Are you Up for the Challenge?

SIXTH ANNUAL FUNDSFORWRITERS ESSAY CONTEST - SPONSORED BY NABBW.COM

FundsforWriters and the National Association of Baby Boomer Women announce the Annual FFW Essay Contest with the theme: Make Us Want to Be You! In 750 words or less, either send us a remarkable promotional plan for your writing project or tell us what you'd do with your writing career if you had a year to devote to your passion. As always with a FFW contest, you choose whether to pay a $5 entry fee or not. The first prize for the entry fee division is $200. The first prize for the non-entry fee division is $50. Deadline October 31, 2007. Winners announced December 1, 2007. Visit our sponsor at http://www.nabbw.com/. www.fundsforwriters.com/annualcontest.htm

Take a few minutes to look around Hope Clark's FundsforWriters. You will find a lot of good things going on.

Write it down,

Carma

Chicka Boomer, Chicka Boomer

According to many sources, Baby Boomers are a group of people who were born after WWII in countries having large spikes of births between the years 1946 to 1964. What about people like me...or you, who don't fit within that 18 year range? For goodness sakes, two of my children are Baby Boomers!!! (However, comparison between the two groups is another story for another time.)

Be truthful now, when you hear the word Baby Boomers, don't you think of people who were born in the 1940's, grew up in the 1950's early 1960's and were weaned on Rock 'N' Roll in its infancy? I do too.

Last year my local newspaper put out requests for Baby Boomer articles. I jumped at the opportunity to be able to share my experiences of growing up in a small Texas town during the age of innocence, when businesses where formed with a hand shake; kids addressed their parents Yes sir, and Yes Mam; when teachers spoke, kids listened; when putting peanuts in your Coke was daring and Coke was a soft drink.

Oh, so many other wonderful icons, like hula hoops, poodle skirts, James Dean, and of course Elvis and "I Like Ike" campaign slogans. I'm an expert. I was mesmerized each week watching The Dorsey Brothers Show and Hit Parade. That was our MTV, only it was live and performers wore clothes.

Imagine my dismay when I was rejected because I was too old!!! Doesn't experience count for anything anymore? Interestingly I found out that several companies and organizations are willing to proclaim me as a Baby Boomer, as long as I can afford the entry fee.

Write it down,

Carma

Paradoxical Commandment #6

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

Our history books are full of men and women like Socrates... Columbus..., Lincoln..., Gandhi..., Susan B. Anthony..., Martin Luther King, Jr... who have had big ideas and were shot down literally or figuratively by smaller people. People who laughed at them, locked them up or killed them.

A “small person” is one who sees life in small terms and usually a good friend and hard worker. Also, a small person clings to the way things have always been without asking Why? A small person has usually mastered his own routine and doesn’t want it to change? Do you recognize this trait in anyone you know?

Not all big ideas are successes but we don’t know what will work until we give it an honest try. People and organizations need dreams. What do you think mission and vision statements are? They are big ideas and dreams about what could or should be. Do you have a vision or mission statement? Vision statements give you a reason to learn and grow.

Kent Keith writes in Anyway “Big ideas have established freedom, saved lives, protected the natural environment, provided new services, created jobs….enhanced the quality of life for millions of people”

We have big problems and we need big solutions. We need people who can look beyond the status quo. Are you one of those people? If you are reading this, I believe you are. If you are a self-publisher (blogger) I believe you are.

Write it down,

Carma

Paradoxical Commandment #5

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

We live in a world of conflict and we learn to protect ourselves by putting up a wall of “polite pretending” to keep people out when we have been injured.

Tact is important. I wouldn’t recommend telling some one off, just because it was an honest emotion. Some words should never be said. Also, being able to keep confidences are an important part of a persons character.

When Kent Keith talks about being vulnerable, he is talking about using common sense and tact as you build strong relationships in your organizational life and your family. Keith says, "Vulnerability can be a door to new relationships, new opportunities, new ways to grow, and new ways to live and work together. "

Write it down,
Carma

Paradoxical Commandment #4

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Much of the good work you do will be remembered for a short time. The most important thing to remember is who you are and how you live.

Take the time to smile at the lady in the check stand, open the door for the person behind you at the bank, be the first person to start cleaning up after a meeting. More than likely no one will notice but you will be making some ones life happier in small ways.

I think CanadianChristine’s post God and the Chocolate ice cream is a good supplement to the Paradoxical Commandment #4. So many of us are looking for meaning and one way to obtain personal meaning is to do good anyway. Therefore this little video is quite inspiring. We all need to pay attention to our spiritual well being.

Write it down,
Carma

Lesson Learned. Communication is King!

Oops! This is what I said when I opened my email from my new (and only paying) client. I didn’t even realize the magazine was my client until three weeks ago when I was asked for my social.

Last month, my client (a local magazine publisher) found my business card in my non-paying client’s office and was excited to find someone local who can write. I was also elated, since I have begun my writing business this year I have not received any compensation, unless you count free lunches as being compensated.

I was approached by a coach for a local swimming team which has produced an Olympic trial qualifier. The coach wanted to have a story published that would boost the benefits of organized youth sports namely the swim team. Also he wanted me to contact the newspaper to pitch the article. I told him my rate. No problem.

I was given phone numbers of several different coaches and after numerous attempts to contact someone, no one was calling me back. In the meantime, my new client called to ask me if I had been contacted by this coach and I told her my experience. She had also received several emails asking her magazine to do an article.

I asked her, “Are you going to do the article?” She laughed and said “That’s what I’m asking you to do?” Great.

Three weeks have passed without any communication between me, the swim team or my client until today. I received two separate emails . One asked me to send the swim team article to them by Friday, July 13 and the second one was asking for the CEO article (which I ghostwrite) by Friday as well. Feast or famine. I am new to all this but I find it quite exciting. Also, I feel I am being taken seriously as a writer by someone other than my family.

Nevertheless, communication skills are king and I have learned an important lesson. Do not assume any thing and it is a good idea to become an astute listener.

Write it down,

Carma

Paradoxical Commandment #3

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

This commandment alludes to positional success. For instance if you become a department head or an elected official, you will meet two kinds of friends: personal and positional and true enemies. Positional friends are good for business. This type of friend is loyal to the cause, ideology, issue, etc. and who ever fills the position will gain their support. In other words, they are on the payroll. A personal friend does not need an explanation. For the most part, true enemies will attack anyone who fills your position. In many cases it is not always personal.

A successful person is also vulnerable to public criticism because somebody else wants your success. They don’t want it so that they can be in your shoes, rather they are resentful of anyone who succeeds. You become the target because the attack on you is not about you it is about them. However, other people attack because they are upset you do not agree with them. Does this sound familiar?

I was the target of unkind personal attacks not too long ago. However, I hung in there and completed my term of office anyway. Therefore, I know the difficulty in practicing this Paradoxical Commandment. Succeed Anyway. In the end you are better for it.

Write it down,
Carma