google-site-verification: google65e716d80989ba07.html Guess Who’s Coming to the Party? | The Armchair Genealogist

Guess Who’s Coming to the Party?

What party you say?

No not Rootstech!

The other party, The Family History Writing Challenge.

The month long event where family history writers will get busy writing their stories.

So far the month is shaping up to be quite the event. We are over 60 strong presently, with membership coming in every day. We’ve got The Family History Writing Challenge website established where all the posts will be published once the month begins. You can also sign up there and find the link to the forum. In the forum, we will celebrate our successes, offer each other encouragement, kick each other in the butt and exchange our writing tips and tricks.

Now I would like to introduce to our line-up of guests who will be joining this party.  I am excited about these guest authors, they bring individually and collectively a wide range of family history writing experience to our group. Looking forward to their posts and perhaps with a little encouragement they will join us in the forum with their advice.

Here they are, The Family History Writing Challenge Guest Authors.



Julie Cahill Tarr 
Genealogy has been a passion of Julie's since 2007 and she has been a professional writer for as long as she can remember. She provides writing, editing, and design services to assist other genealogists in telling their family stories. Julie is working toward the American Records certificate through the National Institute for Genealogical Studies and has completed the ProGen Study Group program. She is currently the Recording Secretary and Education Committee Chair for the Illinois State Genealogical Society and Treasurer for the Letitia Green Stevenson Chapter NSDAR, and serves on many committees for each organization.
You can find Julie at one of her three genealogy blogs: GenBlog, Writing Your Way to the Past, and Who Will Tell Their Story?.



Biff Barnes
Biff Barnes is a writer, educator, and historian who has published extensively about San Francisco. He was a William Robertson Coe Fellow in American History at Stanford University. His experience with historical research, oral history, and academic writing is invaluable to family history authors as they plan and organize their books.
Biff Barnes is part of the Stories To Tell team of editors and book designers who help authors to create memoirs and family history books. They have worked with hundreds of authors to develop their fiction, non-fiction, and creative non-fiction books. As an editor, he helps to plan the book's content, edits text and images, and design a professional, unique book for his clients.  Biff offers great writing advice in his Stories to Tell Blog



Lisa Alzo
Lisa Alzo, M.F.A. currently resides in Ithaca,  New York. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1987 and Master of Fine Arts in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Pittsburgh in 1997.
Lisa began writing creatively in the fourth grade with an assignment entitled, “All About Me,” and went on to win several  English/Writing Awards throughout high school and college.  Lisa has published articles in Ancestry Magazine, Discovering Family History, Family Chroncile, Family Tree Magazine, Genealogical Computing, Reunions Magazine, NGSNews Magazine, Western Pennsylvania History Magazine, FEEFHS Journa and Rocenka: Journal of the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society Internation, The Associaton of Professional Genealogists Quarterly.
An avid genealogist for 22 years, Lisa currently teaches online genealogy course for Family Tree University and the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. She is the recipient of the 2002 Mary Zirin Prize given by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies to recognize the achievements  of independent scholars, and is a frequent speaker for national conferences, genealogical and historical societies.

You can find this busy writer at her website Lisa Alzo  and The Accidental Genealogist


Linda Gartz
Linda cut her journalistic teeth in the television business—researching, producing, and writing documentaries that have aired nationally on CBS, ABC, NBC, and PBS and have been syndicated on cable nation-wide.
Linda has published article in magazines, literary journals, and newspapers nationwide.
Linda is the Family Archaeologist, digging deep into twentieth century history as unearthed through her family’s letters, diaries, photos, and artifacts spanning more than a hundred years.  Join her on a quest to uncover the joy, struggle, loss, and resilience her ancestors experienced—and the secrets revealed along the way. You may recognize some of your own family’s past in hers and learn techniques for investigating, organizing, preserving, and enjoying a genealogical treasure trove.
Linda's experience clearly displays she understands the power of storytelling. You can find her at her webpage Linda Gartz and her blog, Family Archaeologist.



Sharon DeBartolo Carmack
Sharon is a Certified Genealogist with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing. She is a partner in the Salt Lake City-based research, writing, and publishing firm of Warren, Carmack & Associates. Sharon offers consulting, mentoring, writing, and editing services for nonfiction books, with an emphasis on memoirs, biographies, histories, family histories, and annotated diaries.
The author of sixteen books and hundreds of articles, columns, and reviews that have appeared in nearly every major genealogical journal and publication, some of Sharon’s book titles include You Can Write Your Family History, Carmack’s Guide to Copyright & Contracts, and Your Guide to Cemetery Research.
Her work has also appeared in Creative Nonfiction, Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction, Steinbeck Review, Hippocampus Magazine, Writer’s Digest, and Personal Journaling. She is an assistant editor for Brevity and a contributing editor for Family Tree Magazine.
Along with a BA (summa cum laude) in English from Regis University and an MFA (with Distinction) in Creative Nonfiction Writing from National University, Sharon holds a Diploma in Irish Studies from the National University of Ireland, Galway.
Sharon teaches nonfiction writing classes for Writer’s Digest University, and Irish research classes for Family Tree University.
Sharon can be reached through her Web site: www.SharonCarmack.com.


You don’t want to miss out, Sign-up now!