Playing Favorites

It did not take me long to pick out my own favorite posts from the past year; there weren’t many. Actually, there were five, or, if you count each post of a four-part series, eight. It’s not that I don’t care for most of the other posts (said the mother to her pouting children); it’s just that not many particularly stood out for me.

My blog is a labor of love, a way of sharing with others who share my love of genealogy and a medium to get the cousin bait out there. So I don’t always try to “knock one out of the ballpark.” I do make extra efforts for Memory Monday posts and Carnival of Genealogy entries, but the driving reason behind this is to write down my memories in the case of the former and to write down my research processes and results in the case of the latter (heartfelt thanks to Jasia to providing the inspiration and the prod to do this).

My quick review of last year’s posts reveals one of the reasons that my writing plan for next year includes more blog posts on my research: other than Friday newsletter summaries, there weren’t many posts on this subject. I don’t count Surname Saturday; that’s pure cousin bait and does not address “Here is why this family is interesting/difficult/surprising” or “Here’s how I did it.” The newsletter summaries may continue, but I’m hoping to have some kind of weekly “This Week’s Research Problem” feature.

Here are the five:

Ode to My Family’s History: Through the Lens of Gilbert and Sullivan

This almost did not get written. I cannot write poetry – but lyrics to catchy tunes, that’s another matter. A few early tries yielded a couple of lines for several different tunes. I almost gave up. Then the Long Boring Meeting happened. Notebook came out. Pencil flew. Inspiration combined with silliness was covered by an earnest expression, and the various presenters and speakers thought I was fascinated by their golden words.


Memory Monday: The Tree in Our Basement

The number of responses to this surprised me. It was one of those minor things that had more significance for my family than we realized at the time.


From the Will to the Estate Packet: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Definitely a labor of love: A write-up of one of my most exciting and astounding research discoveries. However, procrastination often smothers inspiration. I give all credit to Jasia’s Carnival of Genealogy at Creative Gene for the fact that this series ever saw the light.


Greenville Love

This was the companion piece to “From the Will to the Estate Packet.” My first research trip turned out to be the Best Vacation Ever, even though I spent a lot of it in the Greenville County Public Library.


Memory Monday: The Flower Bowl

Another surprise post. Little things loom large.


This will probably be my last post of 2010, so I would like to wish a Very Happy New Year to all of the readers of this blog. In the coming year, may you find the time to enjoy your families and do your research, enjoy the good health you will need to do both, make some amazing discoveries and smash at least one big brick wall.