Returning
for her 4th year with us, Sharon Debartolo Carmack was a constant
guide for me in my early days of learning to write family history stories. I often referenced her book as I learned to write my family history stories. This year Sharon is going to teach us about creating tension in our family history stories. Keeping our readers on the edge of their seats.
Sharon
DeBartolo Carmack is a Certified Genealogist with an MFA in Creative
Nonfiction Writing. She is the author of eighteen books and hundreds of
articles, essays, columns, and reviews that have appeared in nearly every major
genealogical journal and publication. Some of her books include You Can
Write Your Family History, Carmack’s Guide to Copyright & Contracts: A
Primer for Genealogists, Writers & Researchers, and Your Guide to
Cemetery Research.
Sharon’s work has also appeared in numerous
literary publications: Creative Nonfiction, Brevity, Steinbeck Review, Portland Review, Hippocampus
Magazine (where her essay, “Switched at
Midlife” won “Most Memorable” and was selected for the Best
of Hippocampus, May 2013), and Phoebe: A Journal of Literature and Art (where her essay
received Honorable Mention in the 2012 Creative Nonfiction Contest). Sharon’s
essays have also been finalists in contests for the Bellingham Review’s
Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction and in Creative Nonfiction’s
True Crime contest (“The Ghoul of the
Queen City”), and for publication in River Teeth and Calyx.
Sharon teaches graduate courses in Creative
Nonfiction Writing for Southern New Hampshire University’s MA in English and
Creative Writing Program. She is also part of the adjunct English
faculty for Ashford University, and she teaches personal essay and memoir
writing online for Writer’s Digest University.
Additionally, for Family Tree University, she
teaches Irish genealogical research, and for Salt Lake Community College’s
online Certificate in Genealogy
program, she teaches the Immigrant Origins course and a new course in Genealogy
and Family History Writing.
Lisa Alzo is well known in genealogy circles for her writing expertise. She shares openly and her love of writing is apparent in all her endeavours. She's been a good friend to The Family History Writing Challenge these past five years. This year, Lisa is going to share tools for writing your life story.
Lisa A. Alzo, M.F.A., is a freelance writer, instructor, and
internationally recognized lecturer, specializing in Slovak/Eastern European
genealogical research, writing your family history, and using the Internet to
trace female and immigrant ancestors. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree
in Nutrition from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1987 and a Master of Fine
Arts degree in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Pittsburgh in 1997.
Lisa is the author of nine books, including the award-winning Three Slovak
Women, and hundreds of magazine articles. She has published Ancestry
Magazine, Discovering Family History Magazine, Family Chronicle,
Family Tree Magazine, Internet Genealogy, Reunions Magazine,
NGSNews Magazine, Western Pennsylvania History Magazine, and The
Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly. Lisa is a contributing
editor for Family Tree Magazine, and teaches online courses for Family
Tree University and The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. She is
frequently invited speaker for national conferences, genealogical and
historical societies, and webinars. An avid genealogist for 25 years, Lisa also
chronicles her family history adventures on her blog, The Accidental
Genealogist <http://www.theaccidentalgenealogist.com>.
Visit <http://www.lisaalzo.com> for
more information.
This is Jennifer Holik's first time writing for the Challenge. Her passion for writing is a bright beacon in our online community. Jennifer loves to write military stories, so I've asked her to share with us some tips around this particular topic. I'm looking forward to learning from her.
Jennifer Holik is a Chicago-based military and genealogical
researcher, speaker, and author. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in
History in 1999 from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Jennifer has published articles in the National Genealogical Society Magazine,
the Czech and Slovak Genealogical Society of Illinois Journal, the Utah
Genealogical Society’s Quarterly Crossroads, and writes a monthly column for
The In-Depth Genealogist magazine. She focuses her research and writing on
the records of World War II across all branches: Army, Air Corps, National
Guard, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marines and is a member of
the staff of the World War II History Network (http://wwiihistorynetwork.com.) She
lectures on researching and writing the stories of World War II soldiers. Her
blog http://blog.generationsbiz.com
provides weekly insights into World War II records and issues not discussed
related to the war, the missing, and the dead. She is the author of several
books including Stories of the Lost, The Tiger’s Widow, Stories from the
Battlefield: A Beginning Guide to World War II Research, and a series
of genealogy teaching books entitled, Branching Out. In 2015 she will
release a new series called Stories from the World War II Battlefield which
will provide an in-depth look at how to begin World War II research across all
branches, where to find records, and explore the most commonly used records.
She will explain how to reconstruct a service file and explore issues related
to the records and war. On her website you can visit her World War II Toolbox (http://www.jenniferholik.com/world-war-ii-toolbox.html),
learn more about her services, purchase her books, schedule an author
presentation, and sign up for her newsletter. Her website is http://jenniferholik.com
Our final guest author has also been a great supporter of the Challenge over the years. Biff Barnes, our resident publisher is going to impart on us some advice in the choices we face in publishing our family history.
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.
There you have it, our four guest authors. You'll receive their articles along with 24 other articles on writing family history when you join us for The Family History Writing Challenge, Feb 1st-Feb 28th.