New Year. Time To Take Stock.

So this is Christmas
And what have you done?
Another year over
And a new one just begun.¹

How does a genealogist take stock in the past year and the year ahead? Last year I calculated my source citations/footnotes (…read more). As we move onto 2026 I looked back at 2025.

8 articles were published
6 additional articles were submitted and await publication in 2026
8 articles “under construction” for submission in 2026 and 2027
1 collection of articles (See The Kinship Papers)

Sorry, not citation count this year. They are part of genealogical writing. The hundreds of source citations written this year were essential … so why count?

FEATURED IMAGE: CoPilot AI, “Desk with Books and Papers,” created 24 December 2025.

John Lennon, Happy Xmas (War Is Over), 1971.

About Author

Vanessa Wood is a genealogical researcher and writer. She enjoys researching families from the southern United States. She is a DAR member and a member of the Tennessee Genealogical Society. Vanessa is the author of the book Pryor Wives: Stories of Family, Fortune, and Fiasco. Her books are available on Amazon.com. She can be contacted via email.