No matter what your favorite hobby happens to be, there will be times when you will be completely and entirely bored with it. Genealogists are no exception to this rule. Do you need some inspiration that will put the spark back into your genealogy research? It might be time for you to try something new and different.
Do you enjoy writing? This might be a good time to start your very own genealogy blog. Those who do not consider themselves to be especially technologically savvy can start a quick blog on livejournal or tumbler or a variety of other places that will let a person blog for free. If you are using MySpace, then you could start a simple blog on your MySpace page. Others may want to set up a WordPress blog, which will give you more options in terms of design, and the ability to add things like links, photos, video and audio into your blog.
Once you have your blog started, you are going to need some genealogy related topics to write about. For that, I would suggest checking out Geneabloggers. They frequently do a genealogy blog round-up of sorts where they link to several other genealogy related blogs that have posted something about a specific theme. They have selected more than one topic for each day of the week.
Here are a few interesting ones that you can get started with: “Madness Monday” means you write about an ancestor who suffered from a mental illness. “Tombstone Tuesday” features a blog post that shows the image of a gravestone of one or more of your ancestors. “Sentimental Sunday” gives you a good excuse to blog about a family story that focuses on one particular ancestor.
Another idea is to take the research that you have already collected, and turn it into a form of visual art. Make a genealogy related coloring book for your children or grandchildren to enjoy. Take those old family photos that are sitting in a box and make them into a video using iMovie, or another piece of movie making software. Design a family tree that is truly a work of art.
Some genealogists enjoy putting old photos of ancestors into nice frames, and then filling one wall of their home with those photos. Choose frames that go together visually, in order to get the best effect. You could put together a grouping of frames that are all made out of the same shade of wood. Or, choose one color, and link together the collection that way. Not only will this bring a nice, personalized, touch of design to your home, it also is a great way to have other family members view the photos.
Does your family have recipes that have been handed down from one generation to the next? Now is the time to try them out. Invite your family over to taste test grandma’s favorite recipes. Take some photos of the food, or a video of the food being prepared. This could turn out to be something fun for you to put into your brand new genealogy blog.
Image by robot-girl on Flickr