December 13, 2025 at 11:00 AM at Yocum Institute
Frank Heninger on SpiritNotes: Journaling Skills For Writers
In this workshop participants will explore how journaling can enhance personal spiritual practice and writing goals, learn several unique types of journaling, and briefly explore media options, barriers, obstacles, anchors and solutions. The workshop will be a blend of instruction, discussion and small group exercises.
Frank will share excerpts from his book and how the journaling he wrote during his climb became source material for the book, and the motivational speeches that followed.
Frank Henninger is a self-published author and poet, and a performing musician. His first book, “Compass Points: Finding a Mid-Life Bearing on Mount Rainier,” is available at Amazon.com and Xlibris.com. His second book, a book of poetry, titled “Ravenwolf Verses: A Collection of Free Verse & Modern Haiku“ will be available this fall. Frank performs original music on Native American and other world flutes, and on various hand drums and didgeridoo, and teaches others to play these instruments. His four audio CDs are available from CDbaby.com, Amazon.com and Apple Music.
Frank also has a channel on YouTube.
January 10, 2025 at 11:00 AM at Yocum Institute
John Symborski on Self-Publishing, the Old-Time Way
Many people have at least one book in them, or so it seems with nearly 1 million new titles released through traditional publishers (<1% odds for new authors), and over 2 million on-line self-published titles (averaging <250 total copies - skewed by many with zero). Since a vanity press is a losing proposition, is there another avenue to publish? The familiar book - or codex - has been around since the first century AD, and was a manual process until the mid 19th century. The presenter will review a step-by-step method (with examples) for producing a bound hardback book with a minimum of tools. Did you know that one can get a U.S. copyright without bothering with an ISBN number, sell handmade physical copies of the book through an on-line store (e.g. ETSY), and still retain unpublished status for the work? This leaves all other options still open, and an author can self-promote through craft honing, audience building, networking and research.
John Symborski earned a Bachelor of Sciences in Industrial Technology at the University of Maryland in 1976, and worked 29 years as an Industrial Engineer for a several manufacturers until outsourced. Trained as a Certified Hospital Pharmacy Technician in 2005 (CPhT, Lincoln Tech), he has served Pottstown Hospital for 20 years and continues at the Pharmacy part-time in semi-retirement.
Bookbinding is a relatively recent interest, and rather than make books of blank pages it was necessary to write a book worth binding - and then produce it from scratch based on traditional techniques (with a few modern conveniences). John's Copyrighted book is titled "Old Dobbin", and presents two historic novellas under one cover (50,000 words in all) set in 1909 and 1910 from Spring City/Royersford through Pottstown to Reading PA and back.
With a passion for traditional crafts, John learned and demonstrated rope making, candle dipping, woodworking, gunsmithing, and harpsichord performances on self-made instruments for many Historic Sites in southeastern Pennsylvania. John assembles Colonial Soldiers' hats on commission for a retailer of military supplies for re-enactors.
Other interesting facts about John: He is the past president of the Delaware Valley Amateur Astronomers, he designed and built 3 Newtonian telescopes, 2 prize winning parabolic mirrors and lectured on the Antikythera Mechanism. John and his wife Lynn have taught historic dancing since 1976, and continue to appear with their dance troupe - the Tapestry Historic Dancers - at historic venues and special events. John is also a Monday night "Sunday school" teacher at his parish in Limerick, PA.