Writing Category
LONDON Day Two, Part One: Temple
Posted on June 1, 2025 Leave a Comment
Temple: from the Latin templum meaning an ‘open or consecrated space’. I had an itinerary and a plan, but that was based on traveling with someone who had not been to London before. Upon getting back last night and finding my feet and back complaining more loudly than expected I decided to revamp my plans […]
LONDON Day One: Part 2 The Fukishima Garden
Posted on May 31, 2025 1 Comment
Well its been some three plus weeks since I started my travelogue and I am back to putting it down on paper. As I finished up at The Victoria and Albert Museum and traveled via the Kensington Park Flower Walk and passing the modest (compared to her husband) memorial to Queen Victoria I skirted the […]
Fleshing out the Story: Context Matters
Posted on January 26, 2025 1 Comment
How do we go from avid genealogist to storyteller? How do we bring a single ancestor back to life? How do we take a set of facts, essential the bones of our ancestors life, and tell their story as a three dimensional ancestor that you want others to know more about? Research of course! There’s […]
AMERICAN MILITARY RESOURCES for Genealogists
Posted on November 2, 2024 1 Comment
Please note that much of this information was put together by Veronica Walsh-Uribina for a class I host. I have added books and videos and commentary. Thank you Veronica for giving me permission to post along with some notes and resources of my own. COLLECTING POSSIBILITIES I like to start with this chart from Ancestry […]
The Trouble with Clowns: Self disclosure in Writing
Posted on May 2, 2024 3 Comments
This piece is very short but it speaks volumes about who I am as a person and some of my early relationships without telling the story of who I am in a typical autobiographical style. All writing is biographical no matter what you write about, because you are always disclosing bits and pieces of yourself. […]
The Fear of Writing Family History Stories
Posted on May 1, 2024 2 Comments
In my last genealogy class, a member said, “now I see why you want us to write stories!” I got to thinking about all the things that hold us back. Here’s a non-comprehensive list: So let’s take that last one first: “I don’t know what to write about.” This one is easy, pick anything. Pick […]
“The Wild Inside”: Our Grizzly Ancestry
Posted on April 21, 2024 3 Comments
This like many stories is a web of what connects us to a past. A spark alights, a memory leads us to our own wild insides. We think we stand alone, but we are connected even to our extinct past. Man and beast we are the same, yet different. Our most innate drives and passions […]
OUR LEGACY: Leaving Breadcrumbs
Posted on February 20, 2024 3 Comments
In my genealogy class last week, I was asked, “why do you write“. My first answer was I write for myself. My second answer was I write for posterity. But since then I have been pondering this provocative question. Which really is a broader question? Why do we exist? What are we here for? What […]
Write What You Know: Research What You Don’t & Beware of Artificial Intelligence Generated Answers.
Posted on February 15, 2024 5 Comments
If you are a follower you know I encourage you to turn your family trees into stories. But sometimes it is hard to know how to do that. Well you start with what you know about an ancestor or family. That is where tools like Family Group Sheets, Individual Research Checklists and Timelines come in […]
STARTING FROM SCRATCH: You
Posted on January 3, 2024 2 Comments
It is a New Year and I have promised my Genealogy class some beginner’s lessons. This one is an adaptation of one I did many years ago. It is a lesson in context and social history and it is about searching things you think you know but maybe don’t. Once you do this exercise for […]
Wheaton Wood 