Life sometimes gets busy. I do not take time to find things to blog nor do I take time to write posts. Early blog posts here did not always include full citations because I did not know how to create footnotes on a blog. It adds time to the creation of blog posts because of the complexity of creating the HTML coding. I want to include citations when needed (and sometimes when not) to ensure adherence to genealogy standards.
Lately book reviews filled my blog. They will continue to be part of it. I need the outlet to fulfill requirements for advance review copies. However, I do not want reviews to become the main thing here as I allowed. After reflecting, I decided on an action plan to reclaim the blog for its intended purpose. I resolve to blog three times weekly about something genealogical or historical in nature. Sometimes the post may take the form of a book review, but I hope most book reviews fall on Tuesdays. I hope to post most other non-genealogy reviews on Thursdays or Saturdays. However, book reviews coincide with book release dates set by publishers. Most fall on Tuesdays, but exceptions exist.
The new plan presently includes genealogy or history posts scheduled to appear on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I may include posts other days if I regain the momentum I once possessed. If I'm on vacation or otherwise out of town, the posts may include something about a place I visit or a genealogical reflection on a person associated with the place.
If I fail to keep up with this schedule, hold me accountable! Ask "What's up?" or in some way let me know someone reads and misses the posts. This will encourage me to get back on track. Thank you, readers, for bearing with me.
The Blogger privacy notice only appears when an IP originates in EU countries or if you change the domain to a European one. After I figure out how to use the new pages feature on the updated blog template, I will add one of my own as well. However, it covers the only cookies and such. I removed the "followers" element from the sidebar to increase privacy of readers. I did not know if readers could opt out, so I decided to be safe.
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Saturday, May 26, 2018
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
It's My Blog's 7th Anniversary
Thanks to Thomas for letting me know it was today! I'd almost forgotten that I started this on the 8th of June. I did, however, remember it was in the month of June. I actually created my first post in a blogging workshop at the library conference I'll be attending next week.
I haven't been keeping on top of blogging as much as I should lately. It's what you call having too many irons in the fire. You see, the library conference I'll be attending next week is being held in Ohio. I actually have Ohio ancestry. I've done most of the Ohio research for my Amish line, but I really need to get some additional records on some of my New England lines that made their way to Ohio. I won't have a lot of spare time on either side of the conference -- part of a day on the front end and one full day and two partial ones on the tail end -- to do research so I've been busy making lists of what is held by 3 repositories so that I can compare their holdings, get the things unique to a repository while at it, and prioritize the items I need based on research goals. If I have a little extra time after meeting my goals, I will explore other resources. I haven't had an opportunity to work on these lines in quite some time, so I'm really looking forward to getting to work on my own research for a change.
I haven't been keeping on top of blogging as much as I should lately. It's what you call having too many irons in the fire. You see, the library conference I'll be attending next week is being held in Ohio. I actually have Ohio ancestry. I've done most of the Ohio research for my Amish line, but I really need to get some additional records on some of my New England lines that made their way to Ohio. I won't have a lot of spare time on either side of the conference -- part of a day on the front end and one full day and two partial ones on the tail end -- to do research so I've been busy making lists of what is held by 3 repositories so that I can compare their holdings, get the things unique to a repository while at it, and prioritize the items I need based on research goals. If I have a little extra time after meeting my goals, I will explore other resources. I haven't had an opportunity to work on these lines in quite some time, so I'm really looking forward to getting to work on my own research for a change.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Reflections on Genealogy Blogs & This Blog
Most of you are aware that it's voting time for Family Tree Magazine's favorite blogs. As I began to go through the choices -- and yes, I loaded every blog to give all those with which I was unfamiliar as well as those I read regularly an equal chance, I noticed some trends. I tended to not vote for blogs which had almost meme-related posts exclusively. With the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories in full swing, I had to scroll back all the way to November to see non-meme posts for some blogs to see what those writers I did not regularly read brought to blogging which was unique. Blogs that only posted to memes such as the tombstone and wordless ones showed little creativity in my opinion. Blogs with super long entries also did not fare well in my voting. With the number of blogs that I try to read, it would be impossible to read entries like that on a daily basis -- especially if they were not immediately relevant to my own research or to areas in which I spend a great deal of time researching. Blogs that focused almost exclusively on reviews also did not get my vote. I think I've seen too many software reviews lately. One blog that I used to read regularly and enjoyed is so full of software reviews now that I've considered dropping it from my feed reader. It used to be more eclectic in nature.
I haven't been blogging as much lately. There are a variety of reasons contributing to my lack of blogging . . . other priorities, illness in the family, blogging burnout, and working on client research rather than my own. I have good intentions, and I know I need to get back to it, but I haven't. I also noticed signs of this same problem among some of the blogs that were nominated. One blog (which used to be a favorite) had not been updated in the last calendar year. I've at least written a handful of posts in that time. Others were infrequent, having only a handful of posts as well. Other blogs seem to be suffering a little "fatigue." They aren't quite as engaging as they once were. It's as though they were writing out of a sense of obligation rather than having something about which they are excited to share. I'll also confess a little secret to you. I hate the word "geneablog." I prefer to use the phrase "genealogy blog" or "family history blog," a term which is much more likely to be utilized by those looking for genealogy-related blogs than an invented term. I know that the English language is evolving, but that's one term that I'd rather have omitted from dictionaries. It's so prevalent that its use will be continued in genealogy blogging circles regardless of my thoughts on the matter. I think the one thing that bugs me about the use of the term is that I feel "trapped" by it. When I began Smoky Mountain Family Historian back in June of 2004, my intent was never to blog exclusively about genealogy. My intent was to blog about anything that interested me or caught my attention. It was to be a reflection of my whole person. I often shared reviews of books that I read. I shared things about my cat. I shared other things. In order to recapture my enthusiasm, I'm going back to my original intent for this blog. You are going to see many aspects of my life as well as glimpses into my genealogical research. I hope that this change back to the original direction of my blog does not cause you to leave. I just need to recapture my enthusiasm for blogging!
I haven't been blogging as much lately. There are a variety of reasons contributing to my lack of blogging . . . other priorities, illness in the family, blogging burnout, and working on client research rather than my own. I have good intentions, and I know I need to get back to it, but I haven't. I also noticed signs of this same problem among some of the blogs that were nominated. One blog (which used to be a favorite) had not been updated in the last calendar year. I've at least written a handful of posts in that time. Others were infrequent, having only a handful of posts as well. Other blogs seem to be suffering a little "fatigue." They aren't quite as engaging as they once were. It's as though they were writing out of a sense of obligation rather than having something about which they are excited to share. I'll also confess a little secret to you. I hate the word "geneablog." I prefer to use the phrase "genealogy blog" or "family history blog," a term which is much more likely to be utilized by those looking for genealogy-related blogs than an invented term. I know that the English language is evolving, but that's one term that I'd rather have omitted from dictionaries. It's so prevalent that its use will be continued in genealogy blogging circles regardless of my thoughts on the matter. I think the one thing that bugs me about the use of the term is that I feel "trapped" by it. When I began Smoky Mountain Family Historian back in June of 2004, my intent was never to blog exclusively about genealogy. My intent was to blog about anything that interested me or caught my attention. It was to be a reflection of my whole person. I often shared reviews of books that I read. I shared things about my cat. I shared other things. In order to recapture my enthusiasm, I'm going back to my original intent for this blog. You are going to see many aspects of my life as well as glimpses into my genealogical research. I hope that this change back to the original direction of my blog does not cause you to leave. I just need to recapture my enthusiasm for blogging!
Monday, June 08, 2009
5 Year Blogiversary
Would you believe that this blog is 5 years old today? I actually created the first post in a workshop on blogging at the Association of Christian Librarians' annual conference. It is appropriate that this year's ACL conference begins this evening. I eventually decided to broaden the scope of my blog a bit, but genealogy has always been a big part of the blog.
I'm not really up at 3:01 a.m. (At least I hope I'm not.) I made this a scheduled post so that I wouldn't forget to mark this blogiversary which I'm very likely to have done since I'll be in Springfield, Missouri at the time it is posted.
P.S. "Blogiversary" is the correct spelling. Several have been spelling the term differently lately, but the official spelling is parallel to the word anniversary.
I'm not really up at 3:01 a.m. (At least I hope I'm not.) I made this a scheduled post so that I wouldn't forget to mark this blogiversary which I'm very likely to have done since I'll be in Springfield, Missouri at the time it is posted.
P.S. "Blogiversary" is the correct spelling. Several have been spelling the term differently lately, but the official spelling is parallel to the word anniversary.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Why Tuesday Thingers
Today's Tuesday Thingers question is:
What other weekly memes or round robins do you participate in? Is this the only one? Why Tuesday Thingers and not some other weekly Tuesday meme? Or do you do more than one?
The only other weekly meme in which I sometimes participate is Wordless Wednesday. I do participate in some monthly and semi-monthly ones such as the Carnival of Genealogy and in some of the book challenges.
Why Tuesday Thingers? Because I love LibraryThing and I love books!
Tuesday Thingers is the only Tuesday meme in which I participate.
What other weekly memes or round robins do you participate in? Is this the only one? Why Tuesday Thingers and not some other weekly Tuesday meme? Or do you do more than one?
The only other weekly meme in which I sometimes participate is Wordless Wednesday. I do participate in some monthly and semi-monthly ones such as the Carnival of Genealogy and in some of the book challenges.
Why Tuesday Thingers? Because I love LibraryThing and I love books!
Tuesday Thingers is the only Tuesday meme in which I participate.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Blogging Hiatus
I will not be blogging again until May 17 or 18. I'm taking a few days at the end of the semester for R & R.
I apologize to footnoteMaven for not participating in her first Shades carnival. I tried to find a photo of a mother, but I could not find pictures of mothers with their children. My family tended to just have the kids or just have the mother in their photos.
Graduation is tonight. I've got a couple of things that I've got to go take care of in the office today.
I apologize to footnoteMaven for not participating in her first Shades carnival. I tried to find a photo of a mother, but I could not find pictures of mothers with their children. My family tended to just have the kids or just have the mother in their photos.
Graduation is tonight. I've got a couple of things that I've got to go take care of in the office today.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
How To Blog
Annoyed Librarian's post was written for library blogger-wannabes, but it can apply to multiple groups. I had a fifth comment to apply for genealogy bloggers, but on second thought, I decided not to make it; however, if others want to add to the list, go right ahead.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Musings on the Big Genealogy Bloggers
I just noticed that a major genealogy blogger just took a posting from another big genealogy blogger and did not offer a link to that blog in any way. Now, to give some credit to the blogger, he did not repeat the wording of the other blogger verbatim. He just took the story without offering a "tip of the hat." I've also noticed this same major genealogy blogger has not given credit to several of us smaller genealogy bloggers over the last few months and years. While it's not necessarily plagiarism, it's not exactly ethical when one's sources are not cited!
Why is it that many of the big players in genealogy blogging are so afraid of sending a little traffic to another blogger? One of the most successful political bloggers is Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit. His links to other bloggers, both the big bloggers and the lesser known bloggers, are so legendary that there is even a term to describe the surge that occurs when a person receives a link from his blog. It's called an "Instalanche." It's a win-win situation for Reynolds and for those to whom he links. Glenn keeps people coming to his blog because they know he's going to offer them interesting links and commentary. The other bloggers win because they get exposure and pick up new readers on a regular basis. Why do some of the major genealogy bloggers seem to think that blogging is a competition for business and try to gain a monopoly? The very nature of blogging is that it is social! "Social" implies networking, and there's no better way to network in genealogy than to provide links to other blogs. While adding blogs to one's blogroll is a way to make a lasting link to those blogs that you read on a regular basis and which are similar in content to your blog is one way to do this, just giving a "hat tip" to someone for having it on their blog and calling it to your attention is another way to do this.
It's time to end the competitive, monopolistic attitudes that are out there. Let's help one another. It can be a win-win situation for all of us, but most of all for our readers.
Why is it that many of the big players in genealogy blogging are so afraid of sending a little traffic to another blogger? One of the most successful political bloggers is Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit. His links to other bloggers, both the big bloggers and the lesser known bloggers, are so legendary that there is even a term to describe the surge that occurs when a person receives a link from his blog. It's called an "Instalanche." It's a win-win situation for Reynolds and for those to whom he links. Glenn keeps people coming to his blog because they know he's going to offer them interesting links and commentary. The other bloggers win because they get exposure and pick up new readers on a regular basis. Why do some of the major genealogy bloggers seem to think that blogging is a competition for business and try to gain a monopoly? The very nature of blogging is that it is social! "Social" implies networking, and there's no better way to network in genealogy than to provide links to other blogs. While adding blogs to one's blogroll is a way to make a lasting link to those blogs that you read on a regular basis and which are similar in content to your blog is one way to do this, just giving a "hat tip" to someone for having it on their blog and calling it to your attention is another way to do this.
It's time to end the competitive, monopolistic attitudes that are out there. Let's help one another. It can be a win-win situation for all of us, but most of all for our readers.
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