Thankful for the Encouragement

Since we’re on a process break—though I promise I’ll soon return to my story about the Beanery and its residents—I thought I’d interject a column today in thanks to some kind recognition.

If you do much reading around the genealogy-blogging world, you’ve surely noticed the recent flurry of awards recognizing writers for various aspects of their online writing. Some of those writers, last week, were kind enough to include A Family Tapestry in their honors. For this, I am most grateful—you’ll never know how timely this boost has been!

Getting Up There With the Stars…

First, I want to thank Jana Last of Jana’s Genealogy and Family History Blog. She wrote a midweek post announcing that she had been nominated for the Blog of the Year 2012 award by ScotSue of Family History Fun.

In the spirit of the award, she then turned around and passed the award along to three other bloggers: Jen of Ancestral Breezes, Gini of Ginisology, and—wait? Is that? No, it couldn’t be! Oh, blush!—this very blog, A Family Tapestry.

While I’m enjoying having some fun with that nomination—and believe me, Jana, I could use the smiles right now—I do appreciate the vote of confidence, and as you did, I would like, in turn, to pass the honor along.

As the originators of the award, Alyson and David Sheldrake of The Thought Palette, explain:

The “rules” for this award are simple: 

1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award

2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.

3 Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award – http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/ and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)

4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them

5 You can now also join our Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience

6 As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…When you begin, you will receive the “1 star” award. Every time you are given the award by another blog, you can add another star! There are a total of 6 stars to collect.

A Great Reader Is…

No sooner had Jana kindly awarded me with this designation, when another simpatico blogger must have sensed the need to send some kudos my way. Mariann Regan of Into the Briar Patch named me, along with several bloggers I admire, for the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award.

I like what the originator of this award wrote:

“As bloggers, we are also readers. That is a part of blogging as listening is a part of speaking.”

Here are the requirements to participate in passing this award along:

(i) Don’t forget to thank the nominator and link back to their site as well;

(ii) Display the award logo on your blog;

(iii) Nominate no more than fourteen readers of your blog you appreciate and leave a comment on their blogs to let them know about the award;

(iv) Finish this sentence: “A great reader is…”

In my opinion, a great reader is someone who can read between the lines, picking up the nuances to say what has yet to be said by leaving comments that make each blog post what it was really meant to be.

Without the kindness of those who read A Family Tapestry, generously adding their comments as co-creators of this dialog, it would be a chilly and quiet corner of the cyberworld here, indeed. An audience breathes life into the actors. Writers may not stand in front of their readers like players on a stage, but the dynamics remain the same.

While I’m thankful for each of you who read and comment at A Family Tapestry—in case you’ve missed it, I did post my thanks to each of you who shared the conversation with me in 2012 here—I’d like to pass along special thanks to a few fellow bloggers who have been most encouraging.

First, of course, I want to thank my first inspiration and role model in the quest to save orphan photos, “Far Side of Fifty” who writes, among other blogs, Forgotten Old Photos. Of course, Far Side plainly declares that she doesn’t “do awards,” so I can’t officially nominate her. But I can at least give her an honorable mention! Her work is certainly worth that. And while she doesn’t accept awards, she does explain, “award me a comment!” If you have never visited her blog, please take that opportunity now. You won’t regret it—and may find yourself joining her 1,696 followers.

I’m grateful for these bloggers who have partnered with me over the past year, and wish to pass this award on to them as well:

• “Iggy” of Intense Guy
• Wendy of Jollett etc.
• Julie Cahill Tarr of GenBlog
• Shelley Bishop of A Sense of Family
• Sheri Fenley of The Educated Genealogist

Be a Dear

Someone else must have decided to make it a threesome. Along with Jana and Mariann, Michelle Taggart decided to bestow some genealogy link love, too. Michelle, I know you are busy preparing for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy this week, but when you get a chance to catch up on your blog reading, I want to say “Thank you” for giving me the Liebster Blog Award.

The Liebster award is one way of showing appreciation for the “dearest” of the blogs in my reading list. Like other awards, this one comes with its own set of requirements of those nominated:

1.  Link back to the blog who nominated you
2.  Nominate 5 blogs with less than 200 followers
3.  Let nominees know by leaving a comment at their site
4.  Add the award image to your site.

Here are my five nominees for the Liebster Blog Award. Each of these are bloggers whose work and ways are particularly appreciated:

• Gini of Ginisology
• “The Path Traveled” of Just Thoughts on a Blog
• Joan of Roots’n’Leaves
• Teresa Wilson Rogers of Forgotten Faces and Long Ago Places
• Lisa of Dearest Esther

Collecting the Stars

Perhaps you recall that, at the beginning of this post, I mentioned the Blog of the Year 2012 award, but failed to mention just who I intended to nominate. There’s a reason for such coy maneuvers. No, I’m not shy—even though there are so many inspiring blogs out there.

It’s just that, before I could get busy with my response, yet another blogger popped up and bestowed the same award. And yes, since we can collect those stars, I can now display two! Thank you to Sharn White of Family Convictions—A Convict Ancestor for nominating A Family Tapestry!

In turn, I’d like to pass along this Blog of the Year 2012 award to some of the writers who inspire, motivate, and challenge me. Please join me in recognizing the contributions of the following bloggers to the genealogy and family history blogging community:

• “Irish Eyes Jennifer” of On a Flesh and Bone Foundation
• Michelle Taggart of A Southern Sleuth
• Linda Gartz of Family Archaeologist
• Deborah Sweeney of Genealogy Lady
• Anne Gillespie Mitchell of Finding Forgotten Stories

If anyone is not familiar with any of these publications, please take the time to stop by and visit the links above. It will be well worth your time!

Thank you again, Jana, Mariann, Michelle, and Sharn, for your kind nominations!