Lilian's Tree

I write, I suppose everyone does to some extent. Shopping lists, notes, essays, letters, reports, on birthday and Christmas cards, blogs and books, all manner of writing but does that make me a writer?   Yes, No, Maybe? My trusty little Collins Australian Gem English Dictionary, give the meaning of the word writer as thus; Writer, n, one who writes; author.    So according to that I am a writer and thus I am. I ask this question because in the past few week I have read or listened to other authors explain their writing process, their struggles with getting it right, how they research, for their book(s) and how they feel as a author. I found myself nodding, in agreement with them or saying 'I do that...' Now I'm not saying I'm the next Nora Roberts or Mary Higgins Clark but in my little corner of the world, I'm Lilian Magill, Published Author! I have published  this, and this, Both of these will never be best sellers but copies of both have b...

Write a book, it will be easy, just write what you know, won't take you long! Yeah, Right!!!! While I know I'm making progress, it is the fact checking, making sure that dates, places and names are correct. Writing and asking about xyz, permission to use abc and drawing up family trees, just so you know that the right kids are with the right parents, is taking up time! I'm trying to hand write at least one person a day. I then do the checking and then try and get it onto the computer. I'm not being precious about spelling and grammar, until I've done all the writing, then I correct what needs to be corrected. And I check my facts again! I'm also in a bit of a quandary, how many generations do I write about? Here are some statistics to make you see the problem. (no names)   A & B marry and have 10 children, seven grow up and marry. Of the living; child 1 - 13 children, all live, all marry all have children. child 2 - 7 children, 4 live, marry and ...

I put some really good time into actually writing this family story, yesterday. I made several false starts, had lots of crossed out bits and arrows going from one spot to another but I made progress. I worked out a timeline, of what happened when, both for them and the Colony, sad to say that nothing really important happened in the years I'm writing about.  Wrote two chapters and then hit the computer to write appendices, for bits that need to be mentioned but not in the main part. Today I've spent 2 hours, checking where I found maps and photos, then writing to the relevant people asking for either a better copy and/or permission to use what I have. This led me to being side-tracked! I found a map of the area my family lived, dated 1886. Using the addresses I have, I have poured over it locating streets, churches and the like. Really fascinating and useful. It is interesting to see how near they lived to each other and you can only guess at the closeness the families mi...

                                       Stuck on what to write? Not sure where to begin? These two blogs, below are from FamilySearch and have some good ideas for getting started. (I hope the link works, if not cut and paste into your address bar.)  FamilySearch blogs are interesting and cover all different topics, well worth a look. https://familysearch.org/blog Define your dash is aimed at getting you to write YOUR personal story. We concentrate on the past and often forget to write our story. This blog aims to get you started and leads onto the next one;   52 Stories Weekly Questions . Aimed at giving you starting points for writing, this blog is divided into 12 sections, each with a set of questions. Headings cover such things as Goals & Achievements to Holida...

Writing is something that I'm going to send time doing, this year. I had some good advice about writing and the amount of words, to write. A good friend suggested that I set a word target for the month. This can include, my blog, family history writing, assignments, anything and then I won't become overwhelmed.   Will see how I go. Found these two books, in Dymocks, Little Collins Street, Melbourne, when shopping with the granddaughters. The grammar and punctuation one is self explanatory and will be useful. Writing the story of your life, is a practical book. Divided into four parts;   Where have you been all this time?; The practical matters of writing.; You, the night, the music.; What happens when you write? Each part is then divided into chapters, which have sub-sections like  discipline.  They contain exercises to work through and I should become more proficient with my writing. Looking at the different s...