Just as not all writers are genealogists, not all genealogists are writers. What, then, is a genealogist to do if he or she is not a writer yet wishes to write his or her family history? The first thing that you can do is to dismiss the idea that since you are not much of a “writer”, you cannot write your family history. That is simply not true. In fact, who better to write the family history than you? You are uniquely qualified in that you have done all the research and you know the information inside and out.
Once you have decided that you, yes, you are going to write your family history, the next step is to decide which ancestors you will write about. Do you want to trace a single line of ancestry back a few generations, or would you prefer to include just a little information about each person on your entire pedigree chart. Are there a few fascinating ancestors that you have a ton of information about? Perhaps you would like to write a biography about each of them, if you are feeling ambitious.
Next, use your research to make an outline for the book. Making an outline before you are writing will not only help you keep your writing organized and flowing logically, it can serve as a table of contents for the book. An outline also helps to break the larger task of writing a book into smaller, bite-size pieces that are a lot easier to tackle. Once you have your outline, begin writing. Keep in mind that it does not have to be perfect. You can edit it as many times as you wish later. The important thing is to begin. If you can do just those few things, you will be well on your way to writing your family history.