Posted on Leave a comment

Repeat Design Elements

Create a sense of unity to your book  by adding a few visual elements that you like, and then repeating them throughout. Look through some of your favorite books to see what they have used on their pages, you may get some inspiration. Perhaps a decorative ornament under the heading of each chapter, or a decorative drop cap to start each chapter might give your book a special look. 

Chris Stevenson  cs@sgenealogy.com  www.sgenealogy.com

Posted on Leave a comment

Chapter File Names

The file size of your book can get very large when you have a lot of pictures in it. And when the file is huge it can slow down your computer a lot and make editing drag on and on. If you are struggling with this then consider splitting the book into chapter files where each chapter (or two) are individual files. While you are editing them you can call them whatever you want, but I have a suggestion for when you are ready to take the book to the publisher. By putting numbers at the beginning of the name of each file they will be sorted into the order of how they appear in the book.  Use two digits for the numbers (i.e.: 01Titlepage, 02Preface, 03 Chapter one, etc.) to keep the first nine chapters in order on the top of the list.

Chris Stevenson   cs@sgenealogy.com   www.sgenealogy.com

Posted on Leave a comment

Blogs

Blogs have become so common and easy to use that about 50,000 are started each day. One great use of a blog is to share family stories and pictures. You can make a blog for each of your different family lines and then post information about each ancestor that has that last name or that belongs to that ancestral line. WordPress and Blogspot are the two blog sites that are used the most, plus they are free. They have some great tutorials to help you get started and design your blog.

Here are a couple of blogs that I have made for two of my family lines. They are just an example of what you can do. I also have a private blog that just my immediate family can see where we share pictures and memories about when our children were growing up. (You can have your blog public so anyone can see it or private so only invited guests can see it.)

http://tuckerresearch.blogspot.com/

http://lerwillresearch.blogspot.com/

Go ahead and start a blog and see how it works. Experiment until you have it just the way you want and then you can make it public and tell your family about it. When it is public, other relatives can find it by searching for certain family names and will see what you have and could contact you and share information. It is a great way to share pictures and stories from your family.

Chris Stevenson   cs@sgenealogy.com    www.sgenealogy.com

Posted on Leave a comment

Holiday Time

I love being with family at Christmas time and on other holidays. We have several parties with different sides of the family and it reminded me that sharing family stories is a fun and important part of these family gatherings. I would suggest that you bring a digital recorder and turn it on when these stories are being told so they can be preserved and shared.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Chris Stevenson  cs@sgenealogy.com  www.sgenealogy.com

Posted on Leave a comment

Deadlines #2

This is a repeat of a post I did last December. It is so important that I feel like I should repeat it.

This time of year, I am reminded of the importance of deadlines as well as the lack of importance of deadlines. That my sound a little funny, so let me explain. First, I think that it is common knowledge that we need deadlines to push us over the top to finish projects. A couple of examples that I can think of is how many sports teams really push hard to get ahead in the last two minutes of a game. And how students study extra hard and long just before a final test. We definitely need deadlines to help us.
But there is another side of deadlines when it comes to publishing a family history. Every year I have some people ask me when is the last date that they can finish writing it and have it published for Christmas. We discuss the different deadlines and then I usually say something like this, "I just want to remind you that it is wonderful to have you book completed for Christmas, but your book will be around for a hundred years and so it is more important to have it just right than to meet a deadline." This is wisdom that I learned from my father. He used deadlines to help propel him forward, but he never cut corners. Maybe that is the perfectionist in him.
Keeping deadlines in their proper perspective is so important as we do these very large projects, like writing and publishing a family history. Use Christmas, a family reunion, or other occasion as a deadline to work towards, but remember that your book will be treasured for years to come. Make it a legacy that you will be happy with and not one full of regrets.
Chris Stevenson   cs@sgenealogy.com    www.sgenealogy.com

Posted on Leave a comment

Thanksgiving

I am so grateful to be involved with so many wonderful people in preserving and sharing personal and family histories. I feel very blessed to have the job that I do where we make people happy every day. I love my job. Thanks for making it possible to do what I love.

Here is something to think about as you spend time with your family. Last week, one of my good friends told me his number one regret is that he didn’t sit down with his parents and get a record of their life stories. All he has of his father’s history is three paragraphs that he wrote many years ago. As you visit with relatives during this busy time of year, take the time to ask about and record their stories. You won’t regret it. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Chris Stevenson  cs@sgenealogy.com  www.sgenealogy.com

Posted on Leave a comment

Happy Anniversary

It was one year ago that I started this blog. I had several people suggest to me that I record many of the tips that I have learned over the 30+ years that I have worked on family histories. So from those suggestions came these helpful tips. My passion is to help people record and share their life stories; therefore my hope is that this blog has been helpful to you.

Keep reading and I’ll keep writing.

Chris Stevenson  cs@sgenealogy.com  www.sgenealogy.com