It’s June 18 already! Where did the month go? Back on June 1, I started a new 30 x 30 challenge, where I commited to doing 30 minutes of genealogy research (or research-related activities) for 30 days. I great group of you decided to join the challenge.
So it’s time for a mid-month report. How’s it going? Please let us know in the comments.
I have to be honest and say it’s not going how I expected. My priority has been planning my research trip to Kentucky and I’m confident I’ve put in 9 hours (18 days x 30 minutes) this month, but it hasn’t been 30 minutes at a time. I’ve had longer sessions and have not been able to put in daily effort. (It’s been a busy time for my organizing business, so I just haven’t had that much freedom in my schedule this month.)
Planning this trip has been a journey. (No pun intended.) I leave on the 24th and I’m finished with the planning. (I did score what looks like a great AirBnB in Frankfort, just a two-minute walk from the Kentucky Historical Society!) I can’t wait to see how the trip works out and you can bet I’ll be talking about it here. I intend to write an Orderly Roots guide about planning a trip as well. And I proposed to speak on planning a research trip at RootsTech in February. (Time will tell whether that’s accepted.)
So I haven’t met my intended goal with this month’s 30 x 30 but I’m feeling okay about the time spent. How’s the challenge going for you?
I’m one week into my 2 week family history trip. Lots of photos and images in Evernote. Keeping a travel journal but too tired at night to sort my findings. It’s good and I’ll need another 30×30 to organize it all!
Absolutely, setting aside time after you return home to analyze and organize your findings will be important. Glad your trip is going well!
It feels great to get back to the 30 x 30 challenge. We are on vacation in Morro Bay this week. I took some census records with me so I could transcribe the census records and meet my 30 minutes a day. On the way up, we stopped by Fort Tejon Historical Site, Kern County, CA and spent a few hours there. My grgrfather had made an entry that he was at the fort in 1854. It was fun being there.
That’s so great, Jerry! I love that you integrated genealogy into your vacation.
I”ve been working on updating my FTM Do-Over file. So far It has been slow going. But I feel like it is making a dent. Lots more transcribing with older ancestors, only actually updated 3 of the 4 in this generation, but considering I am including all the descendant information I have as well, I think I’m doing ok… Graduation on Monday, movie yesterday, so I have some “make up” time to get in! LOL
Sounds like you’re doing great, Melissa!
I have fallen woefully behind. I was ahead for the first few days, but then Newspapers.com offered a free weekend of access and the newspaper I have been waiting for forever has finally been digitized and I mined over 100 items. Then I got sick Ugh! I will be getting back on track todya. 🙂
Linda, I’m sorry you got sick! I hope you’re feeling better. And it sounds like you spent a lot of good time doing newspaper research (and that you have a nice organizing project ahead of you).
I have fallen really behind. I haven’t been researching every day but I’ve managed to get the equivalent of 11 days done. However, at the beginning of this challenge, I completely forgot that I was house-sitting for two weeks at the end of this month and therefore would not be bringing my genealogy files with me. So I could still try to get a few 30-minute segments in but we’ll see how far I can get with what I (don’t) have right now.
Be gentle with yourself, Rebecca, and know that there will always be another 30 x 30 challenge coming!