We are up to Week 15 of Tonia’s 31 Weeks to a Better Genealogy Blog challenge. Wow, half-way through already! This has been a wonderful series, an excellent primer for creating and maintaining a genealogy-specific blog. If you haven’t joined in the fun, yet… It’s never too late to learn! Come on!
This week’s task is to “write a post that solves a problem that your readers (or potential readers) have.” Tonia gives us six ways to identify such a problem:
- Solve your own problems
- Look for questions in search referrals
- Analyze internal searches
- Ask readers for questions
- Look for problems on other sites
- Get ideas from friends and family
Solve your own problems…since others may be having the same or similar problems as I am having…
The Problem
Simple enough: genealogist’s block!
For some time now, I have been painstakingly reviewing every person in my database (currenty 746 documented and verified), adding and verifying data and adding sources and images. I have been thinking quite a bit about this research (guilt?), but doing practically nothing. I’m just kinda stuck right now and can’t seem to get moving again.
There are several reasons for this:
- My job has gotten a little crazy recently and I am working 6-7 days/week
- There is a lot going on in my personal life
- THE TEXAS RANGERS ARE MARCHING THROUGH THE MBL POST- SEASON, HEADED TOWARDS THEIR SECOND CONSECUTIVE WORLD SERIES APPEARANCE!!!
- Following the #31WBGB challenge has taken a lot of my time and drawn my focus away from research
I can’t do much about the first 2 items on this list, I would do absolutely nothing to change the 3rd “problem”, and the last item I would not change, either. While #31WBGB is taking up a lot of my time, what I have gained has amply rewarded my efforts so far!
The Solution
I think the solution to my stagnated research is in the planning. I need to set simple, attainable weekly goals. To this end, I am modifying one of my scheduled blog posts. My editorial calendar for Monday calls for a review of the past week’s research. In addition to this, I will be adding my plans for the current week. Examples could be a list of the specific names of ancestors to be researched (no more than 5/week), as well as “non-research” tasks to be done. These would include the weekly #31WBGB assignment; also blog modifications, research trips or any genealogy-related task.
Hopefully, this will get me back on track!
