Writing Your Way to the Past

Winners Announced for the 2012 GENEii Family History Writers Contest

2013-05-03T18:02:00.001-05:00

A big congratulations to all the winners of the Southern California Genealogical Society’s 2012 GENEii Family History Writers Contest. Below is the list of winners in each of the two contest categories. Each of the winning entries will be published in The Searcher, which is the quarterly journal of SCGS.

Category 1 (1,000 to 2,000 words)

First Place	Ben Chinoy
Second Place	Janice Preston Horton
Third Place	Linda Gartz
Finalist	Sylvia Ney
Honorable Mention	Virginia McGee Butler
Honorable Mention	Bonnie Herold

Category 2 (under 1,000)

First Place	Jeffery Cohen
Second Place	Willie Wilburn Walker
Third Place	Joyce Roberson
Finalist	Donna Gagnon
Honorable Mention	Mary E. Nelson
Honorable Mention	Peggy Spear

Be thinking about entries for the 2013 GENEii contest, which will start on November 1, 2013.

Writing-Related Sessions at Jamboree 2013

2013-04-22T11:39:00.000-05:00

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!

Mashable Highlighted 2 Storytelling Apps This Week

2013-04-12T17:56:00.001-05:00

It’s so great to see family history in the mainstream. And for Mashable, a technology blog, to highlight, not one, but two apps related to family history is unbelievable! What’s better is that I personally had not heard of one of the apps. In case you missed the posts, here they are:

13 Ways to Tell Your Ancestor Stories – Book Blog Tour

2013-04-02T08:50:00.000-05:00

Dr. Bill (William L.) Smith recently released the second edition of his book 13 Ways to Tell Your Ancestor Stories, which is available at both Amazon and Lulu. As part of this launch, Dr. Bill organized a Book Blog Tour where various bloggers will feature the book with either a review, interview, or author guest post. Today it’s my turn to present a review of the book.

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 or what venue to use? This book has your answer.

Preservation and interpretation of your ancestor stories will occur most effectively if you use multiple approaches to telling your ancestor stories to your family and interested others. Showing you how to this is the purpose of this book.

The content of you 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 siblings, 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.

13 sections suggest a variety of ways to tell your ancestor stories; each section has a Planning Worksheet to assist you in doing it most effectively.

The main point of 13 Ways is to encourage people to tell their stories, regardless of how this is actually done. Oftentimes, people want to share their stories, but they do not know where to start, what tools/technologies/media are available, or what option(s) work best for their particular goal(s). This book is broken up into 13 chapters, each presenting a different idea that can be used to tell your family stories.

You probably have heard of or seen each of these mediums in everyday life. But you may not have thought about how they could be applied to family history and sharing your family stories. 13 Ways puts some perspective around this and lends some ideas in the context of family history.

At the end of each chapter, the author offers up some pros and cons, as well as additional resources. There is also a planning worksheet for each chapter to help you get started and determine if the idea is a viable option for you.

To be clear, this book is a high-level introduction to various tools/technologies/media to help you tell your family stories. It is not necessarily an instructional guide on how to implement each type of project, although additional resources are provided to point you in the right direction. Think of this book as an inspirational tool to get you thinking about how you might go about sharing your family stories. I myself found some motivation to explore some options I had not previously considered for sharing my family stories. Perhaps you will find the same motivation—remember, it is really about telling the story.

For a chance to win a PDF version of the book, visit:

Anglers Rest (contest ends April 3)
Trials and Tribulations of a Self-Taught Family Historian (contest ends April 6)

13 Ways to Tell Your Ancestor Stories. By Dr. Bill (William L. Smith). Published by Lulu, 2013. ISBN 978-1-300-79789-0. 77 pp. Appendix, worksheets. Paperback.

About Dr. Bill: "Dr. Bill enjoys telling and sharing ancestor stories and related family history social context. He has published four family histories, to date, with more in progress. For the latest on Dr. Bill, his writings, and stories, see his complementary blog Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories.

Disclaimer: I was provided a complimentary PDF version of this book as part of my participation in the Book Blog Tour.

StoryPress: Big News!

2013-04-01T17:01:00.001-05:00

I received the following press release from StoryPress and thought I’d pass it along to my readers. Also note that during the RootsTech 2013 conference, DearMYRTLE spoke with Mike Davis about StoryPress. You can watch the five-minute interview here.

AUSTIN, TX - Everyone has an important story to tell, and the free StoryPress app lets you easily save these stories to share with future generations. Since the v1 launch in December 2012, thousands have already downloaded.

Stories are not traditionally thought of as something that can be easily saved and shared. Most are never written down, and are too often forgotten. Use the free StoryPress app to capture your own personal history, or tell a loved one about it – we designed it to be unbelievably easy to use, even for seniors.

There is an authenticity in someone’s own voice that transcends time and carries more weight than any other element, and StoryPress is here to capture these moments – your favorite memories, your successes, and your funny stories – and let you share them with your loved ones.

The user can customize a cover, then either freely talk or choose a topic and be interviewed by our program. (Yeah, it’s pretty amazing.) Then the software automatically turns the audio recordings into an audio story permanently saved on our cloud.

Kickstarter Campaign

A 30-day Kickstarter campaign starting April 1 hopes to raise $15,000 to fund development of v2, which will integrate photos and music into completed audio stories.

Writing-Related Sessions at NGS 2013

2013-03-26T09:20:00.000-05:00

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.

Tell It Again – See the RootsTech Session Recording NOW

2013-03-21T18:55:00.001-05:00

All I can say is, wow! Kim Weitkamp gave a fantastic presentation today at the RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. The presentation, Tell It Again, was streamed live via the internet and had a lot of buzz on Twitter.

Kim is an excellent storyteller; I was truly fascinated (and it takes a lot to fascinate me!). Instead of lecturing and telling you why you should tell your stories or how to tell them, she used the power of storytelling to illustrate her points.

It’s hard to explain here in writing, you just have to go and watch the recording for yourself. You can access the recording of the session here or by clicking the image above. I’m sure you will walk away with the motivation to tell your stories!

It really is a must-see!

Family History Writing Challenge – Week 4

2013-02-28T20:06:00.001-06:00

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.

Self-Publishing for the Family Historian, Is It For You?

2013-02-22T19:19:00.000-06:00

I am no expert when it comes to the topic of self-publishing, but I know people who are. It’s been a hot topic lately, both in the genealogical community and in general. I’ve come across several articles that may help you decide whether self-publishing is something you want to pursue.

Biff Barnes, historian and writer behind the Stories to Tell Blog, kicked off the new year with a series of posts about self-publishing. If you are considering publishing a book in the near future, these are must-read posts.

I’ve also run across several posts on the subject of self-publishing from various writers. All of these posts offer general advice about self-publishing and do not relate to genealogy specifically. Nonetheless, they are still worth the read.

5 Things I’ve Learned From Self-Publishing, James Calbraith
The Top Ten Mistakes Writers Make When Self-Publishing a Book, Guy Kawasaki
10 Things I’ve Learned About Self-Publishing, Joel Friedlander
Legal Issues in Self-Publishing: What Authors Need to Know, Bernard Starr
17 Things Self-Publishers Need to Know About Book Design, Joel Friedlander
Great Reasons to Self-Publish: 7 Case Histories, Alan Rinzler
4 Obstacles to Self-Publishing Success, Joel Friedlander

The remainder of these posts come from the genealogy world and offer advice on making the most of self-publishing, as well as some insight on various tools.

Publishing Your Genealogy—Traditional vs. eBook, James Tanner
Self-Publishing For Genealogists, Kimberly Powell
A Personal Publishing Primer, Denise Barrett Olson
Self-Publishing with Blurb, Lynn Palermo
Make Your Book Page a Cousin Magnet, Denise Barrett Olson
Self-Publishing Tips (Part 1) – Preparing the Manuscript, Marion Woodfork Simmons
Self-Publishing Tips (Part 2) – Preparing to Hire an Editor and Designer, Marion Woodfork Simmons
Give Your Book a Page on Your Blog, Denise Barrett Olson

After reading some of these posts, do you think self-publishing is something you want to pursue? Or do you think you’ll stick to the traditional route? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject, so be sure to leave me a comment and voice your opinion.

Family History Writing Challenge – Week 3

2013-02-21T21:58:00.001-06:00

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!!

Story@Home Instagram Photo Contest

2013-02-15T17:54:00.001-06:00

Story@Home is a new addition to RootsTech this year. Story@Home offers class sessions with award-winning storytellers, performers, and speakers to help attendees explore ways to use the power of story to connect with their family. You can learn more about Story@Home on the RootsTech Conference website.

Story@Home is running an Instagram Photo Contest. Here are the contest details:

Prize – Story@Home + Getting Started pass ($79 value), which is access to all Story@Home classes and Getting Started classes all three days of RootsTech 2013.

Contest Dates – February 20th-24th

How to Enter – Snap a picture you think tells a story. Examples include family, friends, places, events, mementos—anything that has meaning for you. Upload the photo to Instagram and share with Story@Home what story your photo tells. Include the hashtags #tellyourstory and #storyathome.

The winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced on the Story@Home Facebook page Monday, February 25, 2013. "Like" Story@Home on Facebook to find out if you've won.

Family History Writing Challenge – Week 2

2013-02-15T15:44:00.001-06:00

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

2013-02-07T22:33:00.001-06:00

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!

2013-02-01T08:42:00.000-06:00

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

2013-01-11T16:43:00.001-06:00

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

2013-01-07T12:10:00.000-06:00

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

2013-01-03T23:48:00.001-06:00

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.

Dallas Genealogical Society Announces Winners of 2012 Writing Contest

2012-12-20T15:09:00.001-06:00

A few days ago, the Dallas Genealogical Society announced the winners of the 2012 Writing Contest that was held earlier this year. Below is the press release that was issued.

As soon as I get the details for the 2013 contest, I will post them on this blog.

Dallas, TX—December 17, 2012—The Dallas Genealogical Society presented the winners of their 2012 Writing Contest with certificates of recognition and prize checks at their Annual Awards Luncheon on December 8, 2012. Among the judges reviewing the contest entries was J. Mark Lowe, a professional genealogist.

The winners are:

First Place – $500

“Francis A. Claridge (1824-1887)” by Karen Claridge Walker (DGS member)

Karen is a native of San Antonio, Texas. She worked two years in the Tulsa City/County Library Genealogy Center; and is a serious amateur genealogist. The article is about Karen’s paternal great-great-grandfather, to whom she said “she is grateful for having such an interesting life about which to write.”

Second Place – $300

“Bailing, Bigamy, and Brother Love: the Family of Henry Parker and Nancy Black” by Debbie Parker Wayne, CG^SM

Debbie Parker Wayne is a full-time genealogist experienced using laws and DNA analysis, as well as more traditional techniques, for genealogical research. Debbie is a Trustee for the BCG Education Fund, a board member and Advocacy Chair of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), president of the Lone Star Chapter of APG, and Texas State Genealogical Society’s DNA Project Director. She is part of the core staff at Angelina College Genealogy Conference and was the featured speaker on DNA at the Texas General Land Office’s 2011 Save Texas History Symposium. Her website is at http://debbiewayne.com.

Third Prize (tie) – $150

“Sarah Luse Larimer (1836-1913): Indian Captive, Photographer, and Business Woman” by Loretta Luce Evans, AG^®

Loretta Evans, AG^® , is a freelance writer and lecturer with over 30 years of genealogical experience. Accredited in Midwestern United States research, she is a graduate of the National Institute on Genealogical Research in Washington, DC, and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. Her writings have appeared in a number of magazines, including Crossroads, Ancestry, Everton’s Genealogical Helper, Heritage Quest, the Genealogical Journal, and Ohio Records and Pioneer Families. Loretta has served as a Commissioner and as Public Relations Committee Chairman for the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists. Loretta recently spent almost two years as a volunteer for FamilySearch in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Third Prize (tie) – $150

“Chronology of Land Lot 128, District 20, Baldwin (Morgan) County, Georgia And How It Led to Polly Ware’s Maiden Name” by Barbara A. Ware (DGS Member and IT Administrator)

Barbara A. Ware is a third generation Texan. She has been an active genealogist for 20 years, a member of the Dallas Genealogical Society board several times, and has worked on a number of transcription projects to make Dallas county records available. Her family research activities have taken her to most of the Southern states, England and Italy.

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

2012-12-14T19:53:00.001-06:00

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

2012-09-21T21:26:00.001-05:00

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).

New Kindle eBook On Family History

2012-09-14T14:03:00.001-05:00

My good friend Carol sent me an email this morning to let me know about a new Kindle eBook on family history that is currently FREE on Amazon (regular price is $1.29). The book is Putting Flesh on the Bones: Bringing Your Ancestors to Life, by Mark W. Swarthout.

I have not read the book yet, so I can’t offer a review, but hey, it’s free (for now, and inexpensive at it’s regular price of $1.29), so why not take a chance. The Amazon description reads:

How do you make the hundreds of dates and places in your family tree come alive?

The purpose of this article is to spark your interest in finding out the things that will make your ancestors become real people in your mind. It will provide thought starters and ideas to help in tracking down the information that can convert those names and dates on the genealogy chart into a real flesh and blood person, someone you can picture in your mind.

Have you read it? If so, leave a comment and let me know what you thought of it.

2012 Root Cellar Family History Writing Contest

2012-09-01T15:26:00.000-05:00

Submissions are due October 1, 2012 for the Root Cellar Family History Writing Contest sponsored by the Sacramento Genealogical Society (SGS). You do not need to be a member of the society and entries do not have to related to Sacramento or California. According to the rules:

“The subject matter of the entries is to be family history or local-history stories, memoirs, or character sketches. Entries should be between 500 and 2,000 words in length. How-to articles or articles about the research process would not be acceptable for this contest.”

Winners will receive an assortment of prizes. First place prizes include a six-month Ancestry.com membership, a copy of Family Tree Maker 2012, and a SGS membership. Visit their website for complete rules and submission guidelines.

Need some convincing to write about your genealogy research? See my post 4 Reasons to Convert Your Genealogy Research Into Writing.

Ontario Genealogical Society – Keffer Writing Contest

2012-09-01T12:59:00.000-05:00

Entries for the Keffer Writing Contest, sponsored by the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) are due November 1, 2012. The contest, which is open to OGS members, awards four cash prizes ranging from $25 to $100. Winning entries are also featured in the OGS journal Families. Entries should be 1,500-2,000 words (including footnotes) and relate to Canada or Ontario genealogy.

Additional information, including rules and submission instructions, can be found on the OGS website.

Need some convincing to write about your genealogy research? See my post 4 Reasons to Convert Your Genealogy Research Into Writing.

International Society of Family History Writers and Editors 2012 Excellence-in-Writing Competition Winners

2012-08-31T16:30:00.001-05:00

I just received word about the winners of this year’s ISFHWE Excellence-in-Writing Competition! Unfortunately, I was not among the winners this year, but that’s what I get for waiting until the last minute (literally…oh wait, I did that last year too and still took third place!). Even though I did not place, I’d still like to recognize this year’s winners. Let’s give them a round of applause!

Category I – Columns

First - A Big Game for the Big Day – Shelley Bishop
Second - Newel King, 91^st Ohio Volunteer Infantry – Shelley Bishop
Third - Wanted: Larger ‘Needles’ – James M. Beidler

Category II – Articles

First - Blue Collar Breakthroughs – Sunny Morton
Second - Academic Libraries: A Good Reason to Head Back to Campus – Mary Penner
Third - An Identity Crisis: Using Indirect Evidence to Prove …. – Debbie Parker Wayne, CG

Category III – Original Research Story

First - Common Ground – Courtenay O’Bryan Auger
Second [tie] -The Long and Winding Road: The Search for the Clark Farm – Cheryl Roach
Second [tie] - James Holmes: He Was Tickled to be Pickled – Marjorie Waterfield

Category IV – Unpublished Author

First - The Butchers of Marshall Avenue – Carla Love Maitland

Category V – Unpublished Work by Published Author

First - The Bones of Hobo Hollow – Paul K. Graham
Second - Ella’s Letter – Nancy Waters Lauer
Third - Civil War Perils of Springtime – M. Carolyn Steele

The rules for the 2013 competition will be posted at the ISFHWE website soon, but if you happen to be at the FGS Conference, you can stop by the ISFHWE booth (#628) to pick them up.

Genealogy Writing Competition – Dallas Genealogical Society (no, entries do NOT have to be about Dallas!)

2012-08-31T16:04:00.001-05:00

Submissions for the Dallas Genealogical Society 2012 Writing Competition are due by September 30, 2012. You do not have to be a DGS member to enter, and the articles don’t necessarily have to be about Dallas genealogy.

Articles are to be 750-5000 words in length and should fall into the following categories:

basic and advanced methodologies and case studies (not limited by geography)
family histories and genealogies, particularly those linked to North Texas, including those who came from or left to settle elsewhere
transcriptions, abstracts or indexes of record groups (including family records) not yet filmed or digitized that relate to Dallas or North Texas
ethnic, house, or military histories related to Dallas and surrounding counties

Winning articles will be published in a future DGS publication. Monetary prizes will also be awarded. Winners will be announced in December 2012.

Complete details, including rules and submission guidelines, can be found at the DGS website.

Need some convincing to write about your genealogy research? See my post 4 Reasons to Convert Your Genealogy Research Into Writing.