Thursday, April 7, 2011

Genealogy Goal Update

Brenham, Texas 2010

Things have been really busy here lately, genealogically speaking. Unfortunately what I'm doing doesn't make for good blog content. 

I am slowly making my way through my genealogy goals which I drafted in December. 

The organization goal is off and on, but I'm back on the horse. I'm scanning documents again and making my way through the first of three notebooks.

My quest for my 16th great-great grandparent hit a stall. Someone from Austria contacted me, but never replied to my response. The person wanted information from me, but I kept explaining that I needed to know how my Cecelia fits in the Jost tree. Language barrier or someone not interested in collaboration? I don't know. My next step is to gather email addresses from a special website devoted just to this region of Austria. I'm going to email them all and see what happens. I just need to set up a research form first so I can keep track of the correspondence.

That writing goal I had? Yeah, it's out of control. It's almost 17,000 words and starting to look like a full fledged book. This is the real reason I haven't posted much on this blog lately. All I've been doing is writing and editing. This is not exciting reading, so I don't write about it. 

All this moves slowly because there are still client requests, cat requests, child requests and laundry to do. So far I've been able to balance it all but it would be great if we could extend the day by 25% or so.
.
.

8 comments:

  1. It was your 16th great grandparent that caught my attention. It was just what I needed as I have hit a wall too and I'm no where close to how well you have done, but I think that I will spend an hour a day (instead of the entire day) which often turns up nothing and see what happens. Just the nudge I needed. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think cloning ourselves is the only answer - I have client requests, cat requests and laundry (but no child requests) and can hardly keep up with them all. I think 25% is a conservative estimate :-) Surely one of the DNA experts could help us out with clones? Please? Jo

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well done. You are setting the pace I see - steady and focused. Most impressive. I could say I'vebeen doing laundry instead of working away, but that might be streching the truth a bit. Three days of 24/7 gen work is sure inspiring, tho. Wish you were here at NERGC too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. S.P., I find the "baby steps" approach works well with big research tasks. As long as I'm moving forward, I give myself credit for making progress. Glad the nudge helped and good luck with your brick wall.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Denise, thanks. I want the SoCal contingent to have good representation at Jamboree. Wish I was at NERGC, too. Probably tied to half of those people through the Coffin name.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm happy to hear you are doing well on your book! I am excited to hear more about it. I have been working on a book too, but I must say it is taking me a lot longer than I was hoping. I guess I can't complain too much when I work full time and go to school at night! Keep up the writing!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I can relate. Work, child, cat, dog, husband requests. They just don't get that I need time for other stuff. Like genealogy. And reading about genealogy. And posting on blogs about genealogy.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Baby steps are the best. Great work on your book!

    ReplyDelete