I have been working hard on my genealogy resolution, to organize, evaluate, enter, and file all the information that I have gathered and piled up over the past year or so. On August 12 the pile looked like this:
Today, it looks like this:
However, everything I have entered is still waiting to be filed, it is organized by letter here:
Because I am so easily side tracked I find it better to break tasks down; in my breakdown, filing is separate from data entry. The good news is, the pile of unentered printed data is shrinking.
The bad news is that I have a subfolder in my genealogy data on my computer marked newpics. That little folder has 34 subfolders of digital photos and files I have taken or downloaded. Each folder is stuffed with genealogical information to enter into and attach to my database. Hidden in a drawer, I have several legal pads with hen scratching that amount to the references and sources for all those files. That job won’t be too pretty, but it won’t yield a lot of paper to file.
Oh, yes: in the process of entering the data I found things I had found, celebrated over, and then promptly put in the pile and forgotten. I guess that little revelation won’t be news to anyone doing a lot of genealogical research. The thing is, getting all this stuff entered and organized now will prevent me from looking it all up again. And again. And again.
So, back to the salt mines.
4 comments
Skip to comment form
Wow, I’m impressed!
Ya know what I find the hardest? Entering data from that stuff on the computer. I hate switching back and forth between windows, even with a screen wide enough to have them open side by side. For some reason, I just don’t enjoy that as much as transcribing from paper. To say nothing of the sourcing. The source templates in Legacy are great, but you still have to find the right bits and pieces to fill them in. [sigh]
.-= TK´s last blog ..Cousins in High Places, or Don’t Be Messin’ with My Great-Great-Grandma. =-.
Author
Well, TK, I know the feeling. That is why I have sometimes gotten discouraged and just stopped… But this time, I know that I have to keep on. As I get a little older, I know I don’t have time to spend looking for more information that might not even be relevant. It would be better to understand what I do have. I’m frustrated because I spent a year going through my sources, and entering them in a consistent way I made up in my head, right before Evidence Explained was released. Now I wonder if I should re-do them all again. I’m using the current recommendations for what I’m entering now, but the thought of going through all the sources to update them give me a headache that will last the rest of my life.
Great post! I completely understand what you are going through. I am trying to get everything organized as well and I have been following DearMyrtle’s organization checklists (along with adding my own tasks) in an attempt to make this happen. I hope to have everything done by the end of the year, but it might take me longer since I can’t seem to stop researching!
.-= Elyse Doerflinger´s last blog ..Madness Monday – James L. Clawson Jr. =-.
This post was VERY inspiring! I know I am not the only one who has ever switched over to a new computer in my lifetime and I have the same issues now because of it – backlog of paper and digital info to enter and file!
I also do this in CHUNKS because it FEELS better when you can see results. Instant gratification! Also, I have created my own SYSTEM which works for me.
Everybody knows that RESEARCHING is more fun that ENTERING & FILING, which is why I think people accumulate faster than they can keep up!
I’ve also started a person genealogy blog on my family at http://keeperoftherecords.blogspot.com. Yet another data entry chore!