Carving out the time

Lately I am beginning to feel a bit like a slacker.  Seriously, I have not done any personal family research in weeks.  What kind of blogger am I?  I mean really. 

On a slightly less tongue in check note, life has been a bit of a whirlwind.  Starting as a writer with the IDG has been a big priority for the last month.  Papers, research, bios, planning, you know all the stuff that keeps you busy but not in the personal research field.  I have been learning a lot though, as this is a completely new experience for me, and I am winding my way through the best I can.  I hope you enjoy the articles over there and check out my fellow writers.  They have quite the crew of amazing people.

Image by Mike Licht

This leads me back to once again looking at myself wondering “what kind of blog is this, and where am I going with it?”  I guess everyone who writes has to do this on occasion.  Mostly to make sure you, the writer, don’t get stagnant and there is still a connection with other people, aka the readers.  This blog is my primary way to interact with family, friends, followers, cousin hunters, or anyone else interested in the many branches of my family tree.  So far I think it is working out well and as an added bonus you get to hear about other stuff I think is interesting in the genealogy world.  Lucky you.

But, let’s get back to writing.  To get me, and the rest of you, in the mood for personal family history writing I wanted to let you know that Lynn Palermo, The Armchair Genealogist, is doing her Family History Writing Challenge again.  If you need motivation, help, pushing, inspiration, or anything else to write about your family history go check it out.  The challenge is 28 days long, running the entire month of February, and is designed for you to work at your own pace.  Just start writing and get something down!  When you sign up to write you can access the forum and chat with other aspiring and professional writers. I can’t believe I am about to write this (with everything I have on my plate) but I am going to do the challenge this year.  Figuring out what I am going to write about and in what format is the problem.  Good thing I have a few weeks!  Whatever the topic ends up being, I want to commit to 500 words, or about a page, a day on the subject.  That should be fairly easy as I write 400-600 words easily anytime I sit down do write a blog post here.  Fingers crossed.

Okay back to the grindstone.