Positively Pittsburgh
Live!
TechoGranny visits Military Writer's Conference
10-1-12
Guests:
Stacey Holley, author
Stacey Holley, author
Dwight Jon Zimmerman, author
***
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| Stacey and John Holley |
Stacey
Holley co-authored the book Medals, Flags
and Memories with her husband John. Over the weekend the Holley’s
were the recipients of the 2012 Founders Award given out by the Military
Writers Society of America.
On
November 15, 2005, John and Stacey Holley unwillingly became Gold Star Parents.
Their son and only child, U.S. Army Specialist Matthew Holley, was killed along
with three other soldiers when an IED exploded under their Humvee while on
patrol in Iraq.
Racked
with grief over their son’s death, John and Stacey’s sorrow turned to outrage
when they learned that Matthew’s casket would return to San Diego’s Lindbergh
Field as common freight. There would be no honor guard to welcome this
fallen hero back to the nation of his birth. Instead, Matthew Holley’s remains
would be transferred by forklifts and baggage handlers, like a crate of auto
parts.
Determined
to welcome their son home with honors befitting his sacrifice, the Holley’s
embarked on a quest to challenge the law, and to begin a journey of healing
that would touch the lives of Gold Star Families across our nation.
Medals,
Flags and Memories is a three part story of John and Stacey’s journey of
healing. They share about the choice their son Matthew made “To serve a
cause greater than himself” - John’s journey to Iraq, stepping foot in the worn
torn country nearly one year to the day after being notified of Matthew’s death
and the faith to carry on their son’s legacy as a husband and wife and to
continue touching the lives of others.
Gold
Star family represents family members who died or were killed while serving
in the United States Armed Forces. This is signified on a service flag with a
small gold star placed on top of a blue star.
The
Holley Provision, known to some as Angel Flights, was passed into law as part
of the 2007 Defense Appropriations Bill. President George W. Bush signed
legislation into law in October 2007 and the Pentagon enacted the Provision in
January 2007. It ensures consistency across all branches of service by
providing an honorable, dignified and respectful transfer of our Fallen Heroes
from Dover Air Force base to their home of record. Since it’s enactment the
Holley Provision has touched over five thousand families across America.
Find
more information by visiting www.medalsflagsandmemories.com
or www.facebook.com/Medals.Flags.Memories.
***
DWIGHT
JON ZIMMERMAN is a bestselling and award-winning author,
radio host, producer, president of the Military Writers Society of America and
a member of the Western Writers of America.
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| Dwight Jon Zimmerman |
Zimmerman is the host of “At Ease,” an hour-long program
about authors and their projects, part of Veterans Radio Network. Information
about the program is available at www.veteransradio.net.
Zimmerman is also the author of a series of World War II
70th anniversary articles for the Defense Media Network website that
chronologically recount that conflict. They are available at
www.defensemedianetwork.com. He recently completed research for The New York Times Complete History of World
War II.
Zimmerman is the author of the critically acclaimed
graphic biography of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, The Hammer and the Anvil, with art by
Wayne Vansant. Zimmerman has also written Saga
of the Sioux (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, October 2011) the
critically acclaimed, authorized adaptation of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. Saga of the Sioux won the 2012 Gold Medal in the Young Adult
Non-Fiction category from the Military Writers Society of America.
His first book, First
Command: Paths to Leadership, which has a foreword by James M. McPherson,
presents the pivotal challenges and events that occurred in the early careers
of generals from George Washington to Colin Powell and how they overcame them.
Zimmerman was the co-executive producer of the cable television miniseries
based on his book. The miniseries debuted on the Military Channel in 2005 and
has been regularly aired on the channel ever since. It won the 2005 Aurora
Platinum Best of Show Award for Historical Programming. In 2009, the book
received the Branson Stars and Flags Gold Medal Award in the
Reference/Technical category. First
Command is on the U.S. Army Chief of Infantry Recommended Reading List:
Junior NCOs.
Zimmerman’s young adult biography, Tecumseh: Shooting Star of the Shawnee, received the 2010 Bronze
Medal Award: Young Adult from the Military Writers Society of America and was a
finalist in the young adult category in the 2011 Western Writers of America.
Zimmerman also wrote The
Day the World Exploded the critically acclaimed young adult adaptation of
Simon Winchester’s bestselling Krakatoa.
Zimmerman is the co-author, with John D. Gresham, of the
critically acclaimed history of seven pivotal special operations from the
Vietnam War to present day, Beyond Hell
and Back (St. Martin’s Press, 2007).
Zimmerman has written numerous articles on military
subjects for Faircount Media for its military-themed print publications and
Defense Media Network website, and other publishers. His article, “Maritime
Mobility,” for The Shield of Freedom,
an annual publication about the Coast Guard, was selected by the Naval War
College for use in its curriculum. And his article about a special operations
mission during the Korean War led by the theater’s surgeon general that had
high-stakes diplomatic consequences, originally published in The Year in Special Operations 2009 was
selected for re-publication by the Journal
of Special Operations Medicine.
Zimmerman has lectured at the U.S. Military Academy at
West Point and the Naval War College, and has appeared on the FOX programs
DEFCON-3 hosted by K.T. McFarland, and AMERICA NEWS HQ discussing military
subjects.
He was a producer for the independent film, Trooper, which received the Bronze Remi
Award at the 2010 Houston International Film Festival.
Zimmerman was the researcher for the critically acclaimed
The New York Times Complete History of
the Civil War, edited by Craig L. Symonds and Harold Holzer.
Zimmerman has collaborated on a series of award winning
young adult histories with Pulitzer Prize winners and bestselling authors
including James M. McPherson’s Fields of
Fury (Civil War) and Into the West
(Reconstruction and settling of the frontier), Philip Caputo’s 10,000 Days of Thunder (Vietnam War),
Stephen Ambrose’s The Good Fight (World War II), and Benson Bobrick’s Fight for Freedom (the American
Revolution).
Zimmerman began his career
in publishing at Marvel Comics, where he held a variety of editorial positions.
Among his Marvel comic book writing credits are stories for Spider-Man, The X-Men, and The Hulk,
and other superheroes. In addition to his comic book stories, he has written a
wide variety of children’s book adventures based on licensed product toy lines,
most notably the Transformers. In 1992, Zimmerman became executive editor of
Topps Comics and was responsible for the editorial and art direction of its
lines of media tie-in comics including series based on The X-Files, Mars Attacks,
Jurassic Park, Zorro, Xena: Warrior Princess
and other titles. In addition, Zimmerman wrote a number of the stories as well,
including an X-Files comic book story set in his hometown of Devils Lake, North
Dakota, and was the writer, editor, and art director of Princess Diana the graphic novel biography of Diana, Princess of
Wales published by Topps.
Zimmerman is the president of the Military Writers
Society of America and a member of the Western Writers of America. A native of
Devils Lake, North Dakota, he presently lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his
wife, Joëlle. They have two adult children, Eric and Léa.
***
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| Jo Ann Forrester |
Jo Ann Forrester, EmpressofBiz Talkcast host, gives her
impressions of the conference as speaker and interviewer for
PositivelyPittsburgh TV. Many of the nominees and award winners will be guests
on the Empress of Biz.
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| Joanne Quinn-Smith |
Both JoAnn
Forrester and Joanne Quinn-Smith spoke on two panels, “How to Get a Good Radio
Interview”-Dwight Zimmerman as host of “At Ease” was also on this panel. Both JoAnn’s were also on the panel: “Marketing
Your Book.”
Joanne Quinn-Smith, TechnoGranny ran her own workshop on
“Social Media, Building an Online Platform.”
***
This was reported as a reproduction of PositvelyPittsburghLive news done by Joanne Quinn-Smith. (c) Joanne Quinn-Smith and PositivelyPittsburghLive(TM) 2012 All rights reserved.
Tara Darazio is a Positively Pittsburgh Live reporter, an independent copywriter, blogger, article writer, and social media strategist. If you are in need of writing assistance, or need help with your social media efforts connect with Tara on LinkedIn here.
