Follow Friday: Around the Blogosphere - January 28

Here are my picks for the best of the genealogy blogs from the past week.

The 52 Weeks Project

First of all, I am in love with the 2011 blog writing prompts sponsored by Geneabloggers and created by Amy Coffin of We Tree Genealogy. This year's theme is 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History. Not only have I enjoyed reading the contributions and reminiscences of other genealogy bloggers, I have been wrapped up in the challenge to compose my own posts on the weekly topic. This project has resulted in me expanding my blog reading to several blogs that focus on writing personal histories. It never really occurred to me that there is need/market among non-celebrities to use a professional writer to help them compose their own written history. What I am learning from those blogs has opened up all new vistas about how to use that process to aid in writing the personal stories of my ancestors. The prompts provided by Amy have allowed all of us to reach back into our past and pull out those memories from an earlier time or place. You can follow everyone's posts in the 52 Weeks project by subscribing to this RSS feed.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I enjoy some of the reality shows on the History channel (Pawn Stars, American Pickers), so I was glad to see Julie Cahill Tarr's comments about how we really can learn from this type of programming. She discusses this on the GenBlog.

Not sure what to put in your tool kit for your genealogy research trip? Check out what Joan Miller has to say on Luxegen Genealogy.

Lynn Palermo of The Armchair Genealogist offers a challenge: Write Your Family History in 28 Days!

Bloggers who have not read Amy Coffin's article AND the comments about using the Comments feature on your blog - well, this is a Must Read. Many experienced bloggers learned some tricks and experienced an Ah-Ha moment. Thanks, Amy!

Deb Ruth posted some wonderful photographs of a Civil War era Bible on Adventures in Genealogy.

Ben Barden is the author of my new favorite non-genealogy blog. He provides great tips for bloggers. This week I liked How Do You Know if a Post is Going to Be Good Before You Publish It? I encourage my fellow genealogy bloggers to subscribe to his blog feed.

Here is Wayne Groner's review of Linda Spence's book, Legacy - A Step By Step Guide to Writing Personal History. It lists some great questions to use in interviews. He also writes about Genealogy in Memoirs Can Be Tricky.

Speaking of great interview questions, check out the Top 50 life story questions recommended by Dan Curtis' blog.

I liked Greta Koehl's take on Genealogy Monopoly - how do you effectively build your genealogy real estate with subscription sites and free web sites.

Ruby Coleman never misses with her posts about Nebraska on Nebraska Roots and Ramblings. This week she wrote Learning About Nebraska.

My friend and fellow blogger, Barbara Poole, wrote about the synchronicity of events that led her to find a reference to one of HER relatives in a blog post written by me. Barbara writes Life From the Roots. Now we are checking our family trees to see if we are connected via the Bellinger family in New York.

Being a journalist, it should come as no surprise that old newspapers are one of my favorite sources of information for family history and I subscribe to both Genealogybank and Newspaper Archive. Lynn Wayson Koehler reminds us of the free sites that provide newspaper indexes and images. Check out her recommendations on Genealogy, Etc.

Linda McAuley of Documenting the Details discovered 614 potential new relatives via the Relative Finder results of her DNA test at 23andMe.

A summary of M. Bridget Cook's presentation on writing a biography was provided on Jirene's Genealogy Tips.

Family History Expos

This week marked the roll-out of the newly designed web site of Family History Expos. I love the new site and the way the information is presented. Congratulations to Holly Hansen and her staff for kicking it up a notch!

Other recommended reading

Other bloggers also offer their recommendations and weekly highlights. Check their recommended reading lists:

Randy Seaver's Best of the Geneablogs on Geneamusings.

Greta's Follow Friday on Greta's Genealogy Blog.

Elizabeth O'Neal's Best Bytes on Little Bytes of Life.