Comments on: Your Dead Ancestors Can Help You Write That book

By: historewriter

historewriter — Sun, 06 Aug 2017 22:06:27 +0000

Finding the Mayflower ancestors was only the first step; learning nearly half my ancestors came over from Europe in colonial times shook things up. Although I grew up an Anglophile I identified Swedish from the 1/4 of the family I was closest. I've visited cousins there a couple times and will again. But now it turns out I really am predominantly English; go figure. Then there was the out-of-left-field revelation: my dad always said his mom (whom I never knew) was more German because in her time, once she left Copper Country in the Keweenaw where her immigrant dad was a miner, that was even better than admitting her parents were from Slovenia and Croatia. 1/4 Balkan? I didn't know till I was nearly fifty! But I worked my online magic and located my cousin still living on the family farm of three centuries in Slovenia where my colorful great-grandpa grew up. I'll visit there someday, too. And though everyone and their brother has a "going home" story written, I can aspire to write someday something as genuinely GOOD as Jennifer Wilson's Running Away to Home.

By: macjam47

macjam47 — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 18:13:48 +0000

There's so much I'd like to know about my ancestors and with no one left to ask, I've resorted to Ancestry.com, but there are still many unanswered questions. I'll check out your links. Thanks.

By: Robert Kirkendall

Robert Kirkendall — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 02:42:52 +0000

I do think about my ancestors and I wonder what kind of influence they have on my writing. My ancestry has multiple origins so that's multiple sources to draw from.

By: sallyjadlow

sallyjadlow — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 17:17:37 +0000

In reply to Mary K Tilghman Writes. Those long-gone people are just itching for someone to discover and write them. You go, girl!

By: sallyjadlow

sallyjadlow — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 17:13:51 +0000

In reply to Mary K Tilghman Writes. Hooray! I think these writings will someday bless our future generations. It took over 110 years for g. grandfather's to fall into fertile hands, but I'm so thankful it did!

By: Mary K Tilghman Writes

Mary K Tilghman Writes — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 17:09:10 +0000

In reply to ellajoyolsen. I'm so glad your great-grandfather left you such a wonderful resource, @sallyjadlow. My mother wrote a one-line-a-day diary, too. I only recently discovered it. She wrote simply but thoroughly, marking births, deaths, cataclysms such as 9/11 and small things such as visits from friends. Inspired, I started my own.

By: Mary K Tilghman Writes

Mary K Tilghman Writes — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 17:05:13 +0000

A photo of my great great grandmother, an Irish immigrant, got me interested in writing novels. Though I know very little about her, I imagined her life and she became the model for a character in my first novel, Divided Loyalties (which releases next Thursday). Family history (on the other side of the family tree) has inspired my second book, now in final revision, and an ancient ancestor will be the focus of my third book, now only in outline. My family has a long and varied history in Maryland and so it seems I keep running into long gone relatives who spark the need to write their story, even if it is all straight from my imagination.

By: Debbie Herbert

Debbie Herbert — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 03:32:23 +0000

My paternal grandfather was a notorious bootlegger from South Carolina and various members of my family had run ins with the law. I find them fascinating! Thanks for the great resources.

I have to admit I didn't catch the symbolism of the family tree in your book title but that's okay. I think our subconscious mind recognizes them and it touches us on some level.

By: Your Dead Ancestors Can Help You Write That book | Author Don Massenzio

Your Dead Ancestors Can Help You Write That book | Author Don Massenzio — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 12:46:07 +0000

[…] Read the rest of this post HERE. […]

By: Laura Drake

Laura Drake — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 10:27:30 +0000

In reply to patriciaminch. Patricia - I love her, too. Wow, lots of guts in your family!