Society Saturday - Writing & Publishing Ideas

Are you trying to decide how to write your family history?  What format?  What to include?  How many generations?  Descendant or Ancestor based?  A personal story?  A cookbook?  A location book?

The number of ways to write about your family are endless.  There are so many varieties of books.  So, how do you decide?

This morning the Family History Society of Arizona (FHSA) held a mini-workshop about writing your family history.  Three published writers, members of FHSA, attended.  Also, books by 3 other FHSA members were available for review.  In addition, a variety of other types of books about family stories were available for the attendees. 

In the 2+ hours of this informal session, each author talked about her efforts and works.  The attendees were able to ask questions.  There was a lot of interest in the numerous ways to present research.  Also included were discussions about photos, color printing or black and white, types of fonts, number of pages, types of paper and covers, and ways to bind the books.  Some authors charged for copies; some gave the books as gifts.  Some writers gave copies of their works to libraries.  Options regarding printing were also discussed including self-printing, printing at local office-supply store, or paying a printer. 

I know that this session has inspired me to start writing on some projects and to continue writing on others.  I may actually get some books published next year. 

If any of you are interested in providing this type of session for your friends and/or society members, and have questions, please contact me.  I'd like to see more activities like this;  I believe we would all benefit.