It’s less than a week in, but I’m really enjoying this month’s 30 x 30 challenge. My goal is to get through as much of my backlog as I can. On April 1, I had 112 files in my backlog waiting to be processed, but many of them are newspaper articles, which come in pairs (a jpg with the whole page and a pdf of the clip). At minimum, therefore, I have 56 source documents to process. In reality, it’s more than that.
I’ve tried this in the past and failed. I would end up allowing myself to do further research if questions came up during the backlog busting. That would slow down the elimination of the backlog, for obvious reasons. But this month, I’m trying very hard not to do any research; I have a laser focus on processing files. (By that, I mean I’m analyzing each document, creating a source citation and attaching it to all the facts I glean from a document.)
I created a note in my Evernote research log called, “Follow ups from April 30 x 30 backlog busting.” And when I come across further research I need to do, I note it there. That’s a picture of it above. Like the rest of my research log, my follow-up notes are very casual.
My intention is to turn my focus to this follow-up note when this month’s 30 x 30 is over. I’ve set a reminder in Evernote to look at that note on May 1. (I felt like a genius when I thought of the reminder!)
In six days, I’ve processed 25 documents. If I can keep this pace up I should be able to get rid of my backlog by the end of the month. I’m feeling really productive and I’m really enjoying myself. I think the key, right now, is my determination to not add new documents. Of course, if I don’t succeed, I’ll cut myself a ton of slack because I know that any progress I make is good.
I hope your 30 x 30 is going just as well!
Janine,
Why do you keep a jpg pf the entire newspaper page as well as the clipped pdf that gives source? I only keep the clip – am I missing out on valuable info by not keeping a copy of the page?
Kay, my thought is that I might like to see the context of what was going on at the time (on that page of the paper). It seems like I might be missing a valuable opportunity to get to know my ancestors better. In reality, though, I hardly ever look at the full page when I’m going back. I think I have a fear I would regret not having it and it’s easy for me to capture.
Sometimes you need the whole page to capture the date and name of the paper, too.
That’s a good point, Connie, though with newspaper.com articles saved as pdfs they provide that information on the pdf.
Hi Janine,
Congratulations. Staying on task is difficult with so many BSO. Your post expresses the determination, fulfillment, and joy your 30×30 delivered thus far. Follow-up notes with a time horizon for addressing them is an excellent solution. This gives me ideas for my May and June project, culminating in a successful transition to my maternal lineage beginning in June.
So glad you found this post helpful, Cheri! I love that you have your projects all planned out!
I am also staying focused for the thirty minutes. I am not going down the rabbit holes because I am allowing myself to do that after the first thirty minutes. Knowing I have a time limit makes a difference for me.
Mary, that’s a great strategy!! I love it. When I have more than 30 minutes at a time to research, I might try it. (After this month, where I’m trying to keep the laser focus.) Thanks for sharing.
I need to try this…I have so many documents I haven’t processed. It just doesn’t make for interesting posts on my blog *sigh*… But I really need to do it! Thanks for the inspiration.
Actually, Teresa, I find all sorts of interesting things in the unprocessed documents. So there may be interesting posts in there!
True – but then I’m off down the rabbit hole 😉 Seriously, though, you have inspired me to try again.