Writing: Patterns Matter

Genealogy Writing Tips,

Writing Patterns Matter

Now that we are all supposed to be staying home as much as possible, you MAY find yourself with extra time. I’m going to be working on some organizing and writing projects. I will have my teens at home so I might not have as much time as I thought though I am not going to complain about having extra time with my kids. I hope you find some time to work on projects you have been putting off. But let’s keep going on my tips for writing…

When working on a piece of writing, you may not consider the writing pattern in the beginning. And that’s ok. The most important thing is to first get all of that information, knowledge, analysis, correlation, and hypotheses out of your brain, database, and documents, and onto paper (or screen). When you begin polishing the piece, you will want to consider the writing pattern.

I think of the “pattern” as “how best to tell the story.” What order should the evidence points be told in so that it makes the most sense? Or delivers the most compelling argument? Or is clear and easy to follow and doesn’t require a lot of jumping back and forth while reading? There are several patterns that genealogical writing typically follows. And which one you use will depend on the story you are telling and/or on the evidence you have to present.

Tom Jones wrote the fantastic book, Mastering Genealogical Documentation, which addresses some of these patterns and more.1 Some of the patterns I use and see most often are:

  • Building Blocks: this type of organization treats each piece of evidence like a building block, each piece building on the one before it.

BuildingBlocks

  • Syllogisms: uses if-then statements (if this is true then that must be true), useful in proof arguments and case studies that depend on indirect or conflicting evidence.

IfThen

  • Mystery-Style: built by asking the research question first and then making the reader wait until the end before revealing the answer, all of the evidence pieces building suspense along the way.

1mystery

  • Flashback-Style: asking and answering the research question upfront and then leading the reader through the evidence to the conclusion.

flashback

It isn’t always clear when you begin writing which pattern you should use. Especially with today’s cut and paste capabilities, you can play with the writing pattern quite easily. A word to the wise: make sure you save an original and various copies before you start playing! I’m never one to discredit those who use paper over the computer screen. Consider cutting (with scissors!) sections of your writing apart and physically rearranging them on a table to give you a visual idea of what these various writing patterns might look like. This may not work as well with syllogisms, but this can definitely work when determining between mystery, flashback, or building blocks.

I find this part of the writing process to be fun, much like rearranging quilt blocks to get different patterns. Some patterns will “look” better than others. Have your writing buddy give you their opinion on which pattern to use. But most of all, do it.

1. I don’t address all writing patterns here so pick up a copy of the book and give it a read. ↩

Writing: What’s Your Type?

Genealogy Writing Tips, , , , ,

When you are working on a project, it may not be clear as to what type of writing project you may end up with. There are a lot of options, anywhere from a one-page anecdote to a how-to article, THE BOOK. Here are some types of projects you might consider when working with various aspects of your research.

  • Anecdotal or Memoir-Style: short, possibly entertaining or thought-provoking tales that capture a moment or a lesson learned. I think of these as short snippets, one page or less. For example, I had the opportunity to informally interview my grandma and two of her friends when they came to visit me in Colorado. I asked about their experiences during the Great Depression in northwest Ohio. The piece was called “Losing at Euchre to Win at Genealogy” and here are a few excerpts:

“All three of them agreed that they didn’t notice the depression much. They all lived on farms that were mainly self-sustaining. They do not recall having many struggles. They just figured out how to live with what they had…

“All three of them remembered that they had a “school dress,” usually just one that they would have to change out of when they got home to save it for the next day. They received a lot of hand-me-downs for their clothes and they remember hand-making the blankets they used…

“There were big gardens on their farms; all of their food was grown at home. They canned everything to stock up for the winter. They also raised cows and pigs for meat…

“One thing they all agreed on was that they played a lot of cards growing up. Besides being fun, it is free…”

  • How-To Articles: Did you discover an interesting set of records? In your quest to break down a brick wall, did you do so in an interesting or inventive way? Did you learn a lesson that you think others might benefit from hearing about? If so, consider writing an article to share your experience. After spending years as a student and an instructor, I had formed some ideas and opinions about good and bad syllabus material and wrote an article that was published in the December 2018 issue of the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly:

build a better syllabus

  • Genealogical Stories or Biographical Sketches: Maybe you have a fun genealogical story to tell that could also be turned into a teaching moment. This may be similar to anecdotal writing but typically longer. I shared the experience I had in researching a family legend which was published in the National Genealogical Society publication, the NGS Magazine in the Jan-Mar 2011 issue:

Roy Rogers

  • Case Studies: These usually consist of pulling together indirect and conflicting evidence to make an argument when no direct evidence exists. This type of writing is most often found in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly.
  • The Book: This is the decades-long project to pull together all of your research regarding a particular family line or group into a large tome. These books can be quite useful when found on a library shelf. Just be sure to include citations!

I hope the breakdown of some options gives you some ideas for future writing. Not everything we do will fit into a case study, or we figured something out in a really cool way and want to share how we did it. Whatever you decide to do, please do it. But also please send it somewhere to be published. There are options from the small local society journals all the way up to the large national magazine, and points in between.

Writing: Stay Focused!

Genealogy Writing Tips, ,

Spread the like and love! #WhowearsthegenealogypantsWho among us genealogists doesn’t struggle with maintaining focus? We all know too well about finding a tantalizing record that sends us down a road that we find ourselves still traveling at 3 a.m. Lack of focus can happen in the writing aspect as well. Distractions are often procrastination in disguise, particularly if you find writing difficult. We will always find something to keep us from writing. Procrastination feeds writer’s block and forms a cycle that is hard to break. Below are a few of my tips for maintaining focus when writing.

When it comes to writing, time management is going to be your biggest asset for maintaining focus when writing. Try some of the following:

  • Set a daily or weekly goal. Try a target number of words per day or a number of pages.
  • Set a timer. Determine how many minutes you can work without interruption. I like to work for 50 minutes and then spend 10 minutes taking a break or doing another task such as folding laundry.
  • Set a daily focus. Maybe today you are going to only work on a certain topic such as those land records or wills you just haven’t taken the time to transcribe. Or maybe you’ll work on fixing up your citations. Or changing your passive voice (to be verbs) to active voice. Having one focus boosts progress.
  • Turn off interruptions. Turn off your phone or better yet put it in another room. Shut down your email program. Take off your smartwatch. Shut off the electronic doorbell. Whatever you’ve got that can interrupt you, shut it down. At least for the 50 minutes that you’ll be writing.
  • Schedule your time. And stick to your schedule. Find a consistent time in your schedule that you can dedicate to writing and give yourself PERMISSION to stick to that time. Set an appointment in your calendar. You are just as important as everything else in your calendar (if not more so).

When we allow ourselves to work on our own projects, and we make progress, it refills
us and gives us some of our passion for the project back. When I think about all of the
things I’m not getting done, it really weighs me down and takes away some of my enthusiasm. I find when I set aside time, and stick to my schedule, my energy, passion, and enthusiasm “bucket” gets refilled and I’m much happier.

I hope you’ll give it a try!

Writing: Can You Self-Edit?

Genealogy Writing Tips, ,

I don’t know about you, but when I read someone else’s writing, I nearly always find something to correct or suggest, from small typos to major sentence-rewrites. But when it comes to my own writing, I can put the dumbest things into writing and be completely blind to it! Again, from the smallest typos (I still mess up it’s and its when I’m not actively thinking about it) to the largest errors. (I once had to write a paper about artists’ manifestos and literally wrote “The communists wrote a manifesto, Karl Marx wrote a manifesto…” Yeah, I did.)

So, my question to you is, can you self-edit? I think it is the absolute hardest thing to do when it comes to writing. If you’re a long-time reader, you’ve probably found typos and errors in my writing, simply because I can’t self-edit. So, here are some things I’ve come to do when a project gets down to the nitty-gritty and really needs to be polished.

Find a writing buddy or willing proofreader –– This is usually my husband and he
usually doesn’t have a lot of choice in the matter. (Love you, hun.) He proofreads all of my syllabi and articles before they go out. And the things he finds! Woah. I sound a lot correcting-1870721_1280more intelligent after he’s given these things a read. So find someone who is willing to do that for you. You can find another writer and trade. With the internet, email, video calls, screen-sharing, and so on, you don’t need to be in the same region to do this. If you’ve connected with a like-minded person you get along with at a conference, build up a relationship and become writing buddies.

Read your writing out loud –– Nothing will bring your poor sentence structure to light than reading it out loud to your cat (or dog). For some reason, when you hear what you’ve written, it becomes a lot more obvious when you’ve written something a bit wonky. If you don’t have a buddy or your buddy isn’t available, give this technique a try. It works very well for me.

Do some reading –– This might sound strange, but they say the best writers are also avid readers. Reading someone else’s work gives your mind ideas on how to write sentences, how to string the words together in an elegant way, and gives your brain a break from “output” and instead engages in “input” while also engaging in the craft of wordsmithing.

Use some resources –– I have three books I couldn’t say enough about when it comes to
self-editing. When I’m not sure how to handle a writing situation these books come to my rescue:

  • Chicago Manual of Style (we’re on version 17 right now). I have the hardback but I also purchased the online subscription because you can do a quick search by topic online. However, I do like to browse the book as well. (I’m nerdy that way.)
  • Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, a nice quick read on usage and grammar which can really tighten up your writing.
  • Edit Yourself by Bruce Ross-Larson, which is similar to Strunk and White but gives some comparison examples along the lines of “if you wrote this, try this instead” all throughout the book. It also focuses on using more direct or clearer writing.

If you struggle with self-editing like I do, I hope you’ll give these things a try. Writing up what we’ve researched is such an important step. Don’t let the editing get in the way!

Writing: Genealogy Standards

Genealogy Writing Tips, , , ,

Let’s get the boring (but important) stuff out of the way first. Standards. Many genealogists I talk to either don’t know that they exist or think they don’t apply to them. I hope that you’ll at least consider them when working on your genealogy projects.

Genealogy Standards is a book published by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG). It puts into writing what many genealogists have been doing for decades, especially those who try to work at a high level of accuracy. I don’t intend that to soundBCG Standards judgy or elitist, but if you want your work to stand the test of time, to be accurate, unable to be overturned when new evidence surfaces, the standards are there to help guide you. There are standards for many aspects relating to genealogy. Those regarding writing can be found in chapter 4.

“A soundly reasoned, coherently written conclusion eliminates the possibility that the conclusion is based on bias, preconception, or inadequate appreciation of the evidence. It also shows or explains how the evidence leads to the conclusion.”1 

Some of those standards specifically (but not entirely) are:

  • Standard 59 – Proved Conclusions
  • Standard 60 – Selection of Appropriate Options
  • Standard 61 – Logical Organization
  • Standard 69 – Clear Writing
  • Standard 70 – Technically Correct Writing

When you begin writing your conclusion regarding a particularly difficult aspect of your research, you need to know what you are writing about. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? I’d like to suggest that if you aren’t clear about your research question then you will not know when you reach a sound conclusion. Be clear what you are writing about:

Who was Angeline Mitchell?

vs.

Who were the parents of Angeline, married to Thomas C. Mitchell and living in Barren County, Kentucky in 1850?

Which is the better research question? Which one will you know you’ve answered (proved conclusion) by the time you’re done writing?

Standard 60 talks about choosing the appropriate option for writing up your findings. Does your evidence warrant the use of a proof statement, proof summary, or proof argument? Do you know the difference? Think of them as being on a continuum from simple to complex.

Proofs Continuum
Proof Continuum, created by author ©2020

A proof statement can be stated in a sentence or two with appropriate citations. A proof summary might consist of a series of bullet points and/or paragraphs, with citations. A proof argument is the most complex, building a case usually through the use of indirect or conflicting evidence, much like you see in scholarly journals such as the National Genealogical Society Quarterly.

Standards 69 and 70 discuss technically correct and clear writing. Typos, colloquialisms, spelling, grammar, jargon, and so on can make your writing difficult to read and your case unclear. Likewise, standard 61 addresses the logical sequencing of your evidence. There is some “wiggle room” with how you present your evidence, but you have to present it in a way that is clear and makes sense to the reader.

I could write a lot about the standards for genealogy. I will leave it with an encouragement for you to pick up the book if you don’t already own it and give it some study. I find the standards help guide me, especially when I am feeling stuck.

1. While this book is published by BCG, it is not just for BCG certified associates. It applies to all genealogical work. See The Board for Certification of Genealogists, Genealogy Standards, (Ancestry: Nashville, 2019), 3.↩

My CG has been renewed!!!

Genealogical Goals,

I received word today––after what felt like an eternity––that my CG has been renewed for another five years! YAY!

What does that mean? All CGs (Certified Genealogist®) have to submit a renewal portfolio to the Board for Certification of Genealogists to prove that they are keeping up if not improving their skills after having passed the first time. The renewal requirements FiveMoreYearsare less intense than the initial portfolio, but I am here to tell you that the worry and stress and fear while waiting the second time is much more intense! Why? I was chatting with colleague and pal Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist, [thank you, Judy, for your constant encouragement!] and discussing the stress I was feeling while waiting to hear if I’d passed. She put it into words: The first time you have nothing to lose. The second (and subsequent times) they can take away your credentials! And then what would I do? I suspect I’d hide under a rock for a while.

To be fair, if one is participating in continuing education and focusing on strengthening weak areas in their skills, there really should be no worry. And I did that. I read the first set of judges’ comments many times, determining where my weak spots were, and worked to improve those areas. Apparently, it worked! (Though it did not stop the little voice in my head that likes to present me with worst-case scenarios all of the time!)

Now that the stress of waiting is over, I can breathe again. Next up: to plan my next renewal project!

Writing: It’s part of the GPS

Genealogy Writing Tips

For those of you who don’t know what the GPS is, in this context, it refers to the genealogical proof standard. The GPS has five components that help genealogists break through brick walls and make strong conclusions regarding tough research questions:

  1. Reasonably exhaustive research
  2. Complete source citations
  3. Analysis and correlation of the evidence
  4. Resolution of any conflicts
  5. Written conclusion of your findings

The fifth element of the GPS is often a hang-up for genealogists. I’ve talked to many colleagues who really struggle with putting their thoughts down into words. We love the chase, we love finding those documents, we often do the analysis and correlation without even thinking about it… bullet-2428875_1920

Writing about our research seems to be a sticking point.

In this new series, I will be discussing ways I have overcome some of the issues with writing about my research. Some of the topics I will touch on will include (in no particular order):

  • time management
  • consistency with writing
  • overcoming writer’s block
  • blogging
  • being organized with writing
  • finding motivation
  • genealogy standards related to writing
  • writing about conflicting evidence
  • writing styles
  • and any other writing topic that comes to mind while writing this series.

I’ve written about citations before and so may not touch on that topic in this series. But you never know.

I’ve been enjoying writing and so I hope that my tips can help you work through your writing blocks.

Five Goals You Should Set for 2020: Part 5, Writing Goals

Genealogical Goals, ,

In the last post, I talked about setting personal research goals, primarily in the form of giving yourself permission to work on your own research. Set aside whatever amount of time your schedule can afford and work on some of your own projects! Along with that research, you should also tack on some writing goals. That research doesn’t do a whole lot of good if it isn’t in a form that can be shared whether with your family or through publication. I challenge you to submit your work to be published. This can be at a national level, but if that intimidates you, try a local or state publication instead.

books-690219_1920I can hear many of you saying “I’m not a good writer.” And to that, I say “pish posh!” That is what editors are for. Editors (whether they are a trusted friend, someone you hire, or that from a journal) make your writing better! Don’t let that “I’m not a good writer” thought stop you from doing it. I sit in my office every day and look at my binders and worry that someday I’m going to come to a point in my life when I don’t get that work published somewhere, anywhere, where it can be used by future researchers. (I used to say “what if I’m hit by a bus” until a friend was literally hit by a bus, don’t worry, she’s ok. Another friend told me to think “what if I win the lottery and move to a private island” instead. She’s right. That’s a lot more fun to imagine. But even then, I’d probably figure out how to get the internet and do genealogical research even on my island.)

Just get it down on paper (or computer screen)!

There are ways to do this. I have plans for a future blog series as well as a possible online group for writers (stay tuned!). There are local writer’s groups at many genealogical societies. Consider starting one if there isn’t one near you. At the very least find a genealogical friend or two who you get along with and who is also interested in getting editing/writing help. You can do this with friends you meet at institutes or conferences and use online means such as through email, Facebook, Google Hangouts, Zoom, or some other online communication system.

My writing goals for this year fall into two categories:

  • Write one article per month, of any style: how-to, biographical sketch, case study, etc. (12 articles by the end of the year) for publication somewhere.
  • Write one article for consideration for NGSQ.

I find I am working or writing a lot. I need to try to translate that into smaller articles that can be published in my local or state society quarterlies, or in larger national magazines. I also want to put the work I do into one of those personal research projects into an NGSQ-level article. They may not accept it but the goal is not in the accepting at this point. It’s in the submitting.

If you are interested in getting better at the act of writing (not necessarily the nuts and bolts of it), the biggest obstacle is the blank page. Just get started! Easier said than done sometimes, I know and understand. But sometimes it just takes some brute force to get going. Once you’ve got words on the screen, the magic of cut and paste, deleting and rewriting will help you make it “pretty.” Don’t worry about “pretty” when you’re getting started. Just get it out of your head. Worry about pretty later.

Let me know about your writing goals. Stay tuned for writing classes and groups in the future!

Five Goals You Should Set for 2020: Part 4, Research Goals

Genealogical Goals,

If you are like me, a busy schedule usually pushes personal research aside. And if you’re like me, you get tired of not getting a chance to work on your own genealogy! It is the reason I got into all of this in the first place! Well, this year, let’s set a goal to give ourselves permission to take a little time for ourselves and do some of our own research again!

A few times last year, I gave myself permission to work on my own research on a IMG_3939particular day of the week. Now, I was not able to be super consistent with it, but it was so nice when I was able to just put work aside and do some research for myself. It was refreshing, revitalizing, and fun. Those times have convinced me to make this a more consistent part of my routine. My schedule is just hectic enough that I’ll have to make this plan on a week by week basis, but I use the Full Focus Planner (mentioned in previous posts, but any planner will work) and plan my week on Sunday night or Monday morning. So, I will figure out where I can do 2 or 3 hours of my own research each week.

I recently found a post by Janine Adams who is doing a 30×30 challenge this month. I will be in Salt Lake City at SLIG for two weeks, so I’m considering doing this in February. The idea is to do 30 minutes of genealogy research for 30 days. I think the timing doesn’t matter. If you want to do it in October, go for it. But I really like the idea of giving yourself permission to do your own research for a particular amount of time.

A few months ago I turned in my Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) renewal portfolio (yes it has been five years! and I’m still waiting to hear the results, keep your fingers and toes crossed!) and since that project is complete, I want to move on to some family lines that I have neglected. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I want to work on identifying some of my German ancestors. So, my plan is to pick up a couple of those lines and get to work!

You might take an inventory of the research you’ve completed, where you’ve gotten stuck, where your interests lie (some of those ancestors really call to us to work on them), or where you just haven’t worked on your tree much. Decide on a line or two to work on. Pick something meaningful.

Are you one of those people who have gotten so busy with genealogy work (volunteer or paid) that you don’t often have time to work on your own research? Have you figured out any tips for getting through this? Let’s work on this together this year! Let’s feel the joy again!

Five Goals You Should Set for 2020: Part 3, Business or Professional Goals

Genealogical Goals, ,

If you are a professional genealogist or want to be, then you may want to set some professional or business goals. This starts with an assessment of where you’ve been and where you’d like to be. I shared some of my business accomplishments for 2019 in a previous post. From those numbers, I can make some goals for 2020.

Typically, I assess areas where I am weak in business (marketing usually) and try to find some educational material to help me improve on that. I also assess my numbers from previous years and make some goals for the new year. For example, last year I presented two all-day seminars. For 2020, I’d like to double that. Or I might extend that goal to say in 2021 I’d like to have six all-day seminars scheduled.

I also look at the number of clients and/or client hours worked for each year. Some client projects are longer/larger than others, so the number of clients may be misleading. But I try to pay attention to both. Last year I had sixteen total NEW clients. Every year projects will overlap a bit so I try to focus on new clients, those that signed new contracts in the calendar year. However, several of those new clients renewed their contracts two, three, or four times. So I also pay attention to the number of client hours.

Now, you can’t just say “I’d like to double the number of clients I sign up this year” and expect that to work in your schedule. I still have a kid at home, one who just moved out, and a husband, so I need to plan for family time. I also, speak, write articles, and take consultation clients. I have to leave time for those activities, not to mention my own personal research and continuing education time. Having said that, there is a threshold bullet-2428875_1920that once met, you could hire a virtual assistant and/or subcontractors and take on even more clients. I haven’t met that threshold yet and so will cross that bridge when I get there!

So, take a look at your business or professional setting. Are there areas you’d like to expand? Are there areas you’d like to eliminate or phase out? (Sometimes letting go of one aspect of your business allows you to grow in another.) Would you like to take on more research clients? Speaking gigs? DNA consultations? Does public-speaking stress you out? If so, consider writing articles instead.

Find a way to track this information, whether it is in a spreadsheet, database, word processor, a notebook, something. Then you can have real data to work with. I personally use a combination of tools: Toggl (time tracking), 17Hats (client management), Quickbooks Online, and my Full Focus Planner (paper planner). It works for me. These systems are as individual as the people using them. Find something that will work for you.

Take an inventory of your business/professional life. Make some assessments. Set some goals. Be organized and methodical about those goals. But most of all, have fun doing it. Stretch yourself a little bit more every year.