A Family Project

If you follow my blog, then you can obviously see it’s been 5 months to the day since I have written any entries. I was a little surprised it had been that long. I would love to say it’s because I have been feverishly writing day and night all this time, but the truth is, I have made a lot of notes, and even started a third novel, but none of the three stories are anywhere near completion.

But, I have been busy with a project. Back on September 1, I told you I was working on a project that won’t be for publication, but I couldn’t divulge the details. I also said I more than likely would have it done in a few months and would share it with you then. My goal was to complete it by the Christmas holiday. After five books and this mystery project, I should know by now it never takes me a few months to get to that finish line.  

I am happy to say I can now share my latest project with you. My three novels are based on my family, going back several generations. It was thrilling for me to learn so much about both sides of my family through writing these books. I decided I didn’t want to stop there. So I embarked on a different kind of writing journey, documenting more of my history through pictures and creating a family tree from ancestry.com.  Below are some pictures of that finished product.

  This is a notebook I found online, a simple 3-ring binder, 2 inches wide, and personalized with the family name. I panicked a little when I got it because I was convinced I would never be able to fill it. I not only filled it, there was no room to include the printed out family tree, so I had to place that in the pocket in the front, which thankfully fit nicely.

I had pictures going back to late 1800s and early 1900s, some from my parents and some I found on ancestry.com.  I also included grave markers and where the cemeteries are located in case any future generations might want to do some exploring. I plan to explore more on that myself when I next go back to my home town. I was lucky enough to have some handwritten family history notes from aunts and uncles and a lengthy email from an aunt who wrote about my grandparents.

I didn’t stop there. I included pictures of the homes we lived in, family items, such as a cookie jar belonging to my grandmother (it’s in the picture below) , the inside of the downtown department store where my grandfather worked as a carpenter for over 30 years.     I found draft cards for my grandfather and his brothers from WWI and WWII. It was truly amazing the amount of information I found I was able to include.  

I wish I could share the entire project with you, but one thing I can share is how important I feel it is to document your family history if you can. It certainly doesn’t have to be as elaborate as what I have done.  If you go for it, you might be surprised at where it takes you. I originally was going to write one book about my mom. She had a secret she took with her to her grave, something we found out about a few years after she died. It triggered something in me, wanting to know so much more about her and the life she lived, the choices she made. I had no plans to go any further than that one book.  But that one book led me to write about her parents, and then I tackled my life, because it took twists and turns I never expected. All of that resulted in this final project.

I don’t even know for certain if this project is complete. I may write another novel or fill another notebook with more pictures and history. Just like my life did not turn out as I had planned, neither has my writing journey. I may never publish another book or maybe some years from now, I will be able to say I have a dozen books published!

If I have learned anything from this writing process, it’s that there is no right or wrong way to get to that “the end” of your project.  And sometimes, “the end” is just the beginning.