Writing as Volunteer Work
By Shannon Combs Bennett, Student Like many genealogists, I have a service heart. I like giving back to the community and helping others in any way that I can. Which is why I think that Module 4 of the course Writing for Genealogy: Articles, Blogs, Research Reports and so much more was a very important one. This module covered how to write for societies and ways writing can give back to the genealogy community. Let’s face it, sometimes it is easier to write if you are volunteering than if you are trying to actually work for yourself. Like me, you may be involved with a genealogy society. If not now maybe you will be in the future. After a while of being a “regular” at meetings you might find that some of the members want you to take on responsibilities. Trust me, it happens. That is why I loved that the course author, Jennifer Holik discussed ways to write for societies. She covered president’s reports and secretary responsibilities, but I had hoped she would write even more about newsletters. The secretary section covered a lot of the items a newsletter should have, but I think that working on a newsletter is one way people can really get their writing feet wet. It is much less intimidating to write for a local newsletter than to try your hand at a large publication. Trust me! Of course we couldn’t have a post about volunteer writing and not cover indexing projects. They are…