Ok, who’s up for a Genealogy Challenge? I could say Blog Challenge, but this isn’t just for bloggers. It’s actually for anyone who wants to record their own history, and it allows you to do it a little each week.  And you don’t even have to do it online. Simply grab yourself a blank notebook, and you’re all ready to go!

I recently came across Linda’s 52 Week Challenge, and I love it. Linda writes the Hinterland Writing blog, and she started this Challenge back in May 2016. Releasing a new topic each week, she’s currently up to Week 29.

It’s along the lines of my Family History Through the Alphabet Challenge, as in you pick and choose which weeks you’d like to participate in. In saying that she has a number of dedicated followers who are busy recording their memories every week, with others doing some along the way. Anyway I’ve compiled a list of her topics for Weeks 1-29 for you.

52 Week Challenge
Week 1 – What is your full name? Do you know why you were given that name? Do you have a baptismal name? A confirmation name? Why were these names chosen?
Week 2 – When and where were you born?  Which child are you ? Brothers and sisters? Capture the memories of the house you grew up in and the neighbourhood as you saw it? What do you remember the most about the house?
Week 3 – Your dad
Week 4 – Name 5 people that you consider to have had a positive impact on the world
Week 5 – Mother
Week 6 – Occupations
Week 7 – Have any of your immediate family members died?
Week 8 – Brothers and sisters
Week 9 – School Days
Week 10 – Family Traditions
Week 11 – Grandparents
Week 12 – Aunts and uncles
Week 13 – School days
Week 14 – School friends
Week 15 – The quirky family story
Week 16 – Reading
Week 17 – Shops / shopping
Week 18 – Childhood memories
Week 19 – Food
Week 20 – Significant events
Week 21 – Wow! What makes you stop and go WOW!
Week 22 – Movies
Week 23 – Rooms
Week 24 – Travel
Week 25 – Dinner sets
Week 26 – Grow your own
Week 27 – Christmas
Week 28 – Santa visits
Week 29 – Years end

For more on detail each of these topics, please visit Linda’s blog Hinterland Writing. When I contacted Linda I quizzed her as to what was ahead, she said she does have topic ideas, but also mentioned that she’s likely to change or swap them around at any time. So we’ll just have to see what else comes.

To keep up with the latest in Linda’s 52 Week Challenge be sure to follow her blog here, or her Facebook page.

More 52 Week Challenges …
And for those that love a challenge, there have been numerous genealogy-orientated 52 Week Challenges. Here’s just some of them:
Jump Start Your Genealogy: 52 Ideas. 52 Weeks (2009) – by Amy Coffin Lenertz of We Tree
52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History (2011) – by Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers
52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy (2012) – by Amy Coffin Lenertz of We Tree and Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers
52 Questions in 52 Weeks (2013) – by FamilySearch
52 Weeks of Genealogy (2014) – by Sarah Heiner of Teach Me Genealogy
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (2014) – by Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small
52 Weeks of Sharing Memories (2014) – by Lorine McGinnis Schulze of Olive Tree Genealogy
52 Weeks of Genealogical Records (2014-2015) – by Shauna Hicks of Shauna Hicks History Enterprises
52 Week Organized Research Challenge (2015) – by Susan Farrell Bankhead of Brick Wall Genealogist
#52Stories (2017) – by FamilySearch

Every Little Bit Helps ..
2017 is nearly here, so why not get started recording those memories that you’ve been meaning to every year, but haven’t started yet! Everything you record is something that otherwise wouldn’t have been. If you write your memories a little at a time, it’s do-able. And just think of what you’ll be leaving for the next generation.

Apparently time flies when you’re having fun blogging, as it was on this day (3rd October) in 2011 that I wrote my first post here on Lonetester HQ.

I found re-reading that first “Hello World” post is interesting, as back then I simply knew I wanted my own genealogy blog (separate from work) , without knowing exactly what I’d write.

Now 5 years and 300+ posts later … I’ve written about all sorts. About websites I’ve found and used, about programs, about books I love, about local history, events I’ve been to, genealogy cruises, social media, even me and my pets, and of course my family history.

I’ve taken part in (and created) geneamemes and blog challenges, met many new geneabloggers along the way, as well as having distant family ‘discover me’ through my blog. I’ve even been nominated for some awards.

Even after 5 years, I would say that my blog still doesn’t have a ‘specific’ direction other than most of it is history and genealogy orientated. And I’m fine with that. I’m not a professional researcher or writer, not every post is a “how-to” one. In fact in reality I’m more of a “I’ve done this … or found this …  and you might find it useful” writer. In otherwords writing from my experiences.

Anyway I do love blogging … or maybe I should say I love writing. But blogging lets me share my stories and experiences with others in a way that simply writing them (for me) doesn’t.

While I’d love had have a giveaway or something to celebrate my blogiversary with my readers, instead I thought I would help change someone’s life by making another loan through Kiva. For those who are unfamiliar with Kiva, it is an organisation that allows micro-loans ($25), to be used by those needing help from all around the world.

“By lending as little as $25 on Kiva, anyone can help a borrower start or grow a business, go to school, access clean energy or realize their potential. For some, it’s a matter of survival, for others it’s the fuel for a life-long ambition. 100% of every dollar you lend on Kiva goes to funding loans.”

Anyone can participate in Kiva. In fact the more the merrier. Every loan really does help. And the loans are paid back (slowly), which then allows you to relend that money again. If you are part of the genealogy community, and are interested in Kiva, you might be interested in joining the Genealogists for Families group on Kiva. For more about Kiva loans, have a read of “Can You Spare $25?“, and visit their website www.kiva.org.

I never started this blog to gain the whole world as my audience, but it is nice to know that some do read my posts and find them useful. So thanks for being here, taking the time to read this, and here’s to the next 5 years. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m off to get some CAKE!

From time to time I write a non-genealogy related post. One more general. This is one of those. But all of the links listed below are useful for not just regular bloggers, but they can certainly be used for those who are geneablogging as well.

I have always believed that graphics in blog posts are important. And when you read the “what makes a good blog post” type articles, photographs and images always seem to get a mention, so I’m not the only one.

Over the years I have been asked where do you get the images that I use on my blog, and the simple answer is I use BigStock which you do have to pay for, but it is low-cost compared to some.

But there are other valuable resources out there that you can use, so I thought I’d introduce you to some of them. Many are free free stock photo sites, with a few pay stock photo sites listed as well.

It kind of goes without saying that you MUST read the terms of use on each site, because each is different. Some are free without any attribution needed, some require attribution. Some allow you to alter the image, and others don’t. Some are available for personal use only, but not commercial. Others are fine for either use. So be aware, read the licence.

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BigStock – $
www.bigstockphoto.com
BigStock (formerly BigStockPhoto) offers users over 35 million royalty-free photographs and images. They are available to download in various sizes and various file formats, and are available for individuals and commercial organisations. BigStock is a pay site, and you can pay per month, or buy credits. I use the credit method, and just purchase a batch of credits which last a year. Each photo costs a certain number of credits (between 1 and 6 depending on the size and format 2 or 3), and I find enough choice for what I need. You can try BigStock free for 7 days, and download up to 35 royalty-free images during that time.

British Library Images Online – $
https://imagesonline.bl.uk
Images Online is the picture library of the British Library, UKs national library. This site allows you to search, and ‘buy’ pictures online, which are sent to you as downloads. A totally unique collection with thousands of images available.

Flickr – free
https://www.flickr.com
Flickr is used by many of the world’s largest libraries and cultural organisations as a place to share images after determining that “no known copyright restrictions” exist. You’ll find millions of images from 100s of institutions on Flickr. Just a few are the Australian War Memorial (AWM), the National Library of Australia (NLA), LINC Tasmania, NASA, the Smithsonian Institution, the British Library, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), and more from Australia, the US, Canada, France, Scandinavian countries and elsewhere.

Getty Images – $
http://www.gettyimages.com.au
Getty Images is another pay site. Costs of the images vary according to the chosen resolution and type of rights associated with each image, and they claim to have 80 million images that you can search from.

Gratisography – free
http://www.gratisography.com
This site is a website created and run by Ryan McGuire, and offers free high-resolution photographs that you can use on your personal and commercial projects, with new pictures added weekly! All photographs are taken by Ryan, and are free from copyright restrictions.

Imgion – free
http://www.imgion.com
“On Imgion we provide free images on large topics to share with your friends and on your blogs.” This is a good site to find modern photographs, but just don’t expect to find millions of images like you get on some other sites.

Morguefile – free
http://morguefile.com
Morguefile is a free photo archive “for creatives, by creatives.” The site was created to serve as a free image exchange for creative professionals and teachers to use in their work. A community-based free photo site, all photos found on Morguefile free for you to download and re-use in your work, be it commercial or not. The photos have been contributed by a wide range of creatives from around the world, ranging from amateur photo hobbyists to professionals. Be sure to check licencing for attribution requirements.

New Old Stock – free
http://nos.twnsnd.co
The paragraph below the title of this website describes it as “Vintage photos from the public archives. Free of known copyright restrictions. Recapturing History.” And all photos photos on this site “are at the very least available for personal and non-commercial use”.

Pexels – free
https://www.pexels.com
Pexels keeps it simple. All photos on Pexels are free for any personal and commercial purpose. They can be used as is, or altered, and no need for attribution is required. They also add 50 new stock photos each day. One to check out if you haven’t before.

Pixabay – free
https://pixabay.com
Pixabay isn’t one I’ve used yet, but it was recommended by a fellow geneablogger, and is now on my list of places to check out. Their website says … “on Pixabay you may find and share images free of copyrights. All pictures are released under Creative Commons CC0 into the public domain. You can copy, modify, distribute, and use the images, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission and without paying attribution.” And they have over 640,000 of them. So definitely one to check out.

Public Domain Archive – free
http://publicdomainarchive.com
The Public Domain Archive offers users new free photos each week, or you can pay $10 a month and get unlimited downloads from their site. The photos you’ll find on their website are modern, but stunning.

Shutterstock – $
http://www.shutterstock.com
Shutterstock is the world’s largest subscription based images site with over 80 million images. It is a pay per image site, they also have one image available for free download each week – so if you remember, this is a great way to build up a collection of images for free.

TheGenealogist Image Archive – free/$
http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/imagearchive
With thousands of vintage photos this is a great place to look for images relating to places and topics/occupations in England. While TheGenealogist’s Image Archive is available for everyone to search for free and it allows you a small low-res image, if you want a hi-res one you will need to be a Diamond Subscriber to TheGenealogist website.

The Old Design Shop – free
http://olddesignshop.com
This is a treasure trove for vintage images. Here you’ll find free clipart graphics and vintage images that come from a variety of public domain sources, as well as magazines, textbooks, calendars, label art, postcards, greeting cards and ephemera. These graphic images are in .jpg format and are available for download. You may use the free clipart images for personal projects or to sell artwork you have created. If using images on a blog or website, a link back or credit to this site is required.

Vintage Stock Photos – $
http://www.vintagestockphotos.com
A pay-per-image site, that offers royalty-free retro and mid-century stock images from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Not a vast quantity of images, but they are good quality ones.

Wellcome Images – free
http://wellcomeimages.org
Wellcome Images is one of the world’s most unique collections, specialising in the medical and social history themes. You can explore over 170,000 historical and contemporary images on their website. All available to download free for personal, non-commercial use.

Wikimedia Commons – free
https://commons.wikimedia.org
Wikimedia Commons is a database of over 31 million “freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute”. While this site says “freely useable” be sure to check the licencing, as the images are uploaded by individuals, so licencing can vary from image to image.

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I know this isn’t all of the stock photo sites out there. In fact there’s hundreds. If you use something different, feel free to leave a comment below and let others know what you use and how you find it.

While I was writing this post, I had a feeling that I had written something similar some time ago. And sure enough back in 2013, I wrote “Tips for Geneablogger Readers and Writers“.

In rereading that list, I still find all of those points are 100% valid, so won’t repeat the whole thing, but rather have summarised them below, and now I want to add a couple of extras.

Summary list … 
1. Allow comments on your blog
2. If you use photographs on your blog, label them
3. Put share buttons on your blog
4. Have a search function on your blog
5. Use images, there’s plenty you can get for free
6. If you a blog post and you liked it, leave a comment

Now for my extras …
1. Include details
By this I mean if you are writing about an ancestor be specific. Include names, dates and places as Google indexes these, and people search for them will end up on your blog. It’s pure cousin-bait.

2. Use your own voice
Write in your own voice, your own style. You don’t have to be a novelist or author to be a blogger. Just simply write like you talk. As the title says “use your own voice”, and it will sound natural to people. And natural helps connect with people.

So in essence, make your blog look good, people like pictures. And make it easy for people to share, and find their way around your blog.

That’s just my suggestions, and I’m no pro-blogger by far. But these are things I’ve just picked up over the years of reading and writing blogs, so hopefully someone will find them useful. And by the way, these apply any blogger – not just genealogy bloggers.