Holidays, for better or worse, are family gathering times (followed closely by weddings, funerals, and family reunions). What better time is there to interview those family members you only see once a year? Give your auntie an excuse to stay out of the kitchen and hold her comfortably captive while you ask a few questions.
Here are a few tips that will help you get better stories.
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"Edgar's Playground" by Alison Armstrong Taylor
But it also made me think: what will happen to my lost relatives? I have a box of unidentified ancestral photos, people I know are related to me, but in what way? They led full, interesting lives. Yet in a few short generations, nobody remembers who they are, what they did, what they lost, or who they loved. I crave knowledge of them, but because their stories weren't documented, I may never know.
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Free photo scanning at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City! Whoo hoo!
In addition to having the best collection of genealogical material in the world, The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has a bunch of amazing equipment available for scanning your photos. Best of all, it's free, no strings attached! And there are experts there to help you along the way. We've been wanting to blog about this for a while, so we sent our trusty assistant, Layne, on a field trip downtown.
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Is your writing working hard? Or is it sleeping in class?
Since it's Friday---and who doesn't love grammar advice on a Friday?---I'm going to show you a neat little trick that will make your writing clearer, stronger, and more to the point.
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Fortunately, speech-to-text technology has evolved a bit since the turn of the last century.
You have stories to tell, but writing them is a pain. Or maybe you like to write, but you don’t like to type, and writing by hand takes too long. Speech-to-text technology now enables us to simply talk and let our computers do the typing.
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How honest should I be when writing a memoir?
There is a difference between being honest, or truthful, and being accurate.
Accuracy alone, while important in certain essential facts like birthdates and college degrees, can be the kiss of death in a memoir.
Why? Because you are a human being, not a recording machine. You have a soul that interprets events, molding them into your own personal truth that is expressed in a way only you can express it. That subjectivity is what makes a memoir interesting. You are showing your reader what it feels like to be you.
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This week's webinar is the eighth and final one in the “How to Save Your Life, One Chapter at a Time” series: “Putting Your Book Together.” Now that you’ve written your stories and gathered your pictures, we will show you some options for turning them into a beautiful hardbound book.
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Cool modern pedigree chart by mytreeandme.com.
What is essential?
How do we tell the gold from the dross? How do we decide what to let go of? And what should we do with the stuff that is important enough to keep, so that it can be enjoyed and cherished by the whole family?
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This week's webinar is the seventh in the series: "Choosing and Preparing Photos For Your Book." This webinar will offer some tips for how to choose what photos to include, and how to properly prepare your photos as the last step before you begin to put your book together.
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Is it possible to live with less and still preserve important family history?
News flash: I have way too much stuff.
Our nest recently emptied, Tom and I live in a house that is now too big for us, filled with way more stuff than we need or have time to maintain. Recently, we have been longing for less, and have been considering our options. What in our lives is worth keeping as we slide into our "golden" years? What can we gleefully chuck into the dumpster with nary a second thought? These questions apply not just to stuff, but to all aspects of our lives: tasks, responsibilities, thought patterns, prejudices, relationships...
What does this have to do with family history, you ask? I promise to come back around to the relevant subject, if you, dear reader, can forgive a few personal musings along the way.
Read moreHow do you get from dry genealogy facts to a compelling story? This presentation from RootsTech 2020 will hopefully inspire you as well as give you tools to write your ancestors’ stories. (Audio with slides) Join me on a fascinating journey as I find one of my ancestors and write her story.
We are so excited to be back at RootsTech live this year! Come by and see the Pictures and Stories booth (#1609) and see some of the many new books we’ve helped our clients create. Alison is giving two in-person classes: The Seven Deadly Sins of Building a Digital Archive, and Making a Genealogy Story Book. Hope to see you there!