If you enjoy reading this blog, you may also like to read my Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories blog. You can also read about the family stories in my novels at The Homeplace Series blog. You can sign up for e-mail reminders.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

First Day of Jan-Feb Austin Visit


First Day of Jan-Feb Austin Visit



Grandma helps Kaylee learning words on flash cards, that teach her to learn to read the book.


Alex, after supper...  ;-) Not a little kid any more!  ;-)


Piling on Grandpa - always a popular game, but they don't stay still very long!

First day of a week in Austin with the kids...  ;-)

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Book Puzzle


Book Puzzle


Nancy had ordered this puzzle because she thought the 'book' format looked really interesting. She started working on it at the half of the National Championship football game when it was obvious there wasn't going to be much drama left...  ;-)


She did almost all of it herself this time. I helped just a bit at the very end. It was quite interesting.


The flash and lighting make it much brighter than it actually was. Lots of intricate parts. The shadows between the books were not nearly as clear-cut as they appear on this photo. Interesting!!  ;-)

It was another good day - we finished the puzzle the next day, not the night of the football game.
P.S. Skip Kelly decided to stay at Oregon! Today I heard Brian Kelly, the Notre Dame coach, has talked to the Philadelphia Eagles, even though he had said he wasn't interested... money talks, and does get a listen, at least!  ;-)

Friday, January 4, 2013

Fiesta Bowl Puzzle


Fiesta Bowl Puzzle




We completed this puzzle during the pre-pregame, pregame, kick-off shift, Fiesta Bowl coverage, postgame and Sportscenter on Fiesta Bowl day....  ;-)

Skip Kelly may have had a new NFL job by the time we finished the blue sky!  ;-)


Wednesday, January 2, 2013

New Year's Day at the Cabin


New Year's Day at the Cabin


Allison joined us for dinner, catered by Bob Evans. Well, I went and picked it up, Nancy warmed it up and served it. Outstanding. We'd already eaten, but sent Allison home with an extra piece of pie and several slices of turkey. And, we have enough ourselves of another full meal. Neat!





Have a great New Year!  ;-)

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Writing Plans for 2013

Writing Plans for 2013


1. I now describe 'what I do' in retirement as "Reading and Writing" - I read to write; I write for personal satisfaction. My writing takes many forms, it changes from time to time in order to maintain satisfaction levels.

2. During 2012 I added the commitment to be a monthly columnist for the digi-mag "The In-Depth Genealogist," as The Heritage Tourist. I will continue this in 2013 with one monthly column and one monthly blog post there.

3. I became an active 'lensmaster' on Squidoo.com during 2012 by creating/writing 126 new lenses (webpages) on a variety of topics, with Heritage Tourism and Family History leading the way. I will continue this activity in 2013 at a measured pace. My lenses about books I read have been popular; I will continue to write them. I also write reviews, have guest posts and interviews, and participate in Virtual Book Tours on my blogs, listed below.

4. It seems I need to have each of my five blogs to have the necessary outlets for what I want to write. Each has its own content and focus, and I've noticed the priority among them shifts a bit, month by month. That is fine as it seems to keep me from getting bored.
Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories
Dr. Bill on Retirement
Dr. Bill's Book Bazaar
The Homeplace Series Blog
The KINNICK Project

4. I will continue to write articles each month for Examiner.com on my three topic areas: Springfield Genealogy Examiner, Ozarks Cultural Heritage Examiner, and (added in 2012) Springfield Heritage Tourism Examiner; two or three articles in each topic, each month.

5. 2012 was a year of research (reading), writing and shifting priorities in my fiction priorities. My only publication was another short story in the OWL Anthology (second in two years). It was the next 'episode' in the 1833 background research for "The Homeplace Series." These two short stories are now being shared on the blog "serialized" over a few months. This will continue as I move toward the publication of a "background" book on the family history of the characters in my "Back to the Homeplace" and "The Homeplace Revisited" novels (working title: "American Centennial at the Homeplace"). This book is anchored by an Extended Short Story about  the Homeplace during the Civil War. In 2013 I also hope to publish my first Mystery: "Murder by the Homeplace" set immediately following the end of "Back to the Homeplace" with characters from that novel having secondary roles in the Mystery novel. Finally, looking the future, I will continue to develop content for "The Homeplace Series" as it moves to a transmedia platform, starting with the existing wiki which will continue to be developed in association with my daughter, Dr. Annette Lamb, and her eduscapes.com and Lamb Learning Group activities. We are also considering an affiliation with an app developer (in the future) to provide multiple transmedia entry points to "The Homeplace Series" content that will continue to be expanded and developed on multiple platforms. ["The Homeplace Forever" - the third in the original trilogy - set in 2006, continues in development, along with stories across all the years from 1833 to the present, and into the future.]

6. Work will continue, off and on, on the non-fiction family history on our Revolutionary War ancestor, Sergeant Major William KINNICK. He is my 5th great-grandfather as well as the 3rd great-grandfather of 1939 Heisman Trophy winner Nile KINNICK, for whom KINNICK Stadium at the University of Iowa is named. There is surely some promotion value there to exploit. I will also continue to research and write on issues related to a non-fiction family history book on my great-grandfather Michael Smith. I am still developing alternative approaches to making this project most effective. These two are unlikely to be finished 2013; but they are still active projects.

7. My actual genealogy work, other that writing for my blogs and elsewhere, largely revolves around projects that come up from time to time from 1) contacts from and with cousins, 2) cooperatively assisting my wife on her several projects, and 3) providing support to our youngest daughter, Arrion, on her family history projects - primarily related to her annual trips to Europe. Arrion visited our Smith family ancestral ground of Alsace (Colmer, France - my paternal line) and Black Forest area in 2012 and a possible visit to Denmark (my maternal grandmother was born in Denmark) in 2013.


Note: This will be posted to each of the five blogs linked above, this year, on January 1.