It’s been 40 years since I wrote my first article for The Day, about a tornado that landed in Windsor Locks, destroying the aircraft museum there, but I still love juicy stories and helping people connect with their local newspapers.

So I am once again offering, just in time for the holidays, a chance for anyone in charge of their organization’s PR, or anyone interested in writing, a glimpse inside the world of The Day and the Times papers from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, at the Public Library of New London. We will run through a list of PR tips and media contacts, with the twist this time being a focus on the nuts and bolts of how to get photos into the papers.

So if you are stumped about how to attach photos to emails, or the proper way to caption a photograph, please come say hello. I will also offer tips on better photography, do’s and don’ts of press releases and ideas to make your publicity pop.

A couple tips now: If you have something interesting going on in your life, chances are I’d like to know about it. If you have a friend turning 100, a kid who just became an Eagle Scout, a drama troupe that’s putting on a show, please don’t sit on your hands or just throw something on Facebook.

It’s time to think about print, because it’s the only thing you can clip out and refer to time and time again. It’s instant memories and instant legitimacy.

Unfortunately, we cannot be everywhere to publicize important events, but with your help we can cover a lot of the most important things in your lives. We would love to see events like the recent New London “Golden Girls” celebration (where, with the help of two friends, we published 21 mini bios of local movers and shakers) repeated elsewhere throughout the Times circulation area.

If you need help with that, or anything else involving publicity, feel free to send an email to me at l.howard@theday.com or call (860) 701-4356. Better yet, come to the publicity seminar so I can answer all your questions face to face!

Lee Howard is The Day’s community editor.