What's In A Name?

Today I made a business decision to change the name of my blog Karma's Word and web site, Karma's Window, to Carma's Word and Carma's Window respectively. This prompted me to think about What's in a Name anyway? How important is it to our business and personal identity?

Does your name define you? Did you choose your name? How many of us changed our name as we grew older?

As you may notice, my name is Carma With a C. Not Carmen, Carmel or Carnival, although I have been called all of those.

What’s in a name anyway? I didn’t pick my name, did you? You remember the song by Johnny Cash, A Boy Named Sue? The song more or less tells the story of a boy named Sue who had to defend his name all his life. He dreamed of the day he would meet the man who named him Sue and how he would tear him apart.

Father and son met up in prison and Sue confronted him, asking Why did you name me Sue??? The father replied that he knew Sue would not have a father around to teach him to be strong so he gave him the name Sue knowing that would make him tough because he would have to defend himself all his life. The point is that even before we are born, many decisions are made for us which will influence our journey in life.

My grandmother named me Carma. Many years later my mother told me that grandma did not have anything mystical or spiritual in mind when she named me. She wanted me to be different since I was the first granddaughter. Maybe she was a little like Sue’s dad and believed the name would give me character. I would be different.

I like my name now, but while growing up it made me more introverted than if I had been named Mary Lou. I dreamed of changing my name to Mary Lou, Donna, Peggy Sue... all the names songs were written about. No one wrote a song about Carma.

Naturally, I was shy during my school years which were during the era of miles and miles of mesh, net petty coats, rolled down bobby socks, buck skin shoes and felt skirts with poodles on them and James Dean. Young girls were expected to grow up, get married and have children. I didn’t disappoint that prognosis, however, how I accomplished that was not what my mother had in mind (another story). Nevertheless, as an adult it was much easier to be Carma, I was the cool girl with the cool name. This is when I began to like myself a little better.

What's In Your Name?

Write it down,
Carma

When Does the Muse Hit You?

Ok, so you have been writing for days and most of it is mediocre stuff but yet it is good. Sometimes all it takes is a word, a flashback, or your brain has found the answer to a question you sent it last week. Bang! Aha! Our Muse does not tell time so it will pop in at the least moment we expect it.

You are changing baby boy’s diapers and as you open the diaper…ahem…, he deposits his daily duty at the exact same second the story plot of your novel begins to unfold from your brain, down the arm and into the fingers in record time with no way to stop it. The fingers are twitching and the words…the words. They are the ones you have been searching for. Arrgghhh! You fear they will fly away on the wings of a butterfly.

What would YOU do?

Suggestion one: Close up baby boy’s diaper and stick the pacifier in his mouth and rush to the nearest writing pad or keyboard.

Suggestion two: Lovingly finish taking care of baby boy, rock him, feed him and put him down for a nap. Leisurely, stroll to the keyboard and rewind your brain. (You would have had to overdose on warm milk to utilize this suggestion.)

Suggestion three: Go with the flow. Not baby boy’s flow, but your flow. Your flow of words. Believe me you will remember some of the creative outburst. All it takes are just a few words on paper or on the PC screen from you to wake the Muse up again. Have patience. The Muse will come back.

For me the Muse does not always come at will but that’s the beauty of the creative mind. The unexpected moments when it all comes together and makes sense (mostly) or at least enough sense to spur you on your way to completion of your book or project.

Your mind is always working to fill your requests. Just listen and it will come.

Write it down,

Karma

It's All About the Tummy Rub

Meet Taylor. She is my nine year old Pomeranian and she lives for the tummy rub.

Today when I was giving her the required tummy rub after her walk, I began to think about how we humans thrive on a phrase, word, or touch that says "I'm OK, You're OK".

What drives us to continually seek out approval from our peers, family and even strangers?

Are we searching for new answers to old problems? Thomas Harris' book says most people by age three are saying "I'm Not OK - You're OK" . So those of us who are still in that stage resort to withdrawal, games and rituals in order to get our strokes and avoid painful contact with people who are percieved as OK.

I read this book about 35 years ago and it is time to revisit it.

Write it down,

Karma

Free Speech Quote

Tonight as I was reading, I dropped by Liz Strauss where she had posted Bloggy Question 44: Stay Out of My Life! which basically deals with theft and plagiarism. Then I landed at The Lieurance Group and read Linda Della Donna's "Quote of the Day" post which was a quote from Henry Ward Beecher regarding free speech.

"There is tonic in the things that men do not love to hear; and there is damnation in the things that wicked men love to hear. Free speech is to a great people what winds are to oceans and malarial regions, which waft away the elements of disease, and bring new elements of health. And where free speech is stopped miasma is bred, and death comes fast."-

Henry Ward Beecher

Plagiarism is opposite of free speech and causes a poisonous atmosphere in the writing world. When our words are stolen a piece of our soul is too.

Write it down,
Karma

The Skeleton Holds the Key

Lately the Beast has had its tentacles in my shoulder. It is relentless and ruthless. This is familiar territory because ten years ago I was at this exact same point of misery. Writing and talking are my two favorite things to do and that is how I was able to pry those skeleton-like fingers out of my flesh then and now. Writing helped me to ease the pain and I thought I would share this with you.

Thin lines like spider webs are the only things that
keep the thin membrane that separates my logical
mind from insanity breaking in and letting the ocean
engulf my whole being.
Forty plus years have passed since that
first moment of madness entered my world
when I was too young to know how to
close the door. Now the room is too full and the door is broken.
Rigidity has encased my heart and
the persistent knocking of a welcome friend
long since muffled, falls
on deaf ears.
Oh, solitude is a welcome stranger I cry
but the bricks of my prison walls are
sleeping and my words cannot escape.
But wait, I see the key and it is beckoning
To me like the dancing finger on a skeleton.

(Carma Dutra)

The freedom to use the written word in any responsible fashion we choose is the most precious gift that anyone can possess. I bring this up because about two-thirds of the world would die (and they have and still do) to have this right. I know I am preaching to the choir but I think it is worth bringing up again from time to time lest we get too complacent with ourselves. Just a thought.


Write it down,
Karma

JUROR NUMBER SEVEN

It was quite fitting that Roger von Oech post about the number 12 on the day I began my civic duty as Juror #7. The number seven is a mystic and sacred number in our society.

“Lucky 7” dice, Seven days of the week, Seven deadly sins, Arabians had

Seven Holy Temples, Seven days in creation.

The Hebrew verb for "to swear" means literally to come under the influence of seven things.

Seven Natural Wonders of the World: 1) Mt. Everest. 2) Victoria Falls. 3) The Grand Canyon. 4) The Great Barrier Reef. 5) The Northern Lights. 6) Paricutin. 7) The Harbor at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Seven Seas: The Arctic and Antarctic, North and South Pacific, North and South Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean.

Seven-year Itch: The seven-year itch has been synonymous for sexual desire since 1660. Seven-year itch had no sexual connotation when first recorded in 1899, simply meaning "a type of itch allegedly requiring seven years of healing." Influenced by the sense of itch as sexual desire, it came to mean a married man's urge to roam after seven years of marriage, a meaning widely popularized by the Marilyn Monroe movie The Seven Year Itch (1955). Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins (Hendrickson, 1987)

Go to this website to find out more about the number Seven. I found it fascinating. http://towerweb.net/alt-lib/seven.shtml

Unlike 12, the number 7 cannot be divided evenly and I am not sure if there is a significance for odd numbers, other than they do exist. Odd or even, left or right. We are always one or the other.

Thank you Roger von Oech from Creative Think for once again providing us with vigorous stimulation for our brains. Every once in a while it is good to get a A Whack on the Side of the Head.

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Karma

"10 Ways To Make It Great" Book Review

I just finished reading Phil Gerbyshak’s book, “10 Ways To Make It Great!” Phil’s enthusiasm stands out on each page and he has equipped the reader to become an active participant by making the book not only motivational, but also a daily work book with spaces for notes and goals. This is the type of book you don’t put back on the shelf after you read it. You will carry this book around with you for quite a while.

Phil redefined my definition of what it means to answer someone with the word “Fine” in response to the question How are you? In the past when I would answer Fine, I felt confident that no one would pry any further as to my condition or feelings. In other words, answering with "Fine" was a way to put up another wall to keep people out. Read 10 Ways To Make It Great and find out what is wrong with being "Fine".

10 Ways To Make It Great also sheds insight into the type of person Phil Gerbyshak is. He definitely is a Woo person but you will have to read the book to find out what a Woo person is.

Chapter 10, Finish What You Start, really spoke to me because I can start a lot of things but finishing is another story. Phil gives me the tools to help make my biggest fears more manageable and doable.

All in all 10 Ways To Make It Great is just that. It is Great! I recommend you experience Make It Great and get this book.

Write it down,

Karma