As I suspected, 2021 was much like 2020, and I wasn’t able to get all of my 2021 goals accomplished. Let see how I did.

I wanted to attend SLIG and IGHR, and CHECK, I did both. I took Judy Russell’s Corpus Juris: Advanced Legal Concepts for Genealogy at SLIG (and LOVED it!) and I took Michael Strauss’s Military Records I: The Colonial Era to the Vietnam War (which was GREAT!). I also attended RootsTech 2021, NGS 2021, and the 2021 International German Genealogy Conference.

I wanted to publish my first book. This, unfortunately, did not happen. Between some health issues (which led to lots of testing and appointments and I am STILL doing!), running my business, and having workers in and out of my house all year, finding the time, energy, and motivation was hard. I’ve learned it’s hard to concentrate and write anything even close to decent with massive pain in your head! So on the list for 2022 it goes (and IT WILL GET DONE!).

I wanted to finish the accreditation process through ICAPGen. With everything still closed most of the year, this wasn’t going to happen. Plus, with the health issues (aka massive head pain!), the idea of all-day testing was in no way appealing. I’m going to have to figure out a solution to this soon because I’m not ready to board a plane anytime soon, so heading to Salt Lake City to test is out of the question (for now). I was already set up to do remote testing, however, the process has changed, so I need to figure out what I need to do to finish the process in 2022 (and I WILL, because I have to complete it before the end of September!).

I had planned to deliver my very first webinar, which was scheduled in November for the APG Writers SIG. I DID do that (it was a workshop: First Steps to Writing an Information or Instructional Book) and it went really well! BUT, it wasn’t my first. My first was actually the week before and it was something I put together (The 5 Keys for Effective & Efficient Genealogy Research) and it went really well! Both were presented in a way that allowed me to teach a concept and then have the attendees that action right then and there, which is my preferred teaching style.

I wanted to spend some time on my own genealogy. Again, that massive head pain kept me from doing much “thinking” work, but I was able to work through my DNA matches using the Leed’s Method. I’ve still got some work to do, but it’s definitely helping me get some focus on how to approach my Rottman research projects. And, I think I found an even better way to keep track of my DNA matches (actually ALL of my research, which I can’t wait to dive into after the first of the year…more on that in a moment).

So, what’s on the horizon for 2022?

  • Publish my first book! By golly, I’m gonna get the darn thing done!!!
  • Publish at least one short guide. In addition to books, I want to publish shorter guide-like books. So not quite a full-length book, but not a 4-page guide either. Maybe more of a booklet?? 😁
  • Finish the accreditation process! Gotta do it before the end of September!!!
  • Write at least one article outside of my APG Quarterly Writing & Publishing column.
  • Attend SLIG, GRIP, and IGHR. With SLIG going virtual (just days ago!), I was able to get into Michael Strauss’s Operation Jumpstart: Beyond the Basics of Military Research, which is the next step in my military records/history educational journey. Needless to say, I’m THRILLED (and it’s less than a month away). A few months ago IGHR made the decision to go virtual as well, and I desperately want to take Melinda Kashuba’s Land Records: Using Maps in Genealogical Research (drives me crazy that it’s only offered every couple of years, and I always seem to miss the “on” year). Fingers crossed I get in. Then the other day I got to thinking, wait, I haven’t heard what GRIP is doing. Lo and behold, they’re going virtual too, and I saw that Gena Philibert-Ortega is doing a social history course (Beyond a Name and Date: Advanced Practices in Social History), which is something I really want to focus on in 2022, so I really hope I can get into that course too. Whew…my adrenaline in in overdrive just thinking about these!
  • Complete the German courses I purchased from Katherine Schober (can’t wait!!!).
  • Work on my own genealogy projects (always a goal!). I’ve identified four different research questions related to my Rotttman line that I want to take through my problem-solving framework. That should keep me busy for the foreseeable future.
  • Create a FOREVER account and start getting my digital photos and documents in there! I’m committing to starting in February and spending an hour each Friday until the project’s done.
  • Finish writing the narrative I started working on about my Hanfler and Leppin families. This actually started out as the research report for the ICAPGen accreditation. Then I started transforming it into a narrative and have been working on incorporating social history (hence the reason I REALLY want to get into Gena’s GRIP course!). My progress was halted in early 2020 because I couldn’t get the books I needed because the Wisconsin Historical Society / UW Madison was not fulfilling loan requests (in all fairness I requested several books in early January 2020 only to find out they had a glitch in the system and the requests got “stuck” for two months…we finally got it figured out the week before the state shut down, so I never did get them).
  • For years I’ve been looking for a way to get all of my research in one place. Even though I’m a very organized person, using a gazillion programs/apps for genealogy is just too much to manage and I really want an all-in-one solution. In 2021 I started to explore Zotero as a possible solution, and while it does meet many of my requirements, I think I’ve stumbled upon an even better solution. So as I work through some of my research projects, I’m going to be experimenting to see if it will indeed fulfill ALL of my requirements. I’m actually really excited to dive in, because, hey, I like a good organizational project 😉 Fingers crossed!

What about you? What did you accomplish in 2021? What are your goals for 2022? I’d love to hear what’s going on with you, so please drop me a comment below!