Category Archives: Fam Hist Writing Challenge

It’s that time of year…time for the Family History Writing Challenge to begin!  In 2011, Lynn Palermo (a.k.a. The Armchair Genealogist) began hosting this challenge to encourage genealogists and family historians to sit down and start writing their family stories.  This 28-day challenge begins on February 1 and ends on the February 28.

It’s the last day of the challenge and time for my final report.  And even though this was a super-busy week for me, I still managed to get in four out of seven days of writing.  Let’s see how the last week went. On Friday and Saturday (the 22nd and 23rd), I continued to write about my Schwartz family, this time focusing on Ferdinand, my third great-grandfather.  Friday’s word count was 280 and Saturday’s was 208, both just above my 200 words per day goal.

I was a little bit more on target this week, managing to write five out of seven days.  Here’s how the week went. On Friday, February 15, I drafted my Surname Saturday post, which was 492 words and took about a half hour. Hubby worked on Saturday, giving me a chance to get some writing done.  I decided to write about my second great-granduncle, Henry Schwartz, following up with what I did in Week 2 on his brother John (my second great-grandfather).  I still haven’t decided what to do with […]

Week 1 was a so-so week, which you can read about here.  I did a little bit better this week, but I still didn’t write every day.  Here’s how Week 2 went for me. On February 8, I drafted my Surname Saturday post about my Schwartz family from Luxembourg.  The post ended up being 2,904 words (14% over my 200 words/day goal) and took about 2.5 hours to write and format. Then of course came the weekend.  It’s the only chance I get to spend with my husband, plus it […]

The Family History Writing Challenge started on February 1, and I am off to a rocky start…well sort of.  Here’s the scoop for the first week. On February 1, I wrote my blog post for the Surname Saturday theme, Surname Saturday: Rottman (Bavaria / Georgia / Iowa / Illinois).  It was 938 words (4.69% of my 200 words/day goal—hey, I’m ahead of the game!!) and took two hours of writing and formatting.  So it looked like I was off to a great start.

It’s official.  Today marks the start of the third annual Family History Writing Challenge!  People all over the genealogy and family history community are taking this 28-day challenge, which entails a little bit of writing each day.  I will be participating again this year, and you can read more about my goals here. Haven’t made the commitment yet?  That’s okay.  Head over to the Family History Writing Challenge website to sign up.  This nice thing about stating your goal publicly is that it makes you accountable and gives you a […]

For the third year in a row, Lynn Palermo (a.k.a. The Armchair Genealogist) is hosting the Family History Writing Challenge.  This 28-day challenge begins on February 1 and ends on the February 28. By participating in the challenge, you are essentially making a commitment to yourself to write x-number of words each day about your family history.  It’s a fun way to set a goal and work toward that goal each day during the month of February.  What’s even better is that you will get tips and support along the […]

The Family History Writing Challenge ran through the month of February and sadly ended yesterday.  I pledged to write 300 words (or more) each day during February.  And although my goal of writing vignettes shifted a little, I did manage to write at least 300 words each day, with the exception of the first five days (I was in SLC for RootsTech).  I did manage to massage one batch of writing into a blog post about my second great-grandmother, Hulda Wach.