Gary, the author of our excellent articles on making use of your PC as a writer, is back.  Here, he offers tips on how to put together a great family newsletter without driving yourself to distraction!

Nice work, Gary!

          -- Mary Rosenblum, LR Web Editor

 

 

Family Newsletters for Writing Experience

By: Gary S. Kearney

          One easy way to get some writing and editing experience is to publish a family newsletter. It can help you in a number of ways. You practice your writing and editing skills, and you get feedback from your readers. (Boy do you get feedback from your readers. Make one little mistake about Aunt Edna's age, and you'll hear about it for years.) You also get an insight into the mind of editors. Though it won't be as helpful as a magazine publication credit, it's certainly something that you can point to when you're just starting out. For me the most important thing was knowing that I was doing something to create and maintain the connections that keep my family together.

            My mother bound our family together, but you can miss out on a lot with just a letter or phone call now and then. I didn't realize how far out of touch I had become until one day I answered the door while visiting my sister in Arizona and found an attractive woman standing there, "Hello, Gary," she said, "it's good to see you."

            I drew a total blank at first, but seeing her mother behind her helped me recognize my cousin, Joyce. We were in school together for years and saw each other often at family dinners, but the years since high school had changed the skinny teenager of my memories. That made me wonder what had happened to other childhood friends and relatives and what I could do about it.

            Nobody likes losing track of friends and family, but sometimes it seems almost unavoidable. The right time to pick up the phone or write a letter just doesn't come around often enough, so people drift away and get lost.

Starting A Family Newsletter:

            As a computer geek, I had experience with the computer bulletin boards that were the forerunners of today's Internet chatrooms; I also had a friend who sent copies of letters to hundreds of former co-workers and friends. I thought that if I could get other family members write letters to me, then I could combine them into one to send to everyone else. After more than eighty issues of The Refrigerator Door, I guess I can say that the idea was a success.

            I began by getting some addresses from my mom, then sending out letters to explain the idea and ask for more names and addresses. I mailed twelve copies of that first issue. Today I'm up to sixty. When I began, I didn't know how often to publish, but now four times a year seems about right. I try to limit my newsletter to about four double-sided pages to stay within the standard postal rate. These are just suggestions. Whatever works for you is right.

What To Leave In and What To Leave Out:

            Keep your newsletter as simple as you can at the start and add the frills later. If you can get some help, that's a bonus, because it commits others to the newsletter. You can cut and paste E-mail letters to save typing. I've tried various ways to make text entry easier without much success. One speech recognition program changed my mother's "standing ovation" to a "standing violation," and I still hear about that. After having to live down several embarrassing mistakes, I believe it's better to type the newsletters myself and not worry about perfection. Many of the letters I get are responses to my mistakes, and the idea of being published seems to be more comfortable to my relatives when they see what a doofus I am.

            Announcements, jokes, recipes, cartoons or family memories make good articles. I attempt to use anything I get but also try to be as positive as possible. I avoid family conflicts, and don't include comments about others without due consideration of their feelings. Even though some of the writers may think it proper to discuss health and wealth problems, you should limit these comments to their own personal situations. Even expressions of sympathy can be touchy unless the people involved have themselves made their problems known. These are pretty much the same concerns that you would have for any article that you submitted for publication.

Equipment:

            I print the newsletters and envelopes myself, but I've also tried various copy services. I found the costs to be about the same for simple black and white letters, but with color it's less expensive to print them myself. That takes time even at the highest speed on my inkjet printer, so if time is more important than money, a copy center may be a better choice. Total postage and printing costs will average somewhat more or less than a dollar per copy, depending on your choices. I spend two or three days working on each issue. You can probably spend much less if you don't worry as much as I do about making it all pretty and putting in lots of pictures.

            Any word processor or publishing program will work fine for the letter itself with mail merge for the envelopes. Be sure to make backup copies of your address list and keep computer and hard copy backups of the newsletters in case of computer problems. These copies may also be valuable to those readers interested in back issues, or to children who develop an interest in family history as they grow older.

            We also have an online edition, which we keep at MyFamily.com. I use Adobe Acrobat to print each issue as a PDF (Portable Document Format) file and post it to the site, but HTML (Hypertext Markup Language, the standard for webpages) will work as well. If your readers are online, this is a great idea. They can download each issue and can print them if they want. I have also used my CD writer to make archive CDs for those who requested them.

            Almost any computer and printer will work. Scanners and CD-writers are inexpensive and convenient but not really necessary. Copy centers will scan pictures for you, and many film developers will either send you copies of your pictures on disk or make them available online. I love my digital camera. Since I take a lot of pictures, I save money by avoiding the cost of film and developing the pictures. Online services such as Ofoto and Shutterfly allow you to share pictures either way, so you can take your choice.

The Last Word:

            I always had trouble writing letters and choosing gifts for my family. The newsletter is a great solution to both problems. I thought I might have fewer letters to write, but I've actually been corresponding with old and new friends a lot more than before. Other family members, particularly grandmothers, have been very supportive. Mom is no longer with us, but I know that she loved it. She always introduced me as, "My son the Editor."

            I've noticed looking over back issues that both my writing and editing skills have improved a lot over the years. That's a plus for an aspiring writer; and if I can't sell a story or an article to a magazine, I can always put it in the newsletter. Often that gives me feedback that helps me improve my writing. Practicing your editing skills on the letters that you get from your correspondents will help you understand when and how to use correct grammar while keeping their unique voice intact. Working with their distinct styles will also help you when you need to create voices for your own characters.

            Another important thing is that I try to keep to a fairly strict schedule that has helped me learn to write and edit under the pressure of deadlines. Having been forced to wait for articles and letters from my family really helped me understand the pressures that editors are under and realize the importance of promptness.

Resource Books:

Creating Family Newsletters, by Elaine Floyd, ISBN: 0-9630222-7-X $19.99

Absolutely Family, by Jeanne Rudquist Nelson, ISBN: 0-967142-60-1 $14.99

Resources Online:

EFG Inc. http://www.newsletterinfo.com/

Family Newsletter News http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~bruce/FamNewsNews.htm

Create a Family Newsletter in Word 2002 http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/2002/articles/wdFamNewsMailer.aspx

MyFamily.com http://www.myfamily.com/

Family Memories http://www.thefamilymemories.com/

Homestead http://www.homestead.com/

Ofoto by Kodak http://www.ofoto.com/

Shutterfly http://www.shutterfly.com/