It’s hard to believe we’re already into Week 2 of the New Year. Many of us in the genealogy community have blogged about the personal research and/or professional goals we’ve set for 2012, and some of us have partnered with a genea-buddy to help us reach them.
You can read about my research/writing goals in my “Twelve for ’12” post. My genea-buddy is Donna Pointkouski, author of the What’s Past is Prologue Blog and author/creator of The Catholic Gene Blog.
The Goals
Donna and I each broke down our goals into three main categories: Writing, Research, and Organizational (based on a similar system used by fellow Bloggers, Denise Levenick of The Family Curator, and Amy Coffin of the We Tree Blog).
I’m reporting my progress to Donna on the following:
Writing: Finish a new nonfiction book–draft by 4/1/12; final product published by the end of 2012 (big dreams here, but really want to make it happen!)
Research: 1) My paternal grandmother’s brother, Mihaly Fencsak who moved to Argentina; 2) My maternal grandmother’s brother Istvan Straka who stayed in Slovakia
Organizing: Purging paper files; 2) Going as paperless as possible; 3) Organizing my office.
We’ve set up a shared document in Google Docs (we titled it: “The Slavic Pennsylvania Gals’ 2012 Genealogy Buddy Goal Project”) where we can make notes and report our progress. I this first week, we have e-mailed each other updates and even talked on the phone.
Here’s how I did in my first week:
Writing: “The Book” – I have been writing for at least 30 minutes per day. Usually 15 minutes in the morning, and 15 minutes at night. Focusing now on the Preface/Introduction.
Research: I haven’t made much progress yet. I hope to do some research at the Family History Library in February. I’m also working with a professional researcher based in Slovakia and need to decide where to send him next.
Organizational: I fear this task will be the most difficult because it truly seems never-ending! I have purged about six file boxes, and have made efforts to go paperless by scanning documents, arranging for electronic subscriptions for magazines, etc. when possible and switching over to e-bills and e-statements.
The Buddy System: It Works for Me
I like the accountability factor of the genea-biuddy system. I feel like I have done a pretty good job thus far. As we go further into 2012, I hope that I can keep up the pace. I really want to score a slam dunk on these goals!
So, how did you do this week? Have you made any genea-progress?
Copyright, 2012, Lisa A. Alzo
All Rights Reserved
Your goals inspire me. I also want to write a book and actually have much or the research done on it. I'm not a writer but believe I have a good ideal. I like you idea of working 15 minutes in the morning and in the evening. If I'm going to get this done though, I would have to do more than that. I'm working on a family history mystery. It is a true story. I've found that fact not only is stranger than fiction but it is better than fiction.
Great job! I haven't done too well this week but you're inspiring me!
Hey, buddy…here's what I did….
1) Writing: wrote a bunch of posts but not the ones in my goal. 2) Research: researched a couple of ancestors, but not the ones in my goal. 3) Organization: got confused trying to figure out the appropriate administrative districts in Poland. Added bonus goal: Felt guilty about 1, 2, and 3. LOL. I love the accountability factor and the fact that we check in on each other. I wish you would hold me accountable to all of my life goals as well! As for these three…I know I'll get there and there are 356 days left to do it!
Donna