Thank God Its Monday and, as such, #HappyMonday, once again, to everyone! I look forward to every Monday because they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with all of you!
NOTE: Apparently, I sometimes get my Mondays mixed up – as I just realized this morning that my post from last week was supposed to be the one I had wrote ahead of time for this week, because I was going on a little vacation. So this is the post I meant to put up last week…
Expanding on last week’s blog post, I’d like to continue discussing some of October’s observances in relation to Mom – National Book Month, National Cookbook Month, National Women’s Small Business Month, National Work and Family Month, National Self-Promotion Month, and National Positive Attitude Month.
Mom’s passion for writing began when she was about 10½ years old. She was greatly influenced by the 1946 Warner Brothers movie about the Bronte sisters, called ‘Devotion’. That’s when she started journaling on a daily basis.
In fact, Mom continued journaling throughout the rest of her life; which amounted to over 71 years of hand-written chronicles full of thoughts, ideas, faith and positive attitude – now that’s DEVOTION! Mom often thought about writing “the great American novel”. However, fate always took her writing in another direction.
It seemed that every writing contest Mom entered and won was usually for something she wrote, in relation to food. She always trusted that God was guiding her to where she needed to be.
After writing a variety of homaker-focused columns for newspapers, directly and syndicated, for about 15 years, Mom discovered a completely new niche in the food industry. She called it copycat cookery – imitating “famous foods from famous places” at home.
Her readers loved it and wanted more, requesting her to imitate their favorites; but the food industry advertisers didn’t like it, requesting her editor stop it. Mom decided to quit, and went home to start her own business, developing and writing recipes to imitate a variety of favorite fast foods, junk foods, restaurant dishes, and grocery store products.
She involved all of us kids and eventually Dad, as the small family business, run from our dining room table, grew and grew. Mom started her small family business, selling her recipes individually; printed on 4” x 6” index cards, suitable for easy filing. Her collection quickly grew to hundreds of recipes.
To better offer her growing catalog of “secret recipes”, Mom started writing, illustrating and (with Dad) self-publishing about 40 cookbooks (+/-), between 1973 and 2002. In that time, she also wrote and self-published a few “Food for Thought”/positive attitude books. Additionally, from January 1974 through December 2000, she penned & illustrated hundreds of newsletter issues.
FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
My Cup Runneth Over And I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, p. 53)
RISKS – THE HARD ROAD TO SELF-SUFFICIENCY
THERE ARE MANY RISKS involved with going into business for yourself, no matter what product or service you intend to offer. If I had thought more about the risks, than I did about the possibilities, I never would have moved an inch toward doing any of the things about which I now write.
My husband is not a risk-taker. I am. We complement each other well. He still becomes uneasy and anxious about every new idea I have for another book or another project, on the basis that ‘we can’t afford it.’
I have learned, over the years, to keep many of my projects to myself until they are completed, which in the long run, saves Paul from worrying unnecessarily about something that will very likely turn out well, and keeps me from worrying that Paul is worrying.
Some people experience a certain let-down, after reaching what they consider ‘the top’. When they finally reach the Everest of their ambitions [and] make it to the top, they start to wonder why they were in such a hurry to get there anyhow.
Like Lee Iacocca, who was only in his mid-40s when he was president of the Ford Motor Company, writes in his autobiography, [that he had] no idea what he was going to do ‘for an encore’! I have never had to worry about this, fortunately.
When I have been asked about goals or destination, it is been my feeling that every corner I turn has a new goal, a new destination awaiting us. I have never thought of any one point as being the top. Life has so many wonderful opportunities for each of us to take advantage of, that it does not seem reasonable that I should give myself the limitations that would determine just how far I should be able to go.
Because this was never a hobby, never WORK, never a job, I have had no problem with the worry or concern that accompanies a position from which one expects to retire. I would not want to give up what I have been doing since I was a child [writing].
It would be unfair to have to give up doing something that has also brought so much pleasure and good information to so many people. It was, however, only when I realized what I should be writing about and what I should be sharing with the readers – what I knew best – that things really began to happen.
Of course, my husband wisely reminds me, when someone asked about writing their own cookbook, that WRITING it is the easiest part. Knowing how to SELL it is the hard part!
LAST THOUGHTS…
‘Find a job you enjoy doing and you will never have to work a day in your life.’ – Mark Twain
I believe that if you can find something you love to do and turn it into a career, you’re very lucky. I’ve found many interesting reads online, over the past few years, regarding how to find hobbies that make you happy and how to generate income from them. Here are just some of the ones I’ve enjoyed reading.
‘10 Tips To Turn Your Hobby Into A Business’ (updated 5/2/22) by Stephanie Vozza at LegalZoom.com
‘It’s Never Too Late To Start A New Hobby’ (updated 5/27/22) by Elena Peters at MakingMidLifeMatter.com
‘20 Productive Hobbies That Will Make You Smarter And Happier’ (no date) by Chris Haigh, at LifeHack.com
‘30 Best Profitable Hobbies That Make Money’ (updated 9/7/22) by Sara, the dreamer at GatheringDreams.com
Perhaps, you’ve already travelled that road and are looking to retire but don’t want to totally give up what you love doing. Consider the opposite route, as in ‘How To Run A Business As A Hobby’ (no date) by Christian Fisher at SmallBusiness.Chron.com.
IN CLOSING…
In honor of October, being National Apple Month, here’s Mom’s secret recipe for Apple Bread; as seen in her self-published cookbook, Gloria Pitzer’s Mostly 4-Ingredient Recipes (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; April 1986, p. 100).
P.S. Food-for-thought until we meet again, next Monday…
October’s observances include: National Eat Better & Eat Together Month, German-American Heritage Month, Halloween Safety Month, Italian-American Heritage Month, National Applejack Month, National Caramel Month, National Chili Month, National Cookie Month, National Fire Prevention Month, National Go On A Field Trip Month, National Kitchen & Bath Month, National Pasta Month, National Pickled Peppers Month, National Popcorn Poppin’ Month, National Pork Month, National Pretzel Month, National Reading Group Month, National Seafood Month, National Pear and Pineapple Month, Polish-American Heritage Month, National Rhubarb Month, National Spinach Lovers Month, National Vegetarian Month, and World Menopause Month! [October is also the anniversary of Mom’s FIRST appearance on the Kelly & Company show, in Detroit (1990).]
October 10th is… National Angel Food Cake Day, National Cake Decorating Day (as well as being National Bake and Decorate Month), National Handbag Day, and World Mental Health Day! Plus, as the second Monday in October (for 2022), it’s also… Native American Day and Columbus Day! Additionally, it’s also the start of… National School Lunch Week!
October 11th is… National Sausage Pizza Day, as well as it being National Pizza Month and National Sausage Month!
October 12th is… National Vermont Day, National Freethought Day, National Farmer’s Day, and National Gumbo Day! Plus, as the second Wednesday in October (for 2022), it’s also… National Take Your Parents To Lunch Day, National Curves Day, and National Stop Bullying Day (as well as it being National Bullying Prevention Month)! The Wednesday of the second FULL Week in October is also… National Fossil Day!
Thursday, October 13th is… National Train Your Brain Day, National Yorkshire Pudding Day, and National No Bra Day!
October 14th is… National Dessert Day, as well as it being National Dessert Month!
October 15th is… National Shawarma Day, National Cheese Curd Day, National I Love Lucy Day, and National Grouch Day!
October 16th is… National Sports Day, National Liqueur Day, National Dictionary Day, and Department Store Day! Plus, as the third Saturday in October, it’s also… National Sweetest Day! Additionally, as the week of October 16th, it’s… National Food Bank Week, which goes with it also being… National Tackling Hunger Month!
…42 down and 10 to go!
