Motivation Monday – March Madness

Public domain image, from
Wikimedia Commons.

Between “Censusmas” (April 2^nd) and Easter, I lost the first week of April, after a crazy March! Here is my status on my 2012 goals:

Client Research

• Ongoing heir search in the Midwest United States
• Full family history project as a gift for a family friend’s 80^th birthday.

Personal Research and Organization

• Using the Surname Saturday prompt, I blogged each week about one of my ancestors. With the first week of April included, I’ve made it through all my great-grandparents. Next weekend I start with my 2^nd great-grandparents; while I have done considerable research on some of them, there are others who really need some attention!
• I transcribed four deeds for Amanuensis Monday postings. I did not get as many other documents organized as I wanted; however, I did spend several hours processing (including writing proper source citations) and organizing about 40 documents and photographs. There are still many more to do!

Writing

• Continued weekly participation in Amy Coffin’s 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy with a total of four posts in March! I got behind, spent some time catching up and I’m behind again!
• In March I wrote 20,801 words for blog posts, Examiner articles, and the family history project. I wrote another 23,902 words at 750words.com – a total of nearly 44,703 words!
• My editorial calendars went by the wayside for March – need to try again!

 Speaking

• I presented “Countdown to the Release of the 1940 Census” at the March 16th meeting of the San Fernando Valley Genealogical Society.
• Scheduled a workshop on “Source Citations for Beginners” for the Genealogy Garage scheduled for May 19th at the Los Angeles Public Library.

 Education

• Completed my research report assignment for ProGen.
• I participated in several excellent webinars and a mentoring meeting sponsored by the Association of Professional Genealogists.
• Participated in the Mini-Professional Management Conference sponsored by the Southern California Chapter of the APG.
• I’ve finished reading Annie’s Ghosts: A Journey into a Family Secret by Steve Luxenberg, and now need to write the review for it, as well as review The Family Tree Problem Solver: Tried and True Tactics for Researching Your Elusive Ancestors by Marsha Hoffman Rising.

Giving Back

• I went to Wilmington Cemetery to take photos for Find-A-Grave and to research a burial for someone. I took a few photos and created about half a dozen memorials. I was disappointed that I was unable to get good photos because the grass had nearly grown over several of the grave markers in the area in which I was working. I’ll be taking some gardening tools along with me next time.

 So that was March…time to get back to April!

© 2012 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research

Motivation Monday – Where Did February Go?

Public domain,
via Wikimedia.

My goodness, February flew by—even with an extra day, I didn’t accomplish nearly as much as I had hoped. To review:

Client Research

• Assisted on two heir search cases—one involving an Irish immigrant to the Los Angeles area and an ongoing heir search in the Midwestern U.S.

Personal Research and Organization

• Using the Surname Saturday prompt, I blogged each week about one of my ancestors. In last month’s report, I commented that I thought I might not be able to continue at the rate of one ancestor per week. I’m still concerned about being able to maintain the pace. I am getting a little ahead on my posting so maybe my concerns aren’t warranted.
• I managed to transcribe three documents for Amanuensis Monday postings and organized about a dozen other documents. I would like to pick up the pace here, so in March I plan to process a document a day! 

Writing

• Continued weekly participation in Amy Coffin’s 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy, although I was a little late on a couple posts!
• I have been tracking my word count and in February I wrote 13,762 words for blog posts and Examiner articles. Plus I wrote another 22,406 words at 750words.com – a kind of daily brain dump!
• I developed editorial calendars for my blogs and for Examiner.com to make sure that I am writing and posting on a regular basis on all.

Speaking

• I presented “Countdown to the Release of the 1940 Census” at the February 15^th meeting of the Genealogical Society of North Orange County California.
• Scheduled a presentation of “Digging for Clues in Census Records” for the April 15^th meeting of Questing Heirs Genealogical Society in Long Beach.
• Scheduled presentation of “Using Dropbox for Genealogy” on May 8^th with the Computer Oriented Genealogy Group of the North San Diego County Genealogical Society.

Education

• Completed my time management assignments for ProGen; as part of this assignment, I developed a client list which includes everything I am working on with due dates and estimated hours to complete. I hope this will help keep me on task!
• I participated in an excellent Legacy Family Tree webinar Ten Brick Wall Tips for Beginners presented by Marian Pierre-Louis.
• The Legacy Genealogy Idol Competition (available free on Legacy’s website) was fun to watch. Some great tips were presented by competitors Elizabeth Clark, Marian Pierre-Louis, Michael Hait, and Elyse Doerflinger.
• Thomas MacEntee of High-Definition Genealogy presented a great Introduction to GoToMeeting designed to give a behind-the-scenes look at one of the popular formats for presenting webinars. I’m scheduled to present a webinar later in the year so it was timely for me.
• I’ve almost finished reading Annie’s Ghosts: A Journey into a Family Secret by Steve Luxenberg, and still need to write the review of The Family Tree Problem Solver: Tried and True Tactics for Researching Your Elusive Ancestors by Marsha Hoffman Rising. 

Giving Back

• Signed up as a 1940 Ambassador but haven’t written any posts yet.
• Signed up for indexing the 1940 census when available.
• Created two memorials on FindAGrave for deceased family members, but did not get out to a cemetery to take photos.

Enough about February! I do find that writing these updates each month is helping keep me on track to reach my 2012 goals. On to March!

© 2012 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research

Looking Ahead to 2012

Yesterday I posted my genealogical accomplishments for 2011. Here are my goals for 2012:

Personal Research and Organization

• Focused research to determine the parents of my 2^nd great-grandfathers Ransom Spurlock and Howell Brewer Martindale
• Use the Geneabloggers' "Surname Saturday" blogging prompt as an aid in continuing to assure that I have proper source citations for facts recorded in my database and that I spend some research time on all my family lines
• Complete research on my ancestors’ Civil War service
• Continue transcription and organization of digital files. (I have a backlog of scanned images going back to September 2010 that need to be transcribed, recorded in my genealogy database, and properly named/filed.)

Writing

• Participate in Amy Coffin’s 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy (for information on this new series, click here)
• Complete three book projects (two currently in progress and one in planning stages)
• Write and submit a minimum of two articles for publication in genealogy periodicals
• Continue to post regularly on my existing blogs

Speaking

• Develop eight (8) new genealogy presentations (two each quarter)
• Submit proposals to Southern California societies and respond to issued calls for proposals, to increase the number of presentations given

 Education

• Complete the NGS Home Study Course
• Complete ProGen 12
• Submit preliminary application to the Board for Certified Genealogists
• Attend Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (Track 1: American Records) and the SCGS Jamboree
• Read at least six genealogy books and write a review of each

Giving Back

• Continue as newsletter editor for the Southern California Chapter of APG and as a member of the SCGS Jamboree Committee
• Spend a minimum of one hour each month taking photographs of headstones in local cemeteries for uploading to BillionGraves and FindAGrave
• Participate in indexing of the 1940 census when released

I’m working on a timetable so that the end of the year doesn’t sneak up on me. To help assure that I keep these objectives in mind, I am hanging a copy of this post (along with my timetable) on the wall behind my computer so I see it daily!

© 2012 Denise Spurlock, Ancestral Trees Research