Getting Started with the DOABLE approach to telling your family’s tales

Posted on April 30, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

the doable approach to getting started telling your family's tales

The thought of trying to put together a family history is daunting and few of us will ever carry out that task. But there are better ways to share your family’s history and that is through stories. Few other than genealogist will sit down and read facts about an ancestor but every one loves a good story. It is the stories that connect us to other members of our family. It is the stories that make them real. It is the stories that give us insights that have a positive impact on our own lives and the lives of our families.

So I’m here to help you tell your own family tales in engaging ways that everyone will enjoy. You can do it in small projects that won’t take hundreds of hours and years to complete. Projects that won’t make you feel overwhelmed and want to give up. If that sounds like what you want then you are in the right place. I’ll help you every step of the way. Here is an overview of the DOABLE approach:

Step One: Decide
First you need to decided that now is the time to commit to doing a story project. If you have done that then it is time to decide on a specific story project. There are so many options that it is easy to get overwhelmed. But don’t worry I’ll help you to narrow it down.

Step Two: Organize
Now that you’ve picked a focus for your story project it is time to gather what you already have that might help you to complete this project. Find any photos, documents, letters, etc. that you or your family already have.

Step Three: Analyze
Once you have your resources gather you can really take a close look at what you have. Is it enough to complete your project or do you need to gather more from other sources? In this step you plan your project, breaking it down into small steps with deadlines for each step.

Step Four: Build
This is an exciting step, to actually start building your project, to follow your plan. Keep moving forward and make adjustments to your plan as needed.

Step Five: Link
Now for the rewarding part, share your project with your family and anyone else who might enjoy hearing your story. Be creative in the ways you share it. This is an opportunity to strengthen those family connection and even make new links to extended family.

Step Six: Evaluate
Once your story project is complete it is good to look at how things went. What turned out well, what not so good. What would you do differently next time. Armed with this knowledge you are ready to go back to step one and pick a new family story project.

Are you still with me? Then it is time to get started with step one!

Step 4: BUILD revamping my blog – new theme

Posted on April 25, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

So how do you like my new theme? I think it is going to work just fine. Someday I plan to customize my layout but it isn’t time for that yet. There were several other themes I liked but the text color just didn’t work for me and I couldn’t change it. I am excited about this revamp and I can’t wait to get everything all set up. Too bad I have other things that need doing or I’d spend the next several days focused on it and get it done for next week. But I have a plan and I will get it done. Here are my goals for next week:

left side bar: Monday, 29 April
reevaluate right bar: Tuesday, 30 April
getting started with the DOABLE approach post: Wednesday, 1 May
DECIDE basics post: Thursday, 2 May

I hope to get a pupdate post done tomorrow and a Joy Jar post on Saturday. I’ve got a quickly approaching deadline for a chapter of my dad’s Navy history. He is going to an Underwater Swimmer School reunion next month and would love to take as much as I can get together about the history of the school. He was one of the original instructors in 1954.

If you could drop all your other responsibilities, what would you work on this weekend?

Step 3: ANALYZE: revamping my blog

Posted on April 24, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

The biggest thing that my revamped blog will need is a side bar on the left side. I want to put several widgets there, one on getting started and then a widget for each step of the DOABLE approach. This means I will need a new theme for my blog. My current theme doesn’t support a left side bar.I also want to look at my right side bar and consider changing what is over there too.

The other big area of this project is to look at my content plan and make sure that the posts I’m writing are helping to fill out all the steps of DOABLE family story project. First I’ll do one post for each step and then decide if it would be better to focus one each step for a week or a month or rotate around. I’m leaning toward focusing on each step in turn for about a month so I can really fill out the content for that step. I’ll plan on that for now and reevaluate if needed.

After I’ve picked a new theme and put the structure in place I’ll need to work on moving my old posts into the new structure. I think this should be worked on after I get the basics in place for the six steps in the DOABLE approach.

It is important at this stage to keep the LINK step in mind. I think it is time to venture out into social media and that would be a good way to share my revamped blog. I will probably start with Google+ and Pintrest.

Now for some deadlines:

pick new theme: Thursday, 25
left side bar: Monday, 29 April
reevaluate right bar: Tuesday, 30 April
getting started with the DOABLE approach post: Wednesday, 1 May
DECIDE basics post: Thursday, 2 May
ORGANIZE basics post: Monday, 6 May
ANALYZE basics post: Tuesday, 7 May
BUILD basics post: Wednesday, 8 May
LINK basics post: Thursday 9 May
EVALUATE basics post: Monday 13 May
move old content to new structure: Thursday, 16 May
start sharing with Google+: Monday, 3 June
start sharing with Pintrest: Monday, 1 July
check revamp so far and adjust content plan if needed: Tuesday 14 May
move forward with new content plan: Monday, 20 May

I’m not sure that my deadlines are realistic but it gives me something to shoot for and I can adjust them if I need to. I really like the idea of having the new look if not the content in place by May 1st. It sound like a great way to start a new month.

How about you? Do you have a plan in place for your next family story project?

Step 2: ORGANIZE: revamping my blog

Posted on April 23, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

Since I’m following the DOABLE approach on revamping my blog today it is time for step two: organize. Yesterday I decided that it was time to refocus. I want it to be easy and clear for anyone to get started or complete a family story project and my current blog isn’t doing that. So that is step one complete.

Step two: Organize: I have over a years worth of content on my blog but it doesn’t automatically fit into the new DOABLE structure. The Ideas & Inspiration posts should work in the decide phase. When I’m decided what to do for a new project, I like to look at ideas and hope for inspiration and a vision of how I want a new project to be like. The How To post should fit nicely into the build step of the DOABLE approach. My Projects post could go lots of different places but I think I will also keep them together and keep a My Projects tab at the top along with My Life and My Puppies. I think I’ll combine the About Me tab with the My Life tab. I think the Mary Taylor tab will become My Grandma Mary. When that book becomes generally available there will be some content for the book that I want to keep in one place and easy to find.

Now I can see that I have lots of area of the DOABLE approach that won’t have any or at least not much content to start with, namely, Organize, Analyze, Link and Evaluate. Next step is Analyze: the planning stage where I will figure out all that this blog revamping will need to carry out my vision.

Did you decide on a new family story project? If so take the next step and organize. Gather together the information and resources you already have and see where you stand. Haven’t decided yet? It isn’t to late to get started.

a DOABLE approach to sharing your family stories

Posted on April 22, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

As I’ve contemplated ways to improve my blog it occurred to me that if you are coming here for the first time there isn’t really any help in getting started. Since my goal is to help everyone (including me) to tell their own family stories that situation isn’t a good one. Over the past year or so I’ve written posts about my story projects and other things I’ve come across. While all of that is good I think I’ve missed the mark. Since my rather chaotic brain craves order I decided I’d come up with some sort of system anyone can follow to help them share their family stories. It is still a work in progress but I think it is a good start.

D – decide

O – organize

A – analyze

B – build

L – link

E – evaluate

Decide: the very first step is to decide you want to do a story project and the decide who you want to do it about or what story you want to develop and share. What do you want to do with this project?

Organize: the next step is to organize. This step will focus on the what you already know and what you already have in the way of documents and images etc. that might help you will the story project you are working on.

Analyze: in this step you want to really look hard at your goal. What do you need to do? Do you have all the information you need? What else do you need and where might you find it? What do you need to learn to complete this project? Plan your project out in as much detail as you can and give yourself deadlines along the way.

Build: do the work, follow the plan, keep on moving forward. Keep your purpose in mind and work past any obstacles that get in your way.

Link: share your story project with as many people as you can in as many ways as you can.

Evaluate: the good, the bad and the ugly. What would you do the same if you had to do it all again, what would you do different. Then armed with your new knowledge start the process over with a new story project.

—————————————————-

So what does this all mean? I’ll need to restructure my blog to show the DOABLE approach with the goal in mind that anyone can come here and find what they need to get started or keep moving forward with their own family story projects. Hey, I think this whole DOABLE approach might work for this too. I’ve decided on a new vision for my blog. Next step is to organize what I already have on here with the DOABLE approach in mind. Then I will analyze what is missing and make a plan for how to fill it in. While I’m working through the DOABLE steps I can learn more about how to improve it too! I’m really excited about my new goal.

How about join me on this journey? Start with step one, decide on a family story project (or even something else) that you want to do and we can test out my DOABLE approach together.

Geneaquilts

Posted on April 11, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

I came across this new (at least to me) way to visualize complex family trees. It looks very interesting. I’d love to put my puppies pedigrees in here to better see their relationships. All of them have at least one common ancestor in less than five generations. I’ve always wanted a way to visualize their relationships better. I think this might do it. I’m going to have to try this out soon.

Do you have any experience with Geneaquilts? Do you have any complex relationships in your family tree?

Here is a few links with more information:

Geneaquilts

Trellis Charts

Online Genealogy Newsletter

Book of the Week – visions of key west

Posted on April 9, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

visions of key west by Ronny and Stephanie Bailey | Make Your Own Book

With my dad’s history and Key West on my mind, I went looking for this weeks book and I found “visions of key west – the folk art of ronny bailey” by Ronny and Stephanie Bailey. Here is what he said about his book:

This book presents a unique style of Folk Art. Ronny recycles salvaged wood and tin from century old Key West houses into miniature replicas of these same old houses. These 3-d houses fool the eye. Thru Ronny’s use of the original patina on his salvaged materials and great detail it is hard to tell what is a real house and what is his miniature reproduction.

I love his work. It is a wonderful way to keep the history of Key West and the lifestyle of the past. His sculptures are amazing. For more on Ronny Bailey click on the links below.

http://artid.com/members/rbailey

http://keywestproperties.blogspot.com/2011/01/ronny-bailey-key-west-artist.html

Do you or your family have folk art like Ronny’s that reflects the history and stories of your family? My grandma learned to paint in her later years. She mostly did landscapes and still lifes. Not sure if that qualifies but it shows me that I have creativity in my roots.

Key West – Underwater Swimmers School

Posted on April 8, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

Underwater Swimmer School - class photo - Key West, Florida

First Underwater Swimmers School Class 1 November 1954

I’m working on a history for my dad about his 20 years in the navy. This is a huge project but right now I’m focusing on the years he was stationed in Key West as an instructor at the Underwater Swimmers School there. He is going to a reunion in May and he wants to take this chapter of his history with him. I’m struggling with getting this together and time is slipping by on me. I think it is the writing that is my road block. Writing is not one of my strengths but I don’t see away around it. Putting together histories for my mom is easier in many ways. She doesn’t expect much in the way of narrative. She is looking more for a gathering of documents, photos and letters. My dad wants something readable. Which is ultimately what I want to. I just feel very inadequate to write it.

I have lots of photos and documents. I have a few memories from my dad so far. I have a rough outline of how I want to structure the book.

Prologue: brief history of diving and scuba in the US Navy
Chapter One: organizing of the Underwater Swimmers School
Chapter Two: first class
Chapter Three: challenges
Chapter Four: successes
Chapter Five: ongoing improvements
Epilogue: maturing of the Underwater Swimmers School

To get moving forward I’ve made the goal to do some sort of rough text for the chapters, one each day, this week. I did some research today on history of scuba and the navy. Tomorrow I will work on chapter one.

What do you do to help you work through mental or emotional blocks? Do you have any strategies to help me move forward?

Birthday Traditions

Posted on April 4, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

Iris’s 90th Birthday Party video

With my mind being on birthdays recently I started thinking about birthday traditions. A Google search brings up lots of hits on traditions for kids but not so many for grown-ups. As I think back in my life and can see how easy it is to let birthdays slip by without doing much to really celebrate the day. Some people are great at making sure they have fun celebrations in their life. Some families have well-developed birthday traditions. My family isn’t one of them. So this is an area I could use some work on. Maybe it comes from my family culture. My mom is very practical and recently my dad said that he didn’t know how to celebrate. It seems to me that birthday traditions don’t necessarily need to be fancy or expensive but it takes planning and effort to make sure they become traditions. I also think that sometimes birthday traditions need to evolve to meet the families changing needs.

Last year I had lots of fun celebrating by birthday 50 times during the year. I want to do more in the coming years to develop some good adult birthday traditions. With my birthday coming up in May it is time to start thinking about some new traditions. Do you have any suggestions? What birthday traditions do you have or wish to start with your family?