Genealogy is my primary hobby right now, and my husband fusses at how much time I spend on it, when I could be cleaning the house. Of course, cleaning my house has never been a priority, even when I wasn't doing genealogy. I have the same problem with organizing my research. It is much easier to see what's new on-line or take another trip to the library, rather than organize my files enough to see if I've made any real progress. In addition, I tend to bounce from one line to the next, and have to re-acquaint myself with what I've already done each time. I believe that the secret that allows authors to complete books, is that writing is how they support themselves, and therefore has higher priority than a hobby. If you make writing a priority and set aside a specific time slot each week to work on your book, you will have better luck. However, you must be able to enforce your commitment and say, "I have a prior commitment." to anything other than a *real* emergency that threatens to take you from your task. It is very easy to put something off, if you don't have an "appointment" to keep, and rely on getting it done when you have the time. It is also very important to solicit understanding and cooperation from your family in respecting your commitment. Tolkien took twenty years or more to do his writing, because he was a professor and his collegiate duties had priority. However, he did finish the Hobbit and the Trilogy of the Ring, eventually. Sally Colleen & All, It's nice to know I have lots of company not able to complete thier family histories. I started writing several years back and thought this project would be easy. Ha! Life has a way of constantly getting in the way. It seems easier to squeeze in a little more research, but then the writing and incorporating it is another story. Seems like every time I get going on it again, something pops it's ugly head up and the family history has to take a back burner. By the time I get back to it, I've forgotten where I left off! I'd like to know the secret that allows authors to complete books. Maybe we all need to find a little hideaway where we can focus completely on our books; might help to add in someone to cook, clean, run errands, and take care of life's other crises. If anyone has any suggestions that have worked for them, I'd like to hear them. --------------------------------

Hi Sally and others, I had to reply and ask: How do you NOT bounce from one line to another? I want to get my parents lines done. I would also like to see my husbands lines done (especially since there are no one apparently interested it doing their lines anyway). I find my lines more interesting, but I have hit major brick walls with them. Plus I find that if I got somewhere to look up, say Civil War information, I seem to come across a name of an different line I am working on and then I find myself following that route. I have the unfortunate situation where the grandparents and great-grandparents who I can get information from are getting older, so I worry that I will run out of time if I don't try to work on them all at once. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Lisa ----- Original Message ----- From: <ssaucer@juno.com> To: <BOWER-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2001 3:43 PM Subject: [BOWER] Finishing books > Genealogy is my primary hobby right now, and my husband fusses at how > much time I spend on it, when I could be cleaning the house. Of course, > cleaning my house has never been a priority, even when I wasn't doing > genealogy. > > I have the same problem with organizing my research. It is much easier to > see what's new on-line or take another trip to the library, rather than > organize my files enough to see if I've made any real progress. In > addition, I tend to bounce from one line to the next, and have to > re-acquaint myself with what I've already done each time. > > I believe that the secret that allows authors to complete books, is that > writing is how they support themselves, and therefore has higher priority > than a hobby. If you make writing a priority and set aside a specific > time slot each week to work on your book, you will have better luck. > However, you must be able to enforce your commitment and say, "I have a > prior commitment." to anything other than a *real* emergency that > threatens to take you from your task. It is very easy to put something > off, if you don't have an "appointment" to keep, and rely on getting it > done when you have the time. It is also very important to solicit > understanding and cooperation from your family in respecting your > commitment. > > Tolkien took twenty years or more to do his writing, because he was a > professor and his collegiate duties had priority. However, he did finish > the Hobbit and the Trilogy of the Ring, eventually. > > Sally > > Colleen & All, > It's nice to know I have lots of company not able to complete thier > family histories. I started writing several years back and thought this > project would be easy. Ha! Life has a way of constantly getting in the > way. It seems easier to squeeze in a little more research, but then the > writing and incorporating it is another story. Seems like every time I > get going on it again, something pops it's ugly head up and the family > history has to take a back burner. By the time I get back to it, I've > forgotten where I left off! I'd like to know the secret that allows > authors to complete books. Maybe we all need to find a little hideaway > where we can focus completely on our books; might help to add in someone > to cook, clean, run errands, and take care of life's other crises. If > anyone has any suggestions that have worked for them, I'd like to hear > them. > > -------------------------------- > > > ==== BOWER Mailing List ==== > To post messages to the Bower discussion list, send them to > BOWER-L@rootsweb.com >