put your books in the proper category, return borrowed books, and check out new books to review. Don’t bring more than five of your books for the library as there is limited space. Reviews should go on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. Take your own books home that haven’t been checked out by the end of the meeting.

Programs – Nolen Rollins is the new chair. His first meeting was the Christmas lunch where he learned he was the only member of the program committee. He had never been to a normal meeting before. He watched the speakers from 2025 to get an idea of what was expected. He has scheduled speakers for the year. Copies of the scheduled programs were available to attendees. George Bove, a children’s book author, will be the February speaker.

Speaker

AGT member Nolen Rollins made a PowerPoint presentation titled “Family History Books: Researching, Organizing, Writing, Publishing, & Promoting,” sharing his process for publishing the 600-year history of the Rollins Family from England to New England to Tennessee.

Nolen sees himself as a storyteller whose stories are in print. He’s written 14 books. Seven of them will only have one copy for each of his grandchildren. He used Hallmark to create them. Four to five books are about the GPS life journey. What is God’s plan for the next stage of your life. Thousands have been sold and translated into many other languages.

Nolan provided copies of On Granny’s Porch for the talk. He is not on Amazon but has sold 1,000 copies since March 2025.

On Granny’s Porch (2020), contains many stories covering 600 years, 21 generations of the Rollins family from England to New England, New Hampshire, Greenback, and Loudon. Writes books to tell stories. There is a limited audience for family history books.

Researching: These are resources for researching family: My Heritage, Ancestry, Been Verified, Find my Past, Legacy Tree, and Newspapers.com. He used zbridgeresearchservices@gmail.com, a research service in Estero, FL. Sharron Zulucki traced 21 generations for $900.

Organizing: General introduction could include the origin of the family name, mottos & coat of arms (available on the internet), notable persons with the family name, and fun facts about the family name.

Chapter Layout: periods of time, geographic regions, generations by numbers, geography, and individual names. If from England, the Church of England keeps great records.

Writing: autobiographical / life interest stories, ongoing compilation of a list of potential stories. Just start. Write one story at a time. Think storytelling, not composition. Enhance with imagination if details are sketchy. Humor is important. Be consistent with fonts, and tell stories over facts. Photos are important. New chapters begin on the right page. Forget editing until later.

Editing: consistency in fonts, margins, spacing, use of editing program (Grammarly, Free Edition). Use multiple proofreaders.

Publishing: Options for printing/publishing: Amazon for self-publishing, and cover design. Nolan uses Trinity Press (Christian Printer) Scott Robison Scott@trinitypress.com Norcross, GA.

Estee Murphy Naples, FL Cover Design

Promoting: to extended family, book signing socials, social media, historical societies, local museums, and assisted living facilities. Choose three topics to offer to assisted-living facilities. Curt Young has a marketing program for family history.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 12:07.

Respectfully submitted,

Leoma Gilley, Secretary