The first place I saw the phrase “Glen Onoko” was in an autograph album that we found in family records after my grandmother passed away. Also known as a friendship album, they were popular in the mid to late 1800s. This album, owned by my great-times-three Aunt Mary Boyd, has signatures in it from the … More Glen Onoko, a place to visit no longer
…and how a visit to a cemetery solved a mystery I’ve recently finished writing a book based on the signatures in my great-times-three Aunt Mary’s autograph album. These albums were a little like high school yearbooks in the 1800s. Friends and family wrote something on a page, often a little poem, and signed their names. … More Ancestor sleuthing–the case of the three Anna Todds
I’m at an exciting point in my life. I’ve written a book about part of my family’s history and the region it occurred in, and it’s done. I’ve taken the exhilarating and terrifying step of sending out my first query letter, and have already moved on to my next project, that of illustrating a story … More Invisible elephants in the room
I’ve been interested in my family roots ever since I had to write a report in 10th grade called “My Family Tree”. I remember that I took it seriously, interviewing both my grandmothers and taking notes like a reporter. I drew maps, created family trees and spent a lot of time and effort in writing … More Ancestor hunting online? Here are a few tips I wish I’d known before I started
I announced a couple of days ago that I’m finally done (after nearly five years) with my writing Work-In-Progress. My WIP, as I affectionately called it, can’t even go by that name any more. What should I call it now? FIP? As in Finished Project? Even though I say it’s finished, I can’t seem to … More When it’s hard to let go of the writing…and Jim Thorpe
I’m back in the saddle, back to writing this week. At last–it feels really good. As I looked over my most recent post here, I see that it was in July. I’ll admit that I haven’t written a single thing since then, until this week. The “why” is simple: my hubby got a job offer … More NanoWrimo, nano nah
So, here we are in July, the summertime month for NaNoWriMo. Camp NaNoWriMo, to be exact. I had a good start to the month, then almost immediately fell off the writing wagon because the 4th of July was on a Tuesday, which created a natural 4-day holiday weekend, which was spent by the hubster and I … More Writing toward the NaNoWriMo word count
It’s about 20 minutes to midnight on June 30th, 2017–less than a half hour until the official start of Camp NaNoWriMo, and here I am frantically trying to make sense and order of all my scribbled notes and computer files related to this novel idea of mine. I’d had this great plan of having a … More Burning the midnight NaNoWriMo oil…
I just signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo, the summertime version of NaNoWriMo (which occurs every November). NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is self-inflicted torture for writers. Its premise is simple and yet Herculean–write a 50,000 word novel, start to finish, in one month. I created my NaNoWriMo account years ago, and a couple of those years I actually … More Camp NaNoWriMo
Quick update related to my last post written in November–that first contract on our house fell through, but we eventually accepted another one and settled in April. We’re now renting a little vacay place owned by the hubster’s parents, for which I offered implementation of my newly acquired reno skills. I was startled by how eagerly the in-laws accepted … More Getting lost in the (research) weeds
ChessieWriter 