Hi Everyone!
I've never seen anything like it! In all my 16 years or so in family
history research on many lists there has not been such a response. I
have turned to bulk mailing of my little rag Genetree out to you folk
(should have thought of it earlier) but the interesting thing is the
feedback. Seems lots and lots of genie researchers want to do the
same and hope to put out a regular newsletter/journal but are
hesitant as how to commence. What I have received OFF-LIST (and fair
enough, no need to clutter up the list with messages back and forth)
has been mind boggling. Everyone, it seems, has come out of the
woodwork with their requests. My Sunday has been taken up with
replying and why not? We are here for each other. Well, I suppose I
am hooked upon word processing publications but all you really need
is Microsoft Word to do what you wish. Nice to have the benefits of
word processors etc. but not entirely necessary.
Start simple, you can become more creative as time goes on. A page or
two with some photos (both old and new) is a good way to begin. Many
of us have 18th and 19th century photos and a willingness to share.
What better way to do this than with a regular newsletter? Don't
loose all your cookies at once though -- keep some for future issues.
As you become more proficient you may see the need to invest in a
good desk top publishing programme and MS Publisher may be all that
you need. There are other commercial products out there and I have
been using Art Explosion Publisher Pro for many years now as it also
gives me the ability to produce a website, but I wonder about
upgrading to Windows 7 when it becomes necessary as so far PP has not
been upgraded. Stops at XP. Anyway that is something to be addressed
in the future.
A good laser printer, simply black and white, is useful for printing
out copies for those rels who wish to receive it not online e.g.
electronically. I have found the Brother series, especially the
recent 2140 model to be very cheap and gives excellent performance
and you can recycle the cartridges. You can print 50 copies or so of
18 pages in one go though perhaps to give it a break it might be
better to cut it down to 20 copies at a time, allowing it to cool.
You can print the odd pages first and then pop them back into the
printer and print off the even pages so what appears then is a
magazine format. Simply collate them by hand and staple them on the
left side of the page with three well spaced staples. Of course,
anyone with a heat binding machine may do an even better job of
binding the pages.
All this can give you great satisfaction.
So, what is stopping you? Anyone who has not yet asked for a copy of
Genetree, please feel free to ask off-list. Nothing marvellous but it
might help you get started.
Cheers
Graham
Melbourne
Oz