Writing-Related Sessions at FGS 2013

The Federation of Genealogical Societies 2013 Conference will be held in Fort Wayne, Indiana, from August 21-24, 2013.  There are just a few days left to save $50 on the full-conference registration (early-bird rate ends July 1).

There are so many sessions available, covering a wide array of topics.  Following are some of the writing-related sessions, many of which I will be attending!  I’ve also thrown in a few preservation topics since many times, we incorporates photos, documents, and artifacts into our stories.

Date/Time (Eastern)	Session	Speaker
Wednesday, August 21 11 AM	Printed vs. Online Publishing for Societies [although this is targeted at societies, I have seen this lecture and Donna presents wonderful information you can use related to your own work]	Donna M. Moughty
Thursday, August 22 5 PM	Research Reports for Ourselves: More Than Just a Research Log	Paula Stuart-Warren
Friday, August 23 11 AM	Image Organization Made Easy	Eric C. M. Basir
Friday, August 23 3:30 PM	Workshop – Scanning+Image+ Editing+Placement [currently full]	Eric C. M. Basir
Saturday, August 24 9:30 AM	Creating Family Histories for Future Generations	Thomas W. Jones
Saturday, August 24 11 AM	Scanning 101	Eric C. M. Basir
Saturday, August 24 11 AM	It Takes a Human: Genealogists and Writing	Jeanne Larzalere Bloom
Saturday, August 24 2 PM	Speak, Write and Publish Safely: Staying Out of Copyright Trouble	Judy G. Russell
Saturday, August 24 3:30 PM	The Rest of the Story: Using Manuscripts to Create a Family History	Laura G. Prescott
Saturday, August 24 5 PM	Family History Writing Made Easier: Cloud-based Tools Every Genealogist Can Use	Lisa A. Alzo

The entire schedule can be found on the FGS Conference website.

Don’t forget, the early-bird rate ends July 1, so hurry on over and register today!

Writing-Related Sessions at Jamboree 2013

The Southern California Genealogical Society' Jamboree will be held in Burbank, California, from June 7-9, with a pre-conference event on June 6. 

Over 100 sessions are scheduled over the three-day conference, and there are plenty of writing- and storytelling-related sessions (I was thrilled to see such a selection!!).  I also threw in a few sessions on the preservation of artifacts, since many times, we incorporates these elements into our stories.

Date/Time	Session	Speaker
Friday, June 7 3:00 PM	Evidence from Material Culture: Using Artifacts in Research and Writing about Ancestors	John Philip Colletta
Friday, June 7 4:30 PM	Recording, Preserving, and Sharing Your Family’s Oral History	Thomas MacEntee
Saturday, June 8 8:30 AM	RootsMagic Demo, Publishing Your Family Online	Bruce Buzbee
Saturday, June 8 8:30 AM	Preserving Digital Files: A Step-by-Step Guide	D. Joshua Taylor
Saturday, June 8 2:00 PM	Turning Genealogy into Family History: Creating Stories from Stats	Jean Wilcox Hibben
Saturday, June 8 3:30 PM	Demo, Family Chartmasters: Beyond Scotch Tape: Charts to Fascinate Your Family	Janet Hvorka
Sunday, June 9 8:30 AM	Demo, Personal Historian 2: New Tools to Write Your Life	Bruce Buzbee
Sunday, June 9 10:00 AM	Creating a Custom Photo-History Book	Richard Humphrey
Sunday, June 9 10:00 AM	Paper or Plastic? Preserving Keepsakes Workshop	Denise Levenick
Sunday, June 9 1:00 PM	The Write Stuff: Using Nonfiction Writing Techniques to Write a Better Family History	Lisa Alzo
Sunday, June 9 2:30 PM	Demo, Use Legacy Family Tree to Create Shareable CDs, Books, Charts and More	Geoff Rasmussen

Not registered yet?  Early bird registration end on April 30, so hurry over and register today!

Writing-Related Sessions at NGS 2013

The National Genealogical Society Family History Conference will be held in Las Vegas, May 8-11, 2013.  Over the course of four days, genealogy experts will come together and speak on a variety of topics from records to technology to methodology and everything in between.  And, as always, there are some sessions related to writing and sharing stories/research that I thought I’d highlight for my readers.

Date/Time	Session	Speaker
Wednesday, May 8 2:30 PM	Genealogical Writing Made Easier with Scrivener	Kimberly T. Powell
Friday, May 10 4:00 PM	Publish Your Genealogy Online	Laura Prescott
Saturday, May 11 9:30 AM	ePublishing	Barbara Ann Renick
Saturday, May 11 9:30 AM	Magnifying Glass, Wide-Angle Lens, or Telescope? Charts to Visualize and Share Your Family Tree	Janet Hovorka
Saturday, May 11 11:00 AM	Go Beyond Words: Dress Up Your Family History Publications	Barbara A. H. Nuehring
Saturday, May 11 2:30 PM	Who Will Read Your Family History? Writing for Your Audience	Linda Coffin
Saturday, May 11 4:00 PM	Breaking into Magazines: From Idea to Query to Success	Leslie Albrecht Huber

Not registered for the conference yet?  There’s still time, but hurry, pre-registration ends April 22, 2013.  Registration and additional conference details can be found here.

Family History Writing Challenge – Week 4

It’s the last day of the challenge and time for my final report.  And even though this was a super-busy week for me, I still managed to get in four out of seven days of writing.  Let’s see how the last week went.

On Friday and Saturday (the 22nd and 23rd), I continued to write about my Schwartz family, this time focusing on Ferdinand, my third great-grandfather.  Friday’s word count was 280 and Saturday’s was 208, both just above my 200 words per day goal.

Crazy week ensued and no writing (well not for the challenge anyway) was done from Sunday through Tuesday.  By Wednesday, my plans changed a little bit and I managed to get my draft done for the next Surname Saturday post.  This post will be on my Stoffel family (which will be post on March 1) and was 731 words.

Today, being the last day, I had to make sure to squeeze in some time to get some writing done.  I switched my focus from the Schwartz family to the Kremer family.  They are connected by marriage and both families are from Luxembourg.  Since I plan on doing some sort of project with these Luxembourg families, it was nice to get a good start on the writing and also see where I need to focus future research.

Week 4 yielded a total of 1,478 words, which is just above the weekly goal of 1,400.  This was my lowest weekly word count for the entire month.  But it’s better than 0 words, right?

Overall, I think I did pretty well for the month.  I intended to write everyday, but that didn’t always work out.  But in the end, I still accomplished quite a bit.

Here’s what my stats look like for the month:

	# of Days I Wrote	# of Words I Wrote	# of Hours I Spent
Week 1	2	1,739	7*
Week 2	4	4,417	6
Week 3	5	2,574	3.75
Week 4	4	1,478	2.5
Total	15	10,208	19.25

*Included quite a bit of research time.

I think that’s pretty good.  Over 10,000 words in 15 days.  Not bad considering my goal for the month was 5,600…I wrote double that in half the time!  But imagine what I could have done in 28 days…maybe next year’s challenge will be different.

For me, this challenge was about trying to get in as much writing as I could, but more importantly, I wanted to track everything I did for the challenge.  By tracking the project, the number of words, and the number of hours, it gives me a better idea on what tasks can be done and how long they will probably take so that I can better plan out my week from both a work and personal perspective.  It also helps me get an idea about word count and time for certain types of writing projects, which is helpful in planning submissions for publication or better estimating my client writing projects.

Now that the challenge is over, how did you do?  Did you accomplish what you set out to do?  Did you learn anything from the experience?  I’d love to hear about your accomplishments and/or learnings, so please leave me a comment, even if it’s just a link to your blog post about your challenge experience.

Family History Writing Challenge – Week 3

I was a little bit more on target this week, managing to write five out of seven days.  Here’s how the week went.

On Friday, February 15, I drafted my Surname Saturday post, which was 492 words and took about a half hour.

Hubby worked on Saturday, giving me a chance to get some writing done.  I decided to write about my second great-granduncle, Henry Schwartz, following up with what I did in Week 2 on his brother John (my second great-grandfather).  I still haven’t decided what to do with these write-ups, but I did use it as an opportunity to play around with Scrivener a bit.  That write-up was 492 words and took about an hour.

I snuck in some writing on Sunday and prepared my Genealogy By the States post for Maryland, writing about my husband’s (possible) eighth great-grandfather, Johann Bohn.  The post ended up being 680 words and took an hour-and-a-half to write.

Trying to stay ahead of my schedule, I prepared my Surname Saturday post for this coming weekend.  It was 612 words and took 45 minutes.

Other priorities got the best of me on Tuesday and Wednesday, so no “challenge” writing got done.

Today, I took some time to write down what I had learned about a nephew (that popped up out of nowhere) of my third great-grandfather, James Mulligan, in hopes of figuring out what the connection is.  Based on what I’ve found so far, I’m thinking that it’s a son of a sister of James.  This write-up was 298 words.

So for Week 3, I wrote a total of 2,574 words (weekly goal was 1,400).  To date, my word count is 8,730, which is well over where I should be (4,200 @ 200 words/day).  I have a crazy schedule for the rest of the month so I ‘m not sure how well I will do in Week 4.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get in a little writing each day.

We’re nearing the finish line!  Only one week left to go.  How have you done so far?  Do you plan to continue trying to write a little each day after the challenge is over?  Drop me a note and let me know!!

Family History Writing Challenge – Week 2

Week 1 was a so-so week, which you can read about here.  I did a little bit better this week, but I still didn’t write every day.  Here’s how Week 2 went for me.

On February 8, I drafted my Surname Saturday post about my Schwartz family from Luxembourg.  The post ended up being 2,904 words (14% over my 200 words/day goal) and took about 2.5 hours to write and format.

Then of course came the weekend.  It’s the only chance I get to spend with my husband, plus it was his birthday and Valentine’s Day wrapped together.  So writing had to take a backseat.

Come Monday, the 11th, I decided to do a write-up about one of the families I blogged about in the Surname Saturday post.  I wrote a 412 word “bio” about John and Margarethe (Kremer) Schwartz, that I plan to turn into some sort of scrapbook collage.  The writing, along with a little bit of research, took about an hour-and-a-half.

There was just too much going on Tuesday, so no writing that day.

On Wednesday, day 13, I drafted a blog post for the Genealogy By the States theme.  This week’s state was Massachusetts, so I continued the story of Gov. John Webster from the Connecticut post last week.  That post was 623 words and took about 2 hours.

And finishing out Week 2, I wrote 478 words related to my Garrison family.  Much of this writing was compiling my research, analysis, and thoughts on a tricky project.  But the point is, it’s out of my head and written down!

So my total word count for the week was 4,417.  And even though I only wrote four out of seven days (hey, that’s better than two days last week!!), I’m was way over my weekly goal of 1,400. 

My overall total so far is 6,156, which is well over where I should be with a 200 words/day goal.  In fact, I’ve actually written in two weeks (technically six days), what I set out to accomplish in four weeks, so that’s pretty good.  By looking at my word count each day so far, I think that my 200 words/day goal was maybe a little on the low side.  But I’m not about to change it, as I start my Scrivener course on Tuesday, which will have me busy everyday into March.  This was part of the reason I kept my word count low, because I knew half the month was going to be super-busy.

How are you progressing in the Family History Writing Challenge?  Drop me a note and let me know!

Family History Writing Challenge – Week 1

The Family History Writing Challenge started on February 1, and I am off to a rocky start…well sort of.  Here’s the scoop for the first week.

On February 1, I wrote my blog post for the Surname Saturday theme, Surname Saturday: Rottman (Bavaria / Georgia / Iowa / Illinois).  It was 938 words (4.69% of my 200 words/day goal—hey, I’m ahead of the game!!) and took two hours of writing and formatting.  So it looked like I was off to a great start.

Then the weekend came, as did a stomach bug (that I’m still battling), so nothing got done.  By Tuesday, I was working on a blog post for the Family History Through the Alphabet theme.  Unfortunately, it really didn’t have anything to do with writing about my family history.  I spent two days and 17.5 hours writing and formatting a guide for how to use Diigo (a social bookmarking website) to build a genealogy resource toolbox.  In total, I wrote 5,297 words over those two days, but since it wasn’t about my family history, I don’t think it should count (but hey, I did write something genealogy-related, so that’s a good thing, right?).

Today, I wrote my blog post for the Genealogy By the States theme, and I made sure it had something to do with my family history.  So I wrote about my 11th great-grandfather, John Webster, and my 10th great-granduncle, Robert Treat, who both served as governor for the Colony of Connecticut.  I managed to crank out 801 words in five hours (part of that time included some additional research).  Again, I was over my 200 words/day goal by 4%.

I know the goal is to write a certain amount of words EACH day, and my goal was 200.  And although I only spent two out of seven days writing about my family history, I actually did surpass my overall goal.  For seven days at 200 words/day, I should have accumulated 1,400 words total.  I wrote a total of 1,739 for the week, so I feel like I am achieving my goal, just a little differently.  And, hey, add in the nearly 5,300 words that were genealogy-related, heck, I made the goal for the month (and then some) in just four days of writing! 

But unfortunately, that is not the point of the challenge.  The point is to write a little bit each day.  And now that I’ve gotten that big writing project out of my system, hopefully the stomach bug will follow and I can manage to get a little bit done each day for the rest of the month.

The Family History Writing Challenge Begins Today!

It’s official.  Today marks the start of the third annual Family History Writing Challenge!  People all over the genealogy and family history community are taking this 28-day challenge, which entails a little bit of writing each day.  I will be participating again this year, and you can read more about my goals here.

Haven’t made the commitment yet?  That’s okay.  Head over to the Family History Writing Challenge website to sign up.  This nice thing about stating your goal publicly is that it makes you accountable and gives you a reason to follow through on your goal.  When you sign up, you receive inspirational emails each day during the challenge.  You should also consider participating in the forum, where you can ask questions, seek advice and encouragement, or help others on their quest.

Not convinced?  There are several family history writing articles posted at the challenge blog from last year, with more coming throughout the challenge.  These articles will give you ideas, encouragement, and advice to help you on your journey.  And for those who feel they just don’t have time, check out the post I wrote for last year’s challenge:  6 Tips for the Time-Starved Family History Writer.

Come on…what are you waiting for?  Join me in the Family History Writing Challenge!!

Make a Commitment to Yourself, Participate in the Family History Writing Challenge Next Month

For the third year in a row, Lynn Palermo (a.k.a. The Armchair Genealogist) is hosting the Family History Writing Challenge.  This 28-day challenge begins on February 1 and ends on the February 28. 

By participating in the challenge, you are essentially making a commitment to yourself to write x-number of words each day about your family history.  It’s a fun way to set a goal and work toward that goal each day during the month of February.  What’s even better is that you will get tips and support along the way.  And because it’s a “community” event, there’s also a sense of camaraderie knowing that others are right there with you, sharing in your successes and, yes, sometimes your frustrations.

This year, because of my busy schedule, I’m going to pledge to write 200 words each day.  Last year I had a plan for what I was going to do, but I didn’t really stick to it.  So for this year, there’s no plan.  I’m just going to write 200 words on whatever aspect of my family history I feel like writing about that day.  It may seem like a very disjointed approach, especially if you know me and how I work.  But sometimes it’s the best approach for the creative process.  And because I plan to write haphazardly (even though it makes me cringe!), I’m going to start using Scrivener so I can at least manage my jaunts and tangents in some organized manner.  (Too bad the Scrivener class I signed up for doesn’t start until February 19.)

So what about you?  Will you make a 28-day commitment to write about your family history?  I’d love to hear about your plans, so please leave me a comment or a link to your blog post about the challenge.

Writing-Related Presentations at RootsTech 2013

RootTech 2013 will be held March 21-23, 2013 in Salt Lake City.  Over those three days, attendees will have plenty of lecture sessions to choose from.  I though I’d share a list of presentations that may be of interest to you that relate to writing your family history.  I’ve also included presentations related to sharing your family stories in ways other than writing.

And since RootsTech has incorporated Story@Home into their conference, there are plenty of offerings to go around.  I’m sure you’ll find a few that will suit your fancy.

Thursday, March 21

• Digital Recording Tools for the Family Historian, Nancy & Biff Barnes
• The Timeline Grid: Visualizing a Family Through Time, Kathryn Grant
• Recording and Preserving Family Stories Using Your Hand-held IPad, IPhone, IPod, or Android Devices, Susan Kitchens
• Transform Your Note-taking and Remember Everything With Evernote, Tonia Kendrick
• Life Is in the Details, Leigh Anne Wilkes
• Mapping Ancestral Migration Trails and Their Stories, Laura Prescott

Friday, March 22

• Interest in Pinterest for Family History, Valerie Elkins
• Lab: Publishing, Shantal Park
• The Blog Blitz: Create Your Own Genealogy Blog in One Session Lab, Lisa Louise Cooke
• Being Present in Your Own Story, Ken Craig
• Do Your E-Book Right: Self-Publishing Secrets for the Family Historian, Lisa Alzo
• Turn Google Street View Into a Time Machine: HistoryPin and WhatWasThere, Amy Johnson Crow
• Wikis for Genealogists, Thomas MacEntee

Saturday, March 23

• Creative and Fun Ways to Cherish Your FamilyHistory, Valerie Elkins
• Storytelling With Kids, Amy Price
• Family History Writing Made Easier: Cloud-based Tools Every Genealogist Can Use, Lisa Alzo
• Taking Your Family History Electronic - Creating Your Own Amazing Ebook, Luana Darby
• Digital Storytelling: Beyond Bullet Points, Denise Barrett Olson
• 365 Days of Story Prompts, Jenny Eckton
• Writing for a Publisher, Christopher Robbins
• Publish Your Genealogy Online, Laura Prescott
• Authentically Telling Your Story, Stephanie Sorenson
• Live Your Stories, Increase Your Joy, Nicole Carpenter

Ohio Genealogical Society–6th Annual Writing Competition

January 1, 2013 kicked off the 6th Annual Writing Competition sponsored by the Ohio Genealogical Society (OGS).  Entries will be accepted through February 28, 2013. 

Both OGS members and non-members are able to compete.  Only unpublished entries are eligible and must fit the criteria of either the Ohio Genealogical Society Quarterly or the Ohio Genealogical Society News.  All of the competition details can be found on the OGS website.

Entries Due 12/31 for 2012 GENEii Family History Writing Contest

Just a reminder that submissions for the 13th Annual Southern California Genealogical Society GENEii^SM Family History Writing Contest are due by December 31, 2012.  You do not have to be a member of SCGS to enter, nor does your submission have to relate to California.  Entries must be family or local history articles, which may or may not have been previously published.  The length of the article will determine the category it fits in: 

Category 1 1,000-2,000 words	Category 2 Less than 1,000 words
Prizes 1st Place - $200 2nd Place - $100 3rd Place - $50	Prizes 1st Place - $100 2nd Place - $50 3rd Place - $25

Winners will be notified by May 1, 2013.  Winning entries may be published in SCGS’s quarterly, their website, or an anthology of winners.

For complete rules and how to enter, visit http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/geneii/overview.html.

Good luck!

Changes for the ISFHWE Writing Competition in 2013

I took a few minutes today to review the details of the 2013 International Society of Family History Writers and Editors Excellence in Writing Competition.  Right off the bat I noticed a few changes that I think people will be interested in learning about.

• The word limit for Category I “Columns” has been increased to 2,000 (was previously 1,000).
  
• The “rules” for Category II “Articles” now specify that submissions from blogs are acceptable (this was previously “implied” as a website).
  
• Category III, which was previously “Genealogy Research Story,” has been replaced by “Genealogy Newsletters.”  This is for society or family association newsletters.
  
• Category IV has been renamed to “Unpublished Authors,” and the word limit has been changed to between 500 and 2,000 (1,000 was previously the max).

Submissions for the writing competition will be accepted starting January 1, 2013, with a deadline of June 15, 2013.  Both ISFHWE members and non-members are allowed to enter the competition.

Complete details, including rules, judging criteria, entry fees, and the entry form, can be found here (will open a PDF file).

The Family History Writing Challenge is Over…But I’m Still Going

The Family History Writing Challenge ran through the month of February and sadly ended yesterday.  I pledged to write 300 words (or more) each day during February.  And although my goal of writing vignettes shifted a little, I did manage to write at least 300 words each day, with the exception of the first five days (I was in SLC for RootsTech).  I did manage to massage one batch of writing into a blog post about my second great-grandmother, Hulda Wach.  I’ll be tweaking a few more and posting them within the next few weeks over at GenBlog.

Although the challenge is over, I’m going to keep at it, writing about 300 words a day.  That seemed to be a pretty manageable chunk and I really got a lot accomplished.

If you took the challenge, how did you do?  I’d love to hear about your accomplishments, so leave me a comment and tell me how it went.

I’m Accepting the Challenge, Are You?

During the month of February, The Armchair Genealogist encourages genealogists and family historians to participate in The Family History Writing Challenge.

What is this challenge, you ask?  It’s a commitment to yourself to write about your family history each day throughout the month of February.  You simply make a pledge to write a certain number of words per day and then stick to it.  All of the details can be found here.

I must admit, I did not participate last year.  It wasn’t because I didn’t want to, I just had too many competing priorities.  But that’s all behind me and I’m ready to commit to the challenge this year!

My pledge is 300 words (at a minimum) per day.  I’m going to use this time to write vignettes of my ancestors, which I will post (at GenBlog) throughout the month of February.  This is a very ambitious goal, but one that I hope to accomplish.

So who’s going to join me?

Self-Publishing? Hire an Editor…Your Credibility Depends on It!

When you go the traditional route in publishing a book, editing is one of the services performed by the publisher during the production phase of the book.  However, more often than not, when you publish a book yourself, editing is a service that you have to seek on your own.  After reading several self-published books lately, I have a bad feeling that many authors either skip this step or “edit” the manuscript themselves.  I’ll be straight with you—not having your book professionally edited can damage your credibility and possibly impede traditional publishing opportunities in the future. 

Many people think that because they are writers, they can also edit.  While this is generally true, it’s only applicable to editing the work of others.  Self-editing, while it is exist, is usually where authors fail.  You can’t effectively edit your own work simply because you know what the text is supposed to say and you know the book’s composition.

For example, you know that the sentence is supposed to say “Bob took a moment to assess the situation.”  So naturally you’ll probably read the following and think it’s correct and exactly what you want it to say, but look really close…it’s wrong:  “Bob took a moment to access the situation.”  Now you might have caught the error simply because you weren’t the one that wrote it.  But had you been the self-editing author who wrote the latter version, I’m willing to bet you would have read right over the error and it would have gone to print as such.  A good editor would not let this error make it to print.

Another problem I see with all types of self-published books, whether fiction or non-fiction, is grammar and style issues as well as organizational issues.  Editors don’t just watch out for typos.  An editor performs a variety of editing services including proofreading, copyediting, substantive, and developmental (you can read my post, Did You Know?  Different Types of Editing for more information on each one).  This is why an editor can be a huge asset to your book.  They can look for grammar and style issues, such as voice (changing from first-person to third-person or vice versa), word usage, consistency with terminology, punctuation, and they can even do some fact checking.  And you’ll certainly want an editor who can analyze the entire manuscript and help you rewrite or rework sentences, paragraphs, chapters, or the entire book to make sure it flows in a logic manner.  As an author, it’s hard to see that the book that you’ve poured your heart and soul into doesn’t really flow organizationally.  A professional outsider will identify that immediately and help you fix it.

The bottom line?  If you’re choosing the self-publishing route, be smart and hire an editor, particularly one that offers various levels of edit.  This is very important in the world of genealogy and family history—you don’t want the credibility of all your hard work and research to be questioned simply because your book has typos, word usage issues, and is difficult to follow.  Don’t damage your credibility by trying to save a few bucks or a little bit of time.  Believe me, it’s worth the time and money to present a polished book!

Start a New Christmas Tradition

There’s always reminiscing at Christmas time, especially during family gatherings.  Why not start a more “formal” tradition and collect these stories to preserve your family’s history.  Here are some ideas:

• Over dinner, have everyone share a story about their favorite past Christmas.
  
• If you take turns opening presents, have each person share a story about a living family member before they begin opening their presents.
  
• Gather in front of the fireplace, cup of hot chocolate in hand, and share memories of family members who have passed on.

Be sure to record these stories, either with a digital voice recorder (or a tape recorder), a video recorder, or simply write them in a notebook.  You could even make gifts out of the stories for the following Christmas…get creative!

And although this post was written specifically for the Christmas holiday, you could do this at other holidays, such as Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, Easter, and birthdays.  You could also do this at family reunions or a family BBQ in the summertime.

Make it an annual tradition, one that will stay in the family for generation to come!

4 Reasons to Convert Your Genealogy Research Into Writing

Putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) is a daunting task for some people.  But taking the time to turn your genealogy research into something more than facts in a database can be very rewarding and beneficial to your research endeavor.

Here are four reasons you should convert your genealogy research into writing:

1. Organize & Analyze – Writing out your genealogy research provides a means to organize your research in order to perform a thorough analysis.  In doing so, you are able to find gaps in your research (from missing records or events, to having used only secondary sources) and recognize when something doesn’t fit (a child born after a mother died, or a melding of two people into one, for example).
2. Prove It – Once you’re satisfied with your analysis and conclusions, you can document them as proof arguments/summaries to defend your research.  Proof arguments also help you keep track of your conclusions and why you reached them in the first place.
3. Solve Another Problem – Sometimes when you write about the research process or records you used for one person, you may realize the same strategies can be applied to solve other mysteries in your family tree.
4. Tell a Story – Let’s face it, our non-genealogy family and friends won’t get much from a database file, family group sheet, or pedigree chart.  But putting your research in written form, with some narrative and social context…now that they can sink their teeth into.  Plus, it helps you as the researcher see your family as more than just names and dates.

Start Writing Your Life Stories – A Free Webinar from FTU

Family Tree University is offering a free webinar entitled Start Writing Your Life Stories, “where Sunny Jane Morton, author of My Life & Times: A Guided Journal For Collecting Your Stories, shares tips and ideas for capturing the stories of a lifetime—whether they’re your own or those of a loved one.”

The one-hour on-demand webinar can be accessed here.

Excuses, Excuses

It’s time to stop whining and start writing!  Head over to Sharon DeBartolo Carmack’s article “Write You Family History:  Get Motivated” to see the top five excuses we use to put off writing our family stories and advice on how to defeat those excuses. 

Yes, I said “we” since I whine about #5 (not “finished” researching) all the time!  But Sharon reminds us that the best way to find the gaps in your research and ultimately those pesky to-do items is by writing out what you’ve already researched.

Read her article to learn about the other four excuses and how you can overcome the whining and start writing!