AGT Meeting Agenda for July 2026 

The Authors Guild of Tennessee held its monthly meeting on Thursday, July 2, 2026, at Faith Lutheran Church, Farragut, from 10:30 until noon.

The following members were present:

Bill Barbour, Gary Butler, Gayle Curtin, Barb Dunn, John Forcum, Leoma Gilley, Daniel Gracely, Jim Hartsell, Wes Hibbert, David Johnston, David Page, Cheryl Peyton, Nolen Rollins, Chuck Roseberry, Kit Sexton, Frank Snyder, Art Stewart, and Jeri Weems.

Visitors:  Jilaine Burley, Pamela Duncan, Clarice Rollins

Welcome – Cheryl introduced Pamela, who is a dietician writing a cookbook for people with GI issues. Doctors often don’t know how these people should eat, so Duncan’s book will be a hands-on reference. Vegans and vegetarians are generally the least healthy people, as we all need a balanced diet. She retired from Vanderbilt. She met Frank  Snyder and David Johnston at our booth at the Lenoir City Festival.

August Meeting date: We can’t meet the first Thursday in August because the church is a polling location.  So, we will meet the second Thursday, August 13^th.

Treasurer’s Report – Bill

AGT Treasurer’s Report For June 2026
Beginning Cash Balance	$        3,394
Ending Cash Balance	$        3,425
Less:	$         (465)	Writing Competition
	$              (5)	Outstanding checks
Net Cash Available	$        2,955
Income
Vendor book sales	$           127
Fairs Festivals	$              65
Expenses
Storage Rental	$              34
Author payments	$           127
Fairs Festivals Balance	$         (110)

 

Committee Chairs.

Fairs and Festivals – Cheryl reported that Nancy and Ron have respiratory issues, so couldn’t be here today. Cheryl noted that there is an opening at the Tomato Festival in Rutledge, July 17-18, 12-6 and 6-9. It is near the Rutledge Elementary School, and authors are inside. The cost is $28.

John Forcum talked about the Riverside Coffeehouse invitation to authors. It’s located at Dixie Lee Junction on Kingston Pike. The coffeehouse focuses on helping disadvantaged people. Timothy Joseph was the first author. Only his wife and a few others were there. It is not currently a good opportunity to sell books, but it may get better as they get organized. Speakers can talk about their books and the writing process. The time slot is 1-2 hours.

Gary Butler is going to the Gatlinburg craft fair 10-12 July at the Convention Center. Drop by to see if it would like to attend in the future. The fee is about $400 for the 10-day event. There is an admission fee, so people are serious about purchasing. Blessing Way Pottery is

Gary’s fiancée’s business. There’s another opportunity in October for 3 weeks.

New books: Daniel Gracely, our newest member, brought his two books.

Leoma Gilley has a new book, Come, Find Space with God, Guidelines for Life through Spiritual Practices. She co-authored it with Carol Mullen.

 Program

Our special speakers were AGT members Barb Dunn and Nolen Rollins. Their PowerPoint presentation was titled “Personality and Writing”, which explores how various personality types approach writing.

Personality impacts your writing and style. The DISC Personality Assessment was distributed.

Barb assists Nolen in offering the GPS Life Journey, an 8-hour workshop to find your purpose in life. One of the assessment tools is the DISC, which we were encouraged to take before the talk. DISC stands for Dominance, Influencing, Steady, and Conscientious. The most frequent personality, in general, is S as they are team players and supportive. C is the next most common and includes perfectionist and editors. I is 29% of the population while D is 9%. None is better than another to be a writer. They all have strengths and weaknesses. D and I are bold communicators and will tell you what they think. S & C are more reserved. D & C task oriented, I & S are people oriented.

D: driven, direct, decisive, strong-willed, forceful, self-confident, daring, determined, fast-paced, results-oriented. They are motivated by power and authority, winning, competition, and success. Their values include competency, concrete results and personal freedom. They fear loss of control and being taken advantage of. “What’s the point of playing if winning isn’t the goal?” J.D. Robb, author

Communicating with D Styles: Give the bottom line, be brief and speak up, focus discussion narrowly, avoid generalizations, refrain from repeating yourself, focus on solutions rather than problems.

I: charming, collaborative, energizing, trusting. Motivated by social recognition, group activities, and relationships, Values coaching and counseling, freedom of expression. Fears social rejection. “Whoever is happy will make others happy too.” Quote from Anne Frank.

Communicating: share your experience, allow time to ask questions and speak, don’t interrupt.

S: calm, patient, predictable, deliberate, even-tempered, humble, stable, warm, passive, loyal, and accommodating. Motivated by cooperation, opportunities to help, sincere appreciation. Values loyalty, helping others. “The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common” Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Communicating: be personal, express interest in them, be polite, avoid confrontation

C: cautious, systematic, private, objective, precise, analytical, diplomatic, accurate, reserved.

Motivated by opportunities to gain knowledge, show expertise, quality work, Values quality, accuracy and challenge.  Fears criticism, slipshod methods, and being wrong.

“It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong,” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Communication: facts and details, minimize pep talk or emotional language, be patient, persistent, and diplomatic, respect their preference to work independently, don’t be put off by their more detached approach.

Crafting characters, connection with readers, and the plot:

When crafting characters for your book, consider these different personality types and how they can interact with each other.

Connection with readers: High I – influence, S – build deep emotional connections, C – provide reliable information. This may apply to your readers in sales opportunities.

Plot desire to solve the plot (S/I) or drive results (D) shapes their narrative approach.

High D: tell a story, share a story. Facts and statistics.

I: focus on your story

S: You have a story. Tell it.

C: Your story is good enough; turn it loose.

The PowerPoint along with the video will be available for members.

 

Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 12:01. The next meeting will be at 10:30 on August 13, 2026.

Respectfully submitted,

Leoma Gilley, Secretary