Genealogy Around the Web – November 11, 2016

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A weekly round-up of some sites that may be of interest to genealogists:

AncestryDNA 30% Sale

If you’ve been waiting for another AncestryDNA mega-sale, wait no longer. Ancestry is selling its DNA kit for $69 from 25 November to 28 November 2016. From 29 November to 14 December 2016 they are offering it for $89. The $69 price is the lowest yearly price you will find. To obtain the sell price visit http://www.ancestry.com/

Roots Ireland

Between 21 and 29 November 2016 RootsIreland.ie is offering a one-third off discount on annual subscriptions.
The cost of a new annual subscription is reduced by a whopping one-third to €150 (saving €75), £123 (saving £62) and $170 (saving $85), while the half-year sub is reduced to €125 (saving €25), £100 (saving £38) and $149 (saving $38).   Note:  The $ is US dollars. No Canadian (or Australian) dollar prices given.

Read more on Claire’s blog at www.irishgenealogynews.com/2016/11/rootsireland-offers-big-discounts-on.html

 Webinar – Scottish poor relief records

Christine Woodcock is conducting a free webinar, Using Poor Relief Records for Scottish Genealogy, on Monday, December 5, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Poor relief in Scotland required a process of application and given that specific criteria needed to be met, not everyone who applied actually received poor relief. However, the applications are an absolute treasure trove of genealogical information and can give a fantastic “peek” into the lives of your ancestors.

Register here to watch the webinar.

There is a limit to how many can attend. Registration does not guarantee your virtual seat, so log on about five to 10 minutes early to ensure there is a place for you.

Family Tree Maker news update

What’s happening to Family Tree Maker at the end of the year – a news update from Software MacKiev on genealogy software package Family Tree Maker.

Jack Minsky states, We are having the time of our lives in our new role as publisher of this most beloved of family history brands, and we couldn’t be more excited about what’s coming next.” For more information on the update to Family Tree Maker, please click here.

Writing Effectively Tips and Hints

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This is the third and final in a series of short articles on writing the stories of our ancestors.  The first article is Writing the Story of Your Ancestors”, followed by article two, Writing 101 – Hooks and Closers”.  Today’s article focuses on a few tips to hopefully make it easier for you to write an article.

There are many reasons to write about your ancestors but two of the most important reasons, to me at least, are, firstly, the satisfaction you will have in writing the article and, secondly,  your relatives and/or descendants who will be so thrilled to read and know about their ancestors because you took the time to write their story.

This series began as a way to assist those who have entered the QBFHS contest but you don’t need to enter a contest to tell the story of one or more of your ancestors.   If their stories are not told, the struggles and joys of their lives will never be known by their descendants.

Having said that,  Qualicum Beach Family History Society members are invited to enter a “Tell Us a Story” contest.  $100.00 will be awarded to the entrant whose entry, in the opinion of the judging panel, best meets the contest criteria.

 Note:  This contest is open to QBFHS members only.

Pay attention to images

 Your right brain thinks in images, and when you write, you translate images from your right brain into words. Usually this process happens so quickly that you’re unaware of it. If you can make this process conscious, you can strengthen your own creativity. Stephen King calls this process “writing with the third eye — the eye of imagination and memory.”

Making mud/ laying track

Your first draft of any piece of work is “mud” – raw material – or it could be called “laying track”, which may be more explanatory.  If the first draft is awful, don’t worry!  It’s meant to be. It’s only raw material. However, if you don’t create the first draft, or you wait until you have a really great idea that’s worth a first draft, you won’t write anything. Write. Make mud.

Grow your writing with lists

Listing is a form of brainstorming. It grows your writing and it can be fun.   Listing is an excellent technique to use when you get stuck in your writing, and it doesn’t matter what kind of writing you’re doing, whether it’s fiction or non-fiction. Listing also helps you in the revision process to add texture to your work.

Just write – think on the page, or on the screen, NOT in your head

Thinking too much while you write is treacherous, because you can spend two hours “writing” and end up with half a page of work. Write-think. That is, think on the page, not in your head.

Use your magical Thesaurus

Your most useful listing tool is a thesaurus. Keep one on your desk to kick-start your brain.   Your thesaurus and dictionary are perfect kick-starters. They’re also vital tools whenever you’re revising.

Set WIG goals — the best goals are always unrealistic.

What are WIGs? –  Wildly Improbable Goals.

A WIG is exciting. Just thinking about a WIG will get your heart pounding. Working toward your WIG (writing a book, article for a magazine or whatever writing goal you have) can give you the beginning you need to get you up and running.

And at the end of that hard work, you achieve your goal, but there’s a twist. You never achieve it exactly as you envisioned it – you achieve something even better, something you could never have imagined.

Writing about your goals helps because, when you write, you’re using both sides of your brain, and are accessing your unconscious mind as well. You live in your left brain, which you regard as “you”, but you have a silent partner, your right brain, which is also you, and which communicates via images and feelings.

Separate writing and editing

Writing comes first, then editing. If you try to combine the two, you will block.  Writing should come as easily to you as chatting to a friend. If it doesn’t, you’re trying to edit in your head before you get the words on paper, or on the computer screen. If you’re not aware of the danger of combining writing and editing, you’ll make writing hard for yourself, when it should be easy. If you don’t have trouble talking, how can you have trouble writing?

It’s good to struggle with your writing

How does this work? Let’s say that you’re writing a novel. This work is hard for you. However, you keep at it faithfully, working on your novel each day. You struggle with it for weeks. Then you give up. Although you keep writing, you say to yourself: “I don’t care anymore what garbage I write. I’m just going to do it. I’m just going to write.” This release leads to writing magic. Suddenly you’re inspired, and you finish the book in a rush. Although you will still occasionally struggle with your writing (because struggle is a part of life), you’ve broken through to a new level of functioning in your work. This new level would not, and could not, have happened without the struggle.

Good writing = truthful writing

Writing truthfully can feel like undressing in public, so many beginning writers worry about sharing their writing. Be compassionate. Firstly, to yourself. Write. Write for yourself. All writing takes courage.

When you finally show your writing to others, you discover the amazing truth that most people are not judging what you write. So write!

Good luck and may the writing genie be sitting on your shoulder!

Google PhotoScan

Google has just introduced PhotoScan, a new app that makes scanning and uploading old photos a lot easier. It is available for both the IPhone and Android.

PhotoScan is not just a photo of a photo. You’ll snap several shots on a picture, then PhotoScan automatically detects and removes the edges, straightens the image, and removes any glare before turning it into a high resolution file. If you’re using Google Photos, your scans are automatically uploaded to Google Photos.

Speaking of Google Photos, updates to the mobile apps are rolling out there as well. This includes advanced editing tools, like the ability to adjust exposure, contrast, and more. You’ll also get a suite of new filters for one-tap editing.

I just downloaded and used PhotoScan and, so far, after using it briefly, it does a wonderful job of scanning my old photos. I think it would be well worth a try.

Writing 101 – Hooks and Closers

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Following up on the previous post, Writing the Story of Your Ancestor“, every article needs a beginning and an ending – or a more interesting way to describe it – a hook and closer.

You don’t need to enter a contest to tell the story of one or more of your ancestors.   If their stories are not told, the struggles and joys of their lives will never be known by their descendants.

Having said that,  Qualicum Beach Family History Society members are invited to enter a “Tell Us a Story” contest.  $100.00 will be awarded to the entrant whose entry, in the opinion of the judging panel, best meets the contest criteria.  Note:  This contest is open to members only.

We cannot begin to tell a story about ourselves or our ancestors if we don’t know the ending.   In genealogy, quite often the ending is the beginning of a story.  Once you have your ending, you are ready to go back to the beginning and write the article.  This is where the hook comes in, beginning your article with a clue to the ending.

The Hook

Your opening lines are your first chance to hook your reader.  A good opening line hooks your attention.  Its job is to make you read this second sentence, which has the singular task of propelling your eyes towards the third sentence and right through to the end of the article.

As a general rule, your first line is the next most important bit of writing after your headline or title. Your second line is the next most important bit of writing after your first line. And so on. Each sentence or paragraph continues on with the theme of your article which began with the opening line.

There are several strategies for an opening line to spur the reader on to continue reading.  There are a variety of strategies that could be used, but four simple ones are:

Opening Line Strategy #1

A first line can simply set up the line that follows it. Or the one after that. You can use it to create expectation or intrigue, which following lines can elaborate on or contrast.

Opening Line Strategy #2

Asking a question of your reader is another way to keep them squarely focused on your content. This strategy deploys an element of ‘curiosity’ to encourage you to read further. Curiosity is a potent weapon as, in an ideal world, this approach should leave the reader wanting to know more. Or it should create a question that can only be answered by reading on.

Opening Line Strategy #3

Set a scene.  People respond well to visual cues. Taking the time to set a detailed scene will help your reader have a clear picture in their minds and create an effective hook. You can describe an incident or detail the particular features of a person or a character to help the readers become immersed in your writing.

Opening Line Strategy #4

Include an Interesting Fact or Definition.  These types of hooks start by surprising the reader with something that may not have known. Provide an interesting fact about something you are going to discuss in the body of the article and your audience will want to keep reading to learn more.

 The Closer

End your article with a closer, a final sentence that may reinforce an overall argument or leave the reader with an intriguing thought, question or quotation. The idea is to “clinch” or seize the reader’s attention until the very end, finishing a piece of writing in a way that feels complete. It should not be merely a summary or introduce topics or ideas not covered in the article.

Ending your essay or article with a reference to your lead “gives a feeling of arrival,” says Palms. You might want to pick up a word, a phrase, or part of an anecdote from the lead and bring it into the conclusion.

A good ending ties together all the discoveries in the article and, ideally, either leaves the reader wanting to learn more about the person or subject in the article or feels the article has reached a satisfactory conclusion.

Are you ready to tackle writing a story about one of your ancestors?  I hope so and good luck.

The next article will provide more tips on writing the “perfect” article.

To DNA or Not to DNA?

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Should you take a DNA test or not?   It seems that everyone around you is taking a test and having wonderful results.   However, before just jumping in and taking a DNA test, be sure that you have a clear purpose in mind.  If you are interested in finding out where your maternal roots lie or whether you’re related to someone else with your surname or perhaps you want to know your ethnic origins.   Any of these three or many other reasons for taking a test is essential to choosing the right genetic genealogy test.

Another factor to consider is that you may not find any close results, or perhaps no results at all.  It all hinges on one simple fact.   Yes, you took a DNA test, but that does not guarantee results – to have a match requires someone else with close or similar DNA results must also take a test.

Blaine Bettinger, in an article in Family Tree Magazine on October 25, 2016 asks if you are ready to take the plunge into genetic genealogy.

In his article he states that, “More genealogists than ever before are turning to DNA testing to explore their family trees. In addition to traditional Y-DNA and mtDNA tests, which examine your paternal and maternal lines, testing companies offer autosomal DNA testing, which lets you explore the rest of your family tree. And third-party sites let you do even more once you have your DNA results in hand.”

His article, “Top Genetic Genealogy Tools” provides links and insight into the companies and resources currently available for genetic genealogy.

Writing the Story of Your Ancestor

ancestor-contest

This is the first of a series of short articles on writing the stories of our ancestors.

Our ancestors are much more than a compilation of birth, marriage and death dates on a pedigree chart. They were real people with real lives filled with unique stories worth sharing and remembering.  Why not write about an episode or event that brings your ancestor to life?  Some possibilities might be: a story of their survival (war, accident, fire, etc.), the story of their immigration to a new country, the everyday hardships they endured, or a unique life experience or encounter.

Qualicum Beach Family History Society members are invited to enter a “Tell Us a Story” contest.  $100.00 will be awarded to the entrant whose entry, in the opinion of the judging panel, best meets the contest criteria.  Note:  This contest is open to members only.

But you don’t need to enter a contest to tell the story of one or more of your ancestors.   If their stories are not told, the struggles and joys of their lives will never be known by their descendants.

Think about who you want to write about and why.  Which ancestor creates the most interest for you personally?  He/she may not be famous or well known, but there is a reason why you find this ancestor fascinating.  That reason will make writing about that person much easier.  The most important thing is to start telling the story – don’t think you can’t do it, just start and the words will flow.

Write as if you were telling a story and edit later.  Writing is the most important first step.    Editing, punctuation and grammar are a later step.

Add information about what was happening in the world at the time, if it is appropriate.   An example would be immigration.  Why did they leave their home; what caused them to leave, why did they choose the country they emigrated to?  The conditions surrounding this and any other decision are a part of the story.

Sourcing can be added as (a) footnotes or (b) a sourcing index at the end of the article.  There is no best way, just what is easiest for you. If there is no sourcing for an event, outline the steps to prove the conclusion for that particular event.

Images can be added but are not necessary.   Keep the images at a medium size with appropriate captions.   No image is much better than a fuzzy or unclear image.   Don’t let too many images overwhelm the story.   The words should tell the story and the images only add to the story.

Read your story aloud to yourself and perhaps to others.  Reading will pinpoint errors or the flow of the story better than reading it several times.

Most importantly, this is supposed to be an enjoyable experience, don’t stress over it, just write from your heart and the story will tell itself.

What are hooks and closers?  You will learn all about that in part two of this series of articles.