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Archiver > APG > 2008-02 > 1203634220


From: "Janis Gilmore" <>
Subject: Re: [APG] writing family history (was FTM and natural)
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:50:20 -0500
References: <007701c874ab$3fa581a0$bef084e0$@net> <2008221154125.815388@Terry3>
In-Reply-To: <2008221154125.815388@Terry3>


Terry,

The website as an advantage of good "technical writing" (for lack of a
better term) resonates with me, in a way that producing a book doesn't. And
you are just the one to be able to do it. I just looked at the sites that
you referenced earlier, and they are most impressive.

(I have been out of town and deleted a big stream of messages during that
busy time. Sorry for being behind the curve on previous discussion.

Janis

-----Original Message-----
From: [mailto:] On Behalf
Of Terry Reigel
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 3:41 PM
To: APG-L
Subject: Re: [APG] writing family history (was FTM and natural)

On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:00:21 -0500, Janis Gilmore wrote:

> I use both TMG and Legacy. I write my own narratives in
> Word, however, and use the genealogy software for keeping
> scrupulous track of the data and sources. Could this be a
> philosophical split between the writer/literary/research
> mindset and the scientific/technical/research mindset?
>
> I am devoted to my genealogy software, but I can't think
> why I would want to write narratives in it. What is the
> advantage?

The advantage, which has been mentioned previously in the flood of messages
on this topic, is that the edits are saved with the data, and can be easily
recovered when a narrative is produced with different constellation of
people. Or when a website is updated to include new data. The "Uncle Ralph"
narrative I offered as an example has appeared in several little mini-books
I've created for relatives in various branches of the family, for example.
That's great when you are in the "work in progress" stage and want to create
credible offerings for family or fellow researchers along the way.

While I believe it is quite possible to create a very professional report
for a client or for formal publication in a genealogy program, save for
final page layout and formatting, I don't know that I would recommend doing
so. As others have pointed out, there is some overhead in using this method,
and if there is no offsetting advantage for you, why deal with that?

In my view it's not so much philosophical mindset as where you are in the
research process and what your objectives are. My whole point in this
discussion is that it is indeed possible to do good writing in your
genealogy program (note that I didn't suggest it would do it for you <g>)
and doing so is a valid choice if your circumstances are such that it's an
advantage to do so.

Terry Reigel






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