Month: May 2011

No Matter How Hard It Gets

jcladyluv

“No one will ever see me quit, because I simply won’t. If I start something, I will finish it and do it well.”
~Steve Belmarsh 

I was thinking the other day about whether or not all of this time I have been trying to pursue my dreams of writing full time, owning my own publishing company, and magazine, I have just been kidding myself into thinking that I can really do this.  Maybe I’ve just been kidding myself that I am good enough to do this.  I mean I know I can write and that isn’t the problem.  It’s all of the other stuff that goes along with forging a successful writing career and becoming a successful entrepreneur, like being techno-savvy, and most importantly being able to put the money into it.  I think that I may have been kidding myself to think that sheer talent was all that it would take to turn my dreams into reality and that money was secondary because as much as I would like to think that money is not necessary when you have the talent and the drive, that is far from the truth.  

In the midst of this negative line of thinking that I try not to let get to me I was reminded of a song the other day from the movie The Five Heartbeats called “We Haven’t Finished Yet”.  In the first line of the song it talks about the fact that there are some people who run at the first sight of stormy weather and some people hold on and work it out.  I had to stop and think, “I’m not a quitter”, I don’t run just because something doesn’t work out the way I want it to, that just isn’t me at all.  The song made me think about how sometimes we just have to deal with things the way they are at the present moment and not get so caught up in the way that we wish that things could be.  True, things are not going the way I had hoped they would, but that just means I’m going to have to find other avenues to take towards making my dreams a reality.    

There are always going to be more days that I just want to throw my hands up and say forget it and just give up but I feel like if I give up now I’ll be missing out on my blessing that may be just around the corner.  The devil has really been working on my spirit and making me have all kinds of doubts about myself and my dreams and what contribution I can make to this world.  It’s funny how he seems to know just what buttons to push to make you start to go down the wrong path.  It’s even funnier just how strong you have to be to get back on the right one.  When I get to thinking that I can’t do this and I should just give up I’m going to remember the Five Heartbeats movie and think about that song and that “No matter how hard it gets” I’m not finished yet.  

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://spokenlikeaqueen.wordpress.com/

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

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So Not the Social Networking Butterfly

jcladyluv

Now I am not a social butterfly per say but I am definitely not socially inept when it comes to going out and meeting people.  Most of the time, I am able to strike up whole conversations with perfect strangers so I consider myself to be a lot less shy then I used to be many years ago.  However, as social as I can be I can not seem to get enthusiastic about this incredible surge of social media networking.  It seems to be so necessary now just to be considered successful but are you really not a success if you’re not any good at it?  

I was actually having a conversation with Ms. L. the other night about social networking and adapting to the need for me to being internet savvy.  We discussed all things Twitter and Facebook and what I am doing, what I’m not doing, and what I could be doing better to put myself out there even more.  All I kept saying to her was that I understand that I need to do those things but it just seems so time consuming and it is essentially a distraction from doing what it is that I really want to be doing which is writing.  

It’s quite funny because I am one who is soon planning on embarking on the start-up of my own online writing magazine.  I love to blog.  I love the thought of having articles being published online.  I am constantly doing research online.  I even check the stats of my blogs and the google search results for my name every other week.  So it isn’t that I don’t want an internet presence otherwise I would never bother with it altogether.  What I don’t like is that if someone is not on facebook and not tweeting to death and they don’t have an overwhelming internet presence then their rate of success as a writer, or any type of artists or business person is diminished just because of it.  When did people get so wrapped up in the person presented on the internet that the talent that they do or do not possess no longer matters?     

Having said that, I do realize that to be the success that I want to be as a writer I must become a better social networking butterfly.  I think that it’s just going to take me some time to get better at something that I have absolutely zero interest in and can’t seem to muster up the enthusiasm to do.  So maybe you guys can tell me what you really think about social networking?  What advice can you give me as someone who isn’t totally into it, to still be successful at it? 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://spokenlikeaqueen.wordpress.com/

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

Idea Overload

jcladyluv

So every now and then I get the dreaded writer’s block where I can’t think of a single thing to write and I get more and more frustrated which just makes me more blocked.  People tend to think that that’s the worst thing that can happen to a writer and for some it may be.  However, for me the worst thing is when I have so many ideas rattling around in my head that I can not focus on just one of them at a time.  Even when I try to section off projects and work on one at a certain designated time, and another at a different time, then three more ideas pop into my head that I can’t stop thinking about.  

Now I know some might say that having an array of ideas to choose from is not a bad thing but that all depends on who you are as a writer.  I suppose if I was good at jotting down some notes or recording notes for one project and then setting it aside until I am finished my current project then it would be okay.  Unfortunately, I am not one of those writers who could set aside any one idea.  I have a list of projects that I am supposed to be working on right now but I find myself constantly adding to that list, which causes me to procrastinate trying to figure out how to cram all 20 something ideas into a realistic time frame.  

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not as if I would rather have writer’s block instead because that wouldn’t be any fun either.  I just wish all of these characters would stop popping up into my subconscious out of nowhere, pushing the already developing characters that I am currently interacting with aside and fighting for my attention.  Well I guess I’m done rambling for now, I’ve got to go deal with the characters that need to be heard.  

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://freemynd.wordpress.com/

http://spokenlikeaqueen.blogspot.com/ 

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

www.authorsden.com/jimmettacarpenter

 

A Bad Case of How Did I Get Here

jcladyluv

“Many of life’s failures are people who had not realized how close they were to success when they gave up.”

~Thomas Edison 

So I was reading Ms. L’s blog post yesterday, “Bucket List”, and started thinking about all of the things that I might include on my own personal bucket list and if I was so courageous enough to make a list, just how many of those things would I actually be able to cross off.  

For the past few weeks I have been trying to not to be depressed over the state of my current circumstances, and I must say I have been losing that battle because it just seems like things keep getting worse.  I’ve been waking up day after day wondering how I got here at the age of 30 (almost 31) and still so far behind in my list of goals and accomplishments.  It’s like every time something goes right there are three more things that go wrong to completely demolish the one right thing that happened.  

I guess you could say that for a little while I lost my motivation for even trying to make things go my way.  I figured that if it was meant to happen for me it would’ve happened by now, right?  Well I have come back to my senses now and I am ready to get right back in the ring of life and fight for where I want my life to be.  I have had my share of what some might call luck and I have definitely had some miracles along the way and that has to count for something.  

So maybe I wouldn’t be able to check off even half of my list yet.  Maybe I am not quite there yet in succeeding in all of the aspects of life that I want to but I am not at square one either.  Even being in the middle of my journey means that I have accomplished something worth being proud of.  I may have quite a ways to go but stopping now is not an option that I am willing to explore.  

When I stop to think about how I got here, I have to think about where here actually is.  I am relatively healthy, I have a beautiful and healthy vibrant and incredibly smart daughter, I have the talent and ability to write which is what I’ve wanted to do since I was six years old, and I have the drive and determination to make it happen no matter what or how long it takes.  I guess when I sit back and think about it, being “here” isn’t really so bad. 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://freemynd.wordpress.com/

http://spokenlikeaqueen.blogspot.com/ 

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

www.authorsden.com/jimmettacarpenter