July 2013 – Write 2 Be

What’s in a Name?

July 18, 2013 jcladyluv

Apparently it is not always about the talent that you have but just the name that you possess. By now most of the literary world knows that J.K. Rowling (famed writer of the Harry Potter Series) has written a book under a pseudonym, Robert Galbraith, called ‘The Cuckoo’s Calling’. Now this book was released in April of this year and it received positive reviews, however, it didn’t do so well in the sales department. I’m sure it wasn’t what J.K. Rowling was used to. Of course that was before it was ‘accidentally’ leaked that the true author of the book was in fact J.K. Rowling.

Now the book has sailed to best-seller status and number one on the Amazon for hardcover and ebook. We all know how talented J.K. Rowling’s writing is and while her name does carry a lot of weight, she actually has the talent to back it up. But when that same talented writer wrote a book under another name, a virtual nobody, no one was looking for the talent, but rather a name that they could recognize.

Proof that you can be the most talented writer but if no one knows who you are and your name hasn’t become a household name, then you have almost no chance (I said almost) of making it as a successful novelist. It’s a little disheartening to be a writer who hasn’t quite made it yet and have that fear hanging overhead that you may not get there simply because no one knows who you are already.

So what that means for all of you unknown authors or one’s who have not yet made the best-seller’s list (that includes me) is that you have to start getting your name out there, even (and preferably) before the book that you are writing comes out. If your name is already buzzing all over the internet and people already know who you are and already are tuned in to the talent that you have it gives you a head start to that best-seller’s list.

Talent is no longer everything that you need to make it. It’s about how well you can sell your product, how much people want to read what it is that you have written, and yes, about whether your name means anything to anyone. So to answer my question in the title of this blog post, what’s in a name, the answer is….EVERYTHING!!!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

Write 2 Be Magazine is now out so please go check it out at http://write2bemagazine.com/. Also please go and join the magazine on twitter https://twitter.com/write2bemag, join the email listing for the magazine or submit a request for an author interview at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com, and also like the Write 2 Be Magazine fan page https://www.facebook.com/Write2BeMagazine. Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.

No Time Like the Present

July 17, 2013 jcladyluv

I’ve been feeling a little bit of writer’s block so I don’t have much to write about today. However, I wanted to encourage all of you out there to stop putting things off until tomorrow, or a week for now, or until you think that all of the stars are aligned. We know that nothing is promised to us and that everything is not going to go smoothly and perfectly with no stumbles and no falls. So if you have a novel that you’ve been meaning to start, a business that you are trying to start, or a goal that needs to be met, don’t wait until you think that everything is just right, don’t keep putting it off. Start today!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

A Great Writer Can Never Forget to Be a Good Reader: 5 Ways to Make Sure You Fit Reading Into Your Everyday Life

July 11, 2013 jcladyluv

I get really frustrated when I can’t find the time to work on my novels, outside of finishing up school, maintaining both my blog and my online magazine, Write 2 Be, trying to keep up with Social media and market myself the way that I should be doing (which I still haven’t mastered yet), and of course, trying to be the best mother that I can be. What frustrates me even more is when I can’t even find the time to read like I want to.

I think that I have been reading the same book for months now (which normally I can read a book quicker than that) and it’s not that it is not interesting or that it is slow because I find myself thinking about the characters and what is going to happen when I am not reading it. I see other writers who have this balancing act down in such a neat and tidy way that you would never know (until you actually sit down and talk to them) that they struggle with these same time constraints as the rest of us writers.

It’s funny because I keep trying to rearrange and arrange again my schedule for writing, for doing school work and for everything else and it would seem that the more that I try and tweek the schedule and the time constraints that the less time I seem to have to write much less to read. However, reading is something that is extremely important for a writer to maintain and it is primarily the reason most of us writers even began to write in the first place.

So I thought of some other tactics that maybe I could try to better fit reading into my daily routine. I thought that maybe I could share them here with you, just in case I am not the only one who is struggling with trying to fit reading into their day.

1) Don’t mix your reading time in with your writing time—I’ve tried this before. I don’t know why I thought that it would work but I quickly found out that this does not work, at least for me. Now granted I have seen people do this. They will write for a few minutes, put their writing aside and then pick up a book and read for a few minutes. I guess this works for some but I think that for the vast majority this does not do anything but make you wish you were reading while you are writing, or vice versa.

2) Make sure that you read a book that holds your interest—I know that it is said to be a bad thing to stop reading a book after you have already started it and once upon a time I would have agreed with this. However, there is no point in wasting time reading a book that is not of interest to you either because it is too slow or it is just not captivating enough. You will save time by just moving on to the next book which, if you love it, will probably take you no time to read.

3) Just like you schedule your writing time, schedule your reading time too—If you have a hectic writing schedule and you have a deadline looming over your head, then you just have to find a way to work reading into your schedule. It may feel odd to have to do this for a task like reading but we fit so much of our daily lives into boxes on a calendar, why not add our reading (down time) to the list.

4) Make your reading time your down time—Use your reading, not as a chore that you must do, but rather as your time to wind down and wrap up your day. Perhaps read a few pages before going to bed which will still keep your mind feeling creative but allowing it to, in a sense, debrief, for the end of the day.

5) Treat Reading As the Norm—You have a routine for most everything that goes into your daily workload and your comings and goings. You know what time slot is for what and how to take a few minutes away from this time block to make room for this other task in the next time block. So make reading apart of your regular routine. After all it should be!

I hope that some of these suggestions work for you. I think that they are already beginning to work for me and I am almost finished with this book and have the next one picked out already. Just remember that a good and avid reader makes for an even better writer!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

How Big Should the Sacrifice Be?

July 10, 2013July 10, 2013 jcladyluv

Well my Fourth of July holiday did not go quite as I had expected it to go. The plans that I had fell through and I in many ways felt as if I was sacrificed and a little taken for granted. It made me wonder just how much is too much to sacrifice for your dream. I know that I have said in the past that there is nothing that I wouldn’t sacrifice (unless it had to do with my daughter) to become the successful writer and media mogul that I feel I am destined to be. Perhaps I should change that to nothing within reason.

I think that sometimes people get so caught up in the pursuit of their dream and their vision that they have moments where they start to neglect the people that they claim are important to them and begin to disregard how they feel. They may even scold those people for “not understanding what it is they are trying to do” and try and make it as if they have done something wrong when in reality they may be starting to forget that there are things outside of their pursuit and their goals that are just as important.

I think that it is 100 percent important for people who have that dream and that vision and that place that they are trying so desperately to reach, to try everything they can (with reason, and that is legal) to get themselves there. Having said that, I do not think that it is okay to forget or neglect the people who have been there for you during the process or to act as if the only thing that matters is what you want, at least not if those people are supposed to be your true friends and your support system.

People that are there for you and support you on your path are just as important as the journey that you are taking and I think that we as artists or just as entrepreneurs should try and remember that when we are pushing the people closest to us away for the sake of our craft. I am willing to sacrifice many things for the sake of my dreams, for my destiny, but I refuse to act as if the people that are around me and that have been there for me don’t matter just to pursue them. Now if there is someone in your life that you realize that you have been neglecting or taking for granted lately for the sake of your craft and in pursuit of those goals, just remember that those people are just as important and just as our craft, or careers, need tending to, so do the relationships that we hold dear.

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

What Do You Expect When You Are Already Planning to Fail?

July 3, 2013 jcladyluv

“You can not expect victory and plan for defeat”

~Joel Osteen

I saw the above quote and in many ways I felt like it tied so well into what I wrote about yesterday. Something that living in the past causes us to do as well is to play things so safe that we end up planning for the worst that could happen instead of trusting in the best that God has for us.

As I read the quote I realized that when I am making back up plans and when I am cautioning myself for the other shoe to drop I am essentially expecting to be defeated and in turn planning for that defeat. I can’t believe that I never saw it that way. I just always thought I was just preparing for all of the possible scenarios, or for the inevitable pitfalls that can often times happen when we least expect it. Instead I have been discounting my future victory by having the attitude of one that has already been defeated. Yet another way that I have been sabotaging myself without even realizing that was what I was doing.

Why do we have so many back up plans when we claim that we know what it is we want out of our lives? When we already know the purpose that God has put us here for, why would we keep making plans for a different route then the one that he has already mapped out? God didn’t give us our gift so that we can serve his purpose only for us to question the direction that he wants us to take. Had he wanted us to go in the opposite direction he would have steered us that way to begin with.

As I realize the things that I am doing to work against myself and my own goals I make the very best attempts to get back on track and to keep walking in the right direction. I am still a work in progress on trying to conquer the many fears that I have and trying to maintain that unshakable faith in the direction that I am being steered in. When you feel like you are getting off track, don’t plan for what you can do once you’ve been defeated. Instead, plan for how you can get back on track to the purpose that you are destined for. I think that all we can do on our journey is to trust in the direction that God has us walking on enough to plan for our victories instead of preparing for our defeats.

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

Stepping Out of the Shadow of Yesterday’s Mistakes and Into Today’s Opportunities

July 2, 2013 jcladyluv

“Don’t dwell on the negative. Program your mind with what God says about you and a transformation will take place.”

~Joel Osteen

We all have past regrets and past pain that we have to live with. We may have even been dealt a bad hand in life that was beyond our control that still haunts us throughout our journey. We tend to go over it in our heads about what we did, what we should have done, what we could have done differently, or what was done to us that we allowed to happen, and we get stuck in that repetitive cycle. Without realizing it, we carry that pain with us and we sometimes stay stuck in our mistakes and we end up hindering our own progress by living our lives with the thoughts of that pain and those mistakes in our minds.

We don’t mean to, but we allow our past to dictate our future in such a way that we actually hold ourselves back. We don’t want to be hurt again so we just don’t allow anyone in and we don’t trust. We don’t want to keep making that same mistake so we become overly cautious to the point of not really living. We don’t want to get rejected as we have been in the past so we just stop trying altogether. We wear those mistakes like a badge of bravery as something to take with us on our journey, something to toughen us up, and we don’t even realize that what we are really doing is settling into our regrets and reliving that past pain constantly. All this does is hold us back in our past instead of moving us forward into our future.

I know that for far too long I let my childhood and the emotional and physical abuse that I endured from my mother hold me back from moving forward. At times I even used it as an excuse for some of the big mistakes that I have made in my life. I have, at different times in my life, used what my mother put me through in my childhood as a reason that I didn’t try to achieve certain goals, all because she said I never would. I have allowed that past pain and my past mistakes to make me so cautious as to not be hurt again or to not make any more monumental mistakes that I end up missing many opportunities. It is true that I couldn’t really control what happened to me as a child but all of the choices made as an adult were mine and mine alone. I got stuck in my past and for so long it kept me from progressing towards my future.

Everyone has something that they regret and that they would go back and change if they could or a past pain that they would erase if given the chance. In order to succeed in accomplishing our goals and our dreams we can’t keep allowing ourselves to be stuck in the mistakes of our past or the pain that we’ve been put through. We have to use those things for the lessons that they are and transform those teachable moments into opportunities to grab ahold of the destiny that God has promised to us. We can’t control the things that have already been done to us but we do have the power over our own choices as to how we move forward into our future. Don’t settle into your past, there’s nothing left there anymore to go back to!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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