How to Tell Your Ancestor Stories

The first final draft was just sent off to the printers for a review copy of "How to Tell Your Ancestor Stories" by Dr. Bill (William L.) Smith. Stop back here regularly for information on when it can be ordered.

Back cover copy:

Do you have family history and ancestor stories collected and researched?
Do you want to share them and tell your stories, but don't know how?

This book is your answer.

Preservation and interpretation of your ancestor stories will occur most effectively if each of us use multiple approaches to telling our ancestor stories to our families and interested others. This is the purpose of this book.

The content of our telling of ancestor stories includes your life as well as the lives of your two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, sixteen great-great grandparents, etc., and their sibling, aunts, uncles and cousins. Ancestor stories include the social context in which these folks lived, their clothes, their farms or ranches, their religion (or not), their occupations, their loves and antagonisms, their education (or not), their friends and neighbors, and the mundane details of their daily lives.


“Telling a story about an ancestor can be a gift to oneself and to one’s family. It is powerful to have your stories heard.” Judy Kitsune
http://judykitsune.wordpress.com/


Happy Reading! ;-)

Dr. Bill
http://stores.lulu.com/drbillshares

Liam Leverne penname

Since you asked...

Full name is William Leverne Smith - remove the first four letters, and last five letters, and you have: Liam Leverne

Liam is the Celtic form of William....

Any comments?

Happy Reading! ;-)

Dr. Bill
http://stores.lulu.com/drbillshares

Writing Priorities Update

Two posts back I noted that the Homeplace book was nearing completion. In that review process, we developed the concept that a trilogy would work very well. The first book is set in 1987. The second will be in 1997-8; the third in 2007-9.

My fiction is written under the pen name Liam Leverne. [Several family member provide critical input into the process.] The first book is titled: "Back to the Homeplace;" the working title for the second is "The Homeplace Revisited;" the third, "The Homeplace Forever."

Summary of the first book:

"The year is 1987. The terms of an unusual will left by their parents bring four grown children, spouses, and other family members, back to the Missouri farm where they grew up - the Homeplace.

Varied backgrounds and viewpoints ignite controversy and expose long kept secrets as each family member searches for his or her share of the family legacy.

While the older family members stake their claims to land and fortunes, the younger ones search for love and acceptance."


If you would like to do a review of this book on your blog, and/or elsewhere, when in comes out in a couple of months, please let me know, I'll be happy to send you an autographed review copy.

Any comments?

Happy Reading! ;-)

Dr. Bill
http://stores.lulu.com/drbillshares

Current writing focus

The World of Sergeant Major
William Kinnick
(Revolutionary War Era)

By

Dr. Bill (William L.) Smith

This is a nonfiction account of the world in which William Kinnick lived and died (1719-1785). It is based on the documented facts of his family and his life and the recorded colonial and early American world that was the context within which he lived his life and raised his family.

His best known descendant, of course, is Nile Kinnick (1918-1943), winner of the first Heisman Trophy and star football player at the University of Iowa (1936-9) who died too young in a World War II Navy jet plane crash. William Kinnick was his third great grandfather. He was my fifth great grandfather, as well. This is my tribute to him.



Parts
I. Early life and family
II. War of Jenkins Ear era
III. The Middle (Lost?) Years
IV. Pre-Rev War Years
V. Rev War Years
VI. Post War Years
VII. Descendant Genealogy

Any comments?

Happy Reading! ;-)

Dr. Bill
http://stores.lulu.com/drbillshares

Writing Priorities

This has been priority setting week. On the writing front, I need to shift priorities to see if we can generate some income... down the road, if not right away. Here is how I see it right now:

1. On the fiction front, finish the Homeplace book and get it in circulation. The next one can be in the wings, but not a lot of current high priority.

2. Get back to the William Kinnick book, as a creative nonfiction, using the tie-in to Nile Kinnick as a selling tool. This was supposed to be the "retirement priority." Now it is.

3. The next genealogy book will be the Michael Smith family. It is started; use to fill in and as a change of pace. Not a big money maker, but probably higher, quicker, than the second fiction.

Any comments? We'll work this set of priorities, and see how it goes.

Happy Reading! ;-)

Dr. Bill
http://stores.lulu.com/drbillshares

Looking to the Future II

Two latest ideas to work on:

1. Pen Name - have planned to use Bill Leverne for over 20 years, as noted. "Bill" is not really my name, but I do go by it. In recent years, I've become fascinated with "Liam" - not only Liam Neeson, but other uses... it is the last four letters of William, after all. If I drop the first three and last five of my full, formal name, we have "Liam Leverne." Kind of like "Louis L'Amour, right? wrong? What do you think??

2. The Branson/Hollister/Ozark place is still in my thinking, but I'm now thinking of a mystery series set there, using the same ideas expressed earlier, but, bringing in Raynor Crimmons as protagonist - along with some of the better elements of the old Braddock book, and scrap the rest... it is a bit dated. Nancy mentioned liking the helicopter scene. I'm thinking of creating fiction settings on the lake, for example, but use real, public settings, such as the Table Rock Lake State Park, the Table Rock Dam and Visitor's Center, etc. Comments?

Finally, for today, I have finished drafts on the last few chapters of the Homeplace book... now, just need to clean up, do some final editing, and will get PDFs out to family to review and comment.

Happy Reading! ;-)

Dr. Bill
http://stores.lulu.com/drbillshares

Book Sales Report

Total sales for the three books has now reached 51, with no advertising.

All three are now available on Amazon, as well as directly from lulu.com. Check them out!


Happy Reading! ;-)

Dr. Bill
http://stores.lulu.com/drbillshares