Simplifying My Genealogy Life

I'm still here! I didn't forget you.

Things are going pretty well on the home front. The problem I'm having is juggling all the spinning plates. The family is crazy busy as always with a spouse out of the country and a teenager navigating high school. Most days, I'm a taxi, homework warden and cook. It has not been easy. It has been challenging, frustrating and stressful.

The professional side of genealogy is keeping me very busy. I divide time between a long-term project, one medium-term project and some small stuff. It is so fun. I'm doing things I'd never imagined. Thank goodness for library school because I draw on those skills every day.

Naturally, my own ancestral research has taken a back seat, and that depressing me a bit. But something had to give.

It took several months to accept that I couldn't do everything, and that was ok. I went to RootsTech. I talked to friends. I talked to vendors. I learned about new products and spent way too much time in the demo theater. I went to developer sessions even though I'm not a developer. I left feeling recharged and more confident that maybe I could spin all these plates.

Then as I was giving myself a mental pep talk about achieving balance and getting back to blogging, I got this stellar pat on the back from a fellow genealogy blogger.

Yeah. Talk about getting kicked when you're down. Not really a big deal, but not nice either.

So I took another few weeks to sort things out and I started cleaning my genealogy house.

I unfriended several genealogy folks on Facebook who either annoy me or haven't really established a connection in years.

I unfollowed many genealogy Twitter accounts that either just promote their own stuff or duplicate what they say on their Facebook and Google+ accounts.

I took a break from reading genealogy blogs. Sorry! It's just that so many posts were complaints about Ancestry.com or the new FamilySearch web site or other things. I just needed a break from negativity.

I realized that I'm a librarian and approach genealogy as such, so I joined a professional library group to keep my genealogy research skills sharp. My professional development probably won't come from the genealogy community or APG, and that's ok. I know what I need.

Then for another few weeks, I worked and worked on my client stuff. And I yelled at my kid to do his homework. And I dropped off and picked up my husband from the airport every week. The weeks just looked the same and they all flew by.

This is where I am right now. I've simplified my genealogy life. No drama. No nonsense. No cares given whether you count my conference blog posts or not.

My blog started as a conversation with myself so my family wouldn't have to listen to my genealogy stories. It really is written as though I'm seated at a table, talking to a wall. Then an audience found me so I added more seats to the table.

I hope you've enjoyed the conversation and will continue to do so. I think I've managed to find a way to keep all the plates spinning, so blog content should pick up. Thanks for reading.