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Barbara Brabec’s
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Personal Musings about Life

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January 2025

How to Chronicle Your Life
or a Specific Time in It

Ever think about what you want to do with the rest of your life? If you decide to start a new life endeavor or move into a new area of learning and growth, putting your plans in writing will help you achieve your goal.

The age of forty was a turning point in my life. After five years of publication, Harry and I had just closed Artisan Crafts magazine—a literary success but a financial flop. Although I’d written countless articles and letters during those years, I never thought of myself as a writer because I’d dubbed myself the Editor of the magazine. However, the failure of this first business venture made me want to be a professional writer someday. To achieve my goal, I started a handwritten journal to document my journey and captured my feelings in this January 1977 entry:

“If I were to title my autobiography now, it would be Who am I, Where Am I Going, and How Do I Get There from Here? That sums up how I’m feeling at the age of 40 as I sit here at my portable typewriter with its worn-out ribbon, dressed in a stupid outfit of red shorts and a blue blouse, fifty pounds overweight, hair a’stringin’, looking like a worn-out middle-aged suburban housewife. Who would believe all that I have stored inside me?”

I journaled about my hopes and dreams and outlined what I needed to do to accomplish particular goals. Once I got a computer, I began to put all my notes and ideas in computer file folders, but I still needed hard copy because my brain reacts differently to words on a computer screen versus words on paper. I still work the same way today, putting thoughts and ideas into various documents that provide grist for my writing. Often, in looking through writing published years ago, I see things that weren’t obvious to me when I originally wrote them. That’s why I’ve always encouraged business owners to journal their daily business activities, ideas, plans, and accomplishments. Rereading them from time to time is not only personally satisfying but often the best way to spark profitable new ideas.

Journal Note, January 22, 1977

Have you ever read a book that changed your life? One that got you so excited you couldn’t sleep? This little story tells you how three books put me on the path to being a professional writer.

“Yesterday Harry and I went to the library. He wanted to look for records; I needed some photocopies. When done, I looked for some books on the craft of writing and selected three for checkout: William Zinsser’s On Writing Well, Max Gunther’s Writing the Modern Magazine Article, and The Writer’s Handbook--What to Write, How to Write It, Where to Sell It.

“When we got home, I asked Harry if he was going to work or be lazy and he said lazy. “Me too,” I said as I put water on for tea. I was soon cozily seated in Harry’s rocking chair with On Writing Well in my lap. I read until 5 o’clock when I had to stop to fix dinner, resenting the intrusion in my reading adventure. What a fine writer Zinsser is! He got me so excited about the possibility of being a real writer that I couldn’t care less about fixing dinner. Anybody can be a cook.

“I continued to read all evening, oblivious to the TV when Harry turned it on because I was well into the second book by then. By midnight, I’d finished it and started thumbing through The Writer’s Handbook. Realizing I couldn’t start another book then, I forced myself to put it down, but I couldn’t sleep for thinking about all the stories I could write.

“I can hardly wait to get back to the library and get more books on writing. Already I’ve learned much I can put into use, and this morning I’m starting an idea file on things I’d like to research and write about.”

Journal Note, August 1977

“My goal now is to put as many words to paper as possible so I can capture myself as I grow older. Before I die, I want to know myself as fully as possible, and since I do not know what perils, pitfalls, or predicaments I may yet get involved in, this should make interesting reading later (at least for me). And who knows but what my own life contains a story that could someday be told?”

Two Years Later …

My dream to be a professional writer came true in 1979 when my first book was published. It lived for 32 years and enjoyed sales of more than 110,000 copies before being declared out of print. My second best-selling home business book was published in 1984 and sold nearly 190,000 books. To date, I have published a dozen books and have another in progress now. Part of my life story is documented in my two memoirs and in every article, post, and Bulletin I’ve published on this website. More of my life story is told in the book I plan to publish this year.

Whatever your age, whatever your dreams, documenting your goals in writing will help you measure the progress you’re making. I urge you to reach for the moon and read books that will help you make your dreams come true. Just look what three books did for me 48 years ago.

Postscript: I can’t take all the credit for my accomplishments. God gave me the gifts of writing and communication, and I couldn’t have made it through all the valleys of life without my faith and the knowledge that God had a plan for my life (Jeremiah 29:11) when I was conceived and has been working all things together for my good ever since (Romans 8:28). God has a plan for your life too. Talk to Him about it!

NOTE: Your subscription to the Brabec Real Life Bulletin includes my mid-month TIDBITS Bulletin—short takes on things I've found noteworthy, with links for more information if I've piqued your curiosity. TIDBITS bulletins are not archived, but selected MUSINGS posts are archived here and identified as such in the Table of Contents. 

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Visit the HOME page for Timely Quotes and links to Featured Articles of the month. Thanks for linking others to Barbara Brabec’s World. Comments to this post are invited and emails are always welcomed and answered as soon as possible.

Brabec Real Life Bulletins
Published in 2025

January 6, 2025: Has Your Identity Been Leaked in a Security Breach? Most likely, yes, which means your identity is on the Dark Web. If cybercriminals don’t have your personal and financial information yet, they will keep trying to get it so they can sell it on the Dark Web to buyers who could destroy your life.

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