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It’s been a doozy of a year…I’m surprised my head’s above water. I set out to accomplish some lofty goals in 2023, but was not as successful as I’d like.

So what did I accomplish?

✔️ Finish the ICAPGen accreditation process! I did it!!! I’m now an accredited genealogist 🎆

❌ Finish writing my book. Nope, not this year. I did get a good amount of writing done early in the year, so I’m about a quarter (maybe a third?) of the way done 📚

❌ Finish at least one of Katherine Schober’s courses, preferably the German for Genealogists course. Nope, didn’t even make any progress 😢

❌ Publish at least one short guide/booklet. Nope, didn’t happen, but I do have a plan for one 🤪

❌ Write at least one article for publication. Nope, didn’t even send out any queries. Although, technically, I did have an article published in the January 2023 issue of Internet Genealogy (“Watch YouTube Videos to Grow Your Genealogy Skills”), but it was written and submitted in 2022 ✒️

✔️ Attend two institutes (maybe three). I attended four 🤩

  • Bridging the Gap: New England to the Midwest, 1780–1850 with Josh Taylor at SLIG
  • Mastering the Art of Documentation with Tom Jones at GRIP
  • Researching New York with Karen Mauer Jones at IGHR
  • Advanced Evidence Analysis Practicum (second time) with Angela McGhie at SLIG Fall Virtual

❔ Keep building/testing my genealogy research hub in Notion. I did spend a decent amount of time on this, but it’s still not ready for prime time 🤔

✔️ Not on my list, but an accomplishment nonetheless, was digitizing all of the slides and films in my possession. I ended up sending the items to FOREVER. They did a great job, better than I could have done (and it saved me a lot of time I didn’t have!) 📷

✔️ Also not on my list was getting the APG Quarterly caught up. When I took over in August 2022, it was several issues behind. With the help of my team, I managed to get us caught up in March 2023 🎇

Here’s what’s on tap for 2024:

➡️ Complete the Copyediting Certificate Program through Writer’s Digest.

➡️ Attend one institute (maybe two). This year it will be SLIG Spring Virtual, Gothic Script and Fraktur Workshop with Warren Bittner and possibly something at IGHR or GRIP.

➡️ Finish writing my book.

➡️ Continue working on my genealogy hub in Notion.

➡️ Finish Katherine Schober’s German for Genealogists course.

➡️ Publish at least one short guide/booklet. This will hopefully be accomplished in Q1 🤞

So what about you? What goals did you accomplish in 2023 and what do you have planned for 2024?

© Julie Tarr. This article was first published at Julie’s Genealogy & History Hub; appearance of this article elsewhere, without my permission, violates copyright.