Wisdom Wednesday: Stuff I Needed to Know, Lately

Here it is Wednesday again, considering how very much I don't yet know, there's always something to say. So it's time to take up the GeneaBlogger's Blogging Prompt called Wisdom Wednesdays, and see if I've learned anything at all lately.

Citing Sources. After due consideration, ordered Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills, in book form. My pal Kathy listened to me drone on and on making the argument for both the e-download and then the print book. She'd rather have the print book but confessed to loving a print book in the lap and making notes all over it. I use sticky post notes because I just can't bring myself to write in books. Crazy, huh? Luckily, I found a 30% off coupon and bought the real book. Maybe later I'll also get the e-book so that I can have access on the run.... whenever I get a new laptop.
Plus! Did not know about citation generating web sites. I imagine they have their difficulties but wonder if they might be OK for simple citations. And what about more complex ones? Any opinions?

FamilySearch. Have been reading blog posts and I see that I'm not the only one having trouble keeping up with changes over there. What a great site and resource they have. I just never feel very comfortable using it, not that that stops me at all from plunging in.
Seems to me that stuff isn't where I left it and I have trouble finding my way back again. It really does help to know that they do move and change a lot because now I know that it's not always me... although it might be:) Am now keeping all their web addresses labeled in a Favorites folder. Maybe that will help.
Am still striving to learn how to use FamilySearch by reading everything I can get my hands on and looking at the Wiki when I remember to. Told my pal Kathy about the Wiki and she's learned a lot there too... although she couldn't find her way to it until we googled "FamilySearch Wiki", and saw it here.
March is my month for focusing on education and especially webinars... and FamilySearch education is at the top of the list.
And what's with the two week limit on remembering your sign in? Couldn't it just renew that two weeks every time you go back?
Am I being picky?

Digging Deeper. This might be a theme going around lately, but every day I see how this work really does benefit from digging deeper. What that means for me is digging deeper into the records and taking time with them. And it also means looking more closely at all the media materials I already have.
I'm trying hard to take more time with my writing, not that you all can probably tell:) It's just a behind the scenes fine-tuning and tweaking that's going on. I understand that every post is another opportunity for me to work with the materials at hand and think about the implications in the lives of the ancestors.

Thanks for reading:)


Photos of the day from Cousin Steve's Archive:

Uncle Harold Conrad, about 1942.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/02/wisdom-wednesday-stuff-i-needed-to-know.html

Wisdom Wednesday: This Week's Stuff I Learned

I've learned some stuff this week. Nothing really big, but just enough to make me feel like if it continues to go in this direction, I can eventually find my genealogical way out of a paper bag. I like posting on Wisdom Wednesdays, one of GeneaBlogger's blogging prompts, as a way to keep score and hold myself accountable. Here's the post last week so you can see what was going on then, if you care to.

Citing Sources. I have spent some time this week on good ol' Cindi's List checking the usual places where I can learn about citations and how to state them properly. That's where I began my search for an agreeable learning experience because frankly friends, I did not think sitting in a corner with Evidence Explained for a year and a day was going to do it for me. I gathered up all of my citation reference material and examined it for what might work for me and it engaged me in a new way such that I could see that what was needed was a visual representation of citing sources.
Here's what I found and I immediately had a gut reaction to it: hey, this rocks my world because this little gem is going to save my genea-life. It comes for the guru to us all, Elizabeth Shown Mills, of world famed, Evidence Explained. She has given me hope that I'll not always be at sea when it comes to citations. I'm off to download her book now.
Look at this, below, from her web site under the tab, "Sample QuickCheck Models". It's brilliant! It's like she designed it just for me, the experiential visual learner! I'm thrilled. So thank you, Elizabeth Shown Mills, wherever you are right this very minute! Here's an e-hug:)

 

Thanks Mom! Mom has great stuff. I'm a second generation genealogist and spent the first year and more wondering if there was anybody left in the world for me to find because Mom's tree is gigantic! If the line ends at a brick wall, you can bet she and Aunt Betty have been hammering at it for quite a while.
But then as the ensuing months went by I came to see that we complement each other perfectly: she loves adding people to her Big Tree and I love weaving all the stories together into the family chronicles, no matter what the form. I am especially appreciative this week because one of the items on the to-do list was to go back and review the stuff in the spiral notebooks I call, Conversations With Mom. Each morning when I call to see how we are, after the cat stories, the talk eventually rolls around to the ancestors. She tells me who she's working on and I teller her how much I don't know by asking stupid questions. And, I write it down in spiral notebooks. So it was time to browse through the three I have so far going back at least three years. Now I'm asking Mom more questions... and hopefully they are less stupid. Aren't I lucky to have Mom to ask about all the ancestor stories? I think so.

The Family History Writing Challenge  Wow! This project is such a valuable resource for me that I feel like I fell into a gold mine! Thank you Lynn Polermo, who organized this festival of writing, and all the participants and seasoned writers who stop by and throw out baskets of pearls:) Until this challenge I didn't know how much I could write a day if I was ready. All I need is a good cuppa whatever and my resources and sources in order and at hand, then I can chase up to 1,000 words a day. Had no idea. Not a clue.

Now that I've been doing this tally on Wednesday I'm more focused about keeping the learning moving along. Am thinking that once the Writing Challenge is over I'll jump into the world of webinars. Yeah, that sounds like a whole lotta fun. And I want to sign up real soon for the Chula Vista Genealogical Society's workshop day on DNA with CeCe Moore on March 30. Randy Seaver over in the blog neighborhood at Genea-Musings wrote about it here. Yeah, I gotta go do that because I'm sitting here waiting for my results to come back from 23andMe, and I want to play with them when they get here.

Photo of the Day from the Archive:

 

Mom fixes my hat, Easter, about 1951.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/02/wisdom-wednesday-this-weeks-stuff-i.html