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?

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.

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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.

Gift Idea #46 – Story Box

Posted on December 21, 2012 by tellingfamilytales

idea numbers46 This gift idea was inspired by this post on Design Mom. Guest Aunt Kelly Wilkinson made a story box for her sister as a gift before her first baby was born. I think this could be adapted for other situations. What Kelly did was take a wooden cigar box and decorate the outside with pretty images. A wooden box would be wonderful but other types of containers could be used also.

Inside she and a few friends put handwritten cards with story prompts. This cards can be used by her sister or in the future her sister’s children to start stories from their mother’s life. Children love to hear stories about their parents lives. This idea could also be used with grandparents or other extended family. The story prompts could also be generic and then the story box could be used by anyone to generated memories of their lives. The story box could be the start of a new family tradition that will be enjoyed for years to come.

Gift Idea #42 – Family Coloring Book

Posted on December 19, 2012 by tellingfamilytales

idea numbers42 I got this idea from a neighbor of my parents. They put together simple coloring books to tell the story of an ancestor. They have done one every year to share at their annual family reunion. They now have nine coloring books. Each book tell a simple story with clip art for the kids to color that goes along with the story. I love this idea. I can’t wait to put a coloring book together too. I’ll have to add it to my list of future projects.

If you would like to see their coloring books you can find them here.

Gift Idea #15 – Family Puzzle

Posted on November 30, 2012 by tellingfamilytales

I got the idea for this gift from a magazine article on family unity.

“My wife and I prepared an object lesson for our children on the importance of family unity by creating a puzzle. I found a current family picture that I then copied and cut into puzzle pieces. I made sure each piece included the face of one family member. Before the lesson I prepared a few thoughts on each person—the things that made him or her unique and special to our family.”

This idea inspired me to think how much fun it would be to do the same thing with an old family photo and have stories about the people on the puzzle piece so that everyone in the family can get to know their extended family members or ancestors better.

You can make your own puzzle or there are many online sources for making custom puzzles from your photos. Of those I looked at PortraitPuzzles.com seems the most compatible to this idea because they have puzzles options with only a few pieces. One way to adapt the idea would be to write numbers on the back of the puzzle pieces and write the stories on a piece of paper with the corresponding number.

Portrait Puzzles

Photo Puzzles

Custom Puzzles

50 gift ideas challenge

Posted on November 20, 2012 by tellingfamilytales

I’ve decided to challenge myself to come up with 50 gift ideas that will help you to tell your family tales by Christmas. I’ve done some brainstorming and I think I can do it but it isn’t going to be easy. 50 is just such a nice number, especially in this my 50th year. So stay tuned over the next five weeks and see if any of my ideas give you some inspiration for gifts for your family and friends. I’ll post my first idea soon!

Do Your Own Generations Project

Posted on April 18, 2012 by tellingfamilytales

Last week I talked about the BYUtv series called The Generations Project. Now I want to go into a little more depth in how to “Do your own Generations Project”. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, take time to watch it. It is worth your time.

Step One – Finding Your Why:

Think about what your biggest challenge is and what you would like to change in your life. Be willing to let this be a process. Your “why” might change as you journey through your generations project. Here are the questions that The Generations Projects asks those who want to appear on The Generations Project

What do you spend a lot of time thinking about?
What do you hope will happen to you in the next year or two?
Tell us a story about a life changing experience.
What is the biggest challenge you’re facing in your life now?

Step Two – Populate Your Tree:

Start close to home by checking with family members first to find information for your pedigree chart. The go to vital records to fill in the holes. This is the part where genealogist are experts. Think of it as a treasure hunt to find your ancestors.

Step Three – Mix It With History:

In this step you find the stories about your family member and then find out about the social history of the time. By doing this you really flesh out who that person was, they become real. One of the fun ways to mix it with history is to find a reenactment place. One that we went to several years ago was Plimoth Plantation. It is a working pilgrim village. For my generations project we are going to Martin’s Cove in Wyoming and doing a short handcart experience.

Step Four – Walk In Their Shoes:

Now you find a way to connect with your ancestor by doing something they did. It could be as extravagant as going to another country where they lived or as simple as eating the kinds of food that they ate. This step is about connecting with your family member.

Step Five – Share It & Watch It Ripple:

Last of all you want to share your experience with others. This often starts with writing down what happened to you on your generations project. Then it could be just sitting down and telling your family about what you learned and how you felt. It could be making a book, or painting a picture or writing a song. This is a very personal step and there is no wrong way to share your experience. After you share, you get to see how sharing your experience changes other people’s lives too.

My main purpose in doing this blog is to gather ways to share things like generations projects. I’m just getting started on this new focus for my blog so I’m still working through how to make this happen. If you have ways that you have shared a generations project I’d love to hear about it.

My Current Projects: goals and progress

Posted on April 16, 2012 by tellingfamilytales

So it is Monday, the day to report my progress last week and my goals for the coming week.

In the Navy – Key West Chapter: project about my dad’s 20 years in the U.S. Navy. The priority is the chapter on Key West so he can pass it on to the Under Water Swimmer School website to include in their history page.

Due Date: asap

Listen to audio tape & transcribe
Gather photos and documents

I still didn’t get anything done on this last week, but I did think about getting to it, if that counts for anything.

Journal for Martin’s Cove Reunion: a half sheet size journal to help make the trek experience at Martin’s Cove more meaningful. Have time line of handcart company with info about Mary Taylor and her family along with space for journaling and possible adding photos or sketches.

Due Date: July 2012

Template and master pages – done
Time Line – done
Quotes from Journals etc. – done
Decide on Binding – in process
Logo for Reunion

I made great progress on this last week. It needs checking over for mistakes and I’m still contemplating the binding. I’m really happy with how it came together. I’ll post on the details tomorrow. I haven’t done a logo for the Reunion and now I’m not sure if it is necessary. Maybe I’ll put that to the back burner and revisit it in a month or two.

Mary: a small (7×7) book about Mary Taylor’s childhood and her journey to the Salt Lake Valley with the Martin Handcart Company for children under 12 to learn about their pioneer ancestor.

Due Date: flexible – would love to have at least a draft for July Reunion

Decide on number of pages – done
Flesh out outline – done

I’m really happy with what I got done on this too. After doing the timeline for the Martin’s Cove Journal I had a clearer idea of what should happen in this book. I took the outline that Eric did and consolidated a few things to one illustration and added a few thing. I sent a list to Kim of the illustrations we need and the basics of what the text will cover for each illustration. It a 40 page book, which is a very cost-effective number for Blurb where we plan to have it printed.

Goals for this week:

So this week I’m going to dig into the Key West project and give it my focus.

Start transcribing “Key West”
Give “Martin’s Cove Journal” to my mom to proof read
Explore more binding options for “Martin’s Cove Journal”
Check with Kim on “Mary”

I really liked having this post to check back on during the week to help me be more focused in what I’m doing. I have a tendency to get sidetracked on projects other than what I should work on. How do you keep yourself focused on a particular task? Or do you just go with the flow? What works for you?