Month: September 2014

That Nurturing Presence

jcladyluv

Nurturing Presence

I was talking to someone the other day about my brand and my company, Write 2 Be, and I was explaining the message to her and she responded so positively to it. She conveyed some issues that her daughter has in school with bullying and with feeling that she doesn’t fit it because she’s not quite like the other kids, she’s unique and has an artistic mind, which most people who are not artistic cannot identify with. I could relate to her daughter’s issues because my daughter had been having the same and I too had those issues when I was younger in grade school.

Her mother shared excitement in the mentoring program that I am working on putting together, which centers around the premise of using the arts (which are sadly slowly being removed from our schools) as a way to foster courage and self-love, self-acceptance, and confidence in an individual’s uniqueness. She asked me what was taking so long because the kids growing up need a program like that (specifically in my area). I really could only respond with the fact that I would need a grant for that sort of program and the excuse that I still haven’t gathered up everything to put a grant proposal together for that yet.

It was nice and motivating to hear someone else so excited about what I am doing and what I want my brand to stand for. It got me to thinking about the fact that if more kids had this sort of mentoring program, one telling kids all the things that they can do versus telling them all of the things that they can’t do, or even worse, telling them all of the road blocks that will stand in their way, then maybe we would have more kids confident that they can be somebody and that they can be much more than their current circumstances or possibly more than their current environment (if they are not in a nurturing environment).

I think that if I had someone like that when I was growing up I wouldn’t have done so many stupid things to try and conform and fit in to what everyone else wanted me to be. I think that if someone had told me that I was special and that I was talented and that I could be anything that I wanted to be that it may not have taken so long for me to grasp that fact. I think that I definitely would have had a lot more confidence in myself and in the purpose that God gave me. I might have realized that it was my purpose a lot sooner.

There is nothing better for a child than for them to know that there is someone that believes in them. Even if it is only that one person, their parent(s), their sibling, their friend, that one teacher, or that one person who doesn’t have to, but that takes the time to nurture their gift, it matters. While I know that I am supposed to only be focused on living in the moment, I can’t help but wonder sometimes what would be different if my gifts were nurtured growing up. I know I can’t go back and change what I didn’t have growing up but I can make a difference for other children growing up today by creating that nurturing environment for their talents and gifts, for them to discover their purpose and tell them that they should do nothing less than go for it.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

http://write2bemagazine.com/

https://twitter.com/write2bemag

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

https://twitter.com/jcladyluv

Advertisement

Staying Focused on My Own Journey

jcladyluv

My own Journey

An old friend of mine posted some words of wisdom on his Facebook page today that resonated with me. His post started off with these words “Ignore the comparisons and expectations knocking at your door. The only person that you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday. Prove yourself to yourself, not others.” It went on to say more but I stopped there because it dawned on me that while I have gotten out of the practice of trying to impress and prove something to other people around me, I haven’t quite managed to prove the things to myself that I need to. I haven’t quite lived up to my own expectations, both of others and myself.

I have a huge amount of goals for a huge, damn near impossible dream that I have had since I was younger, and where I am now at this exact point in time is not where I imagined I would be right now. My own expectations have not been met and the terrible realization is that I only have myself to blame for that. I have something to prove to myself about my real intentions towards my dreams and about my true ability to be able to get what I need to get done to accomplish those goals.

I make comparisons all the time (subconsciously) about how far someone else has come and about the life some others around me may have. It’s not that I want their life per say, but rather that I see that they are where they want to be in their life and I am not quite there yet. But there’s this quote that reminds me that I can’t drive myself crazy with where someone else stands in their life. It says “don’t compare your chapter 1 to someone else’s chapter 20” and I am guilty of doing that a lot. I take someone else who is in their home stretch of their journey and compare it to me being in the middle of mine.

I have to keep in mind that I’m just in the middle of my journey and I haven’t even begun to realize the blessings that are going to come my way. When that frustration starts to set in and I look around at everyone’s seemingly perfect circumstances I have to be reminded that I don’t know what is going on behind their side of the fence. Their grass might not be as green on their side as it appears and as long as I continue to water my side of the fence my grass has the potential to be just as green, if not brighter.

So I’m going to stop looking over on other people’s paths and stay focused on mine. I can’t afford to be forced into a detour because I simply wasn’t focused on where I was going. I’m going to work hard on staying in my lane and looking straight ahead. What’s for me is on my side of the fence, not over in someone else’s yard.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

http://write2bemagazine.com/

https://twitter.com/write2bemag

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

https://twitter.com/jcladyluv

Getting My Creative House In Order

jcladyluv

Creativity 2

The space that you have to create in is very important to a writer, or to an artists’ in general. Sure it is said and has been proven that a writer can pretty much write anywhere, whether it’s just in their head while their driving around, or at a coffee shop in the hustle and bustle of everyday strangers. However, the space that a writer has at home or at wherever they choose to call their office, I’ve come to realize is incredibly important.

Looking over at the corner of my room that is designated as my office I am shocked at how out of order I have let it get. There are so many initiatives that I was supposed to take to spark my creativity on a daily, or at least regular basis but my working are does not depict that. My desk is cluttered, far more than I would like it to be, and my bulletin board contains lists of things to get done that just simply haven’t even been halfway accomplished. My vision board that I was supposed to have created by now, well the items to go on the vision board are scattered across my desk somewhere so clear it’s not displayed as it should be. Maybe that is why I am struggling with keeping my eye on the vision that I have and not veering off into the land of self-doubt.

You know how people get when it comes to Spring cleaning and emptying out their closets and getting their house in shape. Well that is how I feel when Fall rolls around about my writing space. I think that I need to take some time in this month of getting back to reigniting my creativity and refresh my creative space. I think that this is definitely something that I have to tackle during this month in order to truly get my creativity going strong again.

If your mind is already cluttered with ideas then there isn’t really a benefit to having a cluttered space in which you are supposed to create in. In a career such as being a writer where ideas and projects can be all over the place, you need something about your creative process to be focused and organized. So this weekend that is going to be one of the many things that I try to put into perspective. I am feeling the surge of creativity flow again, stronger than it has been in recent months, and I want to guard this surge with everything.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

http://write2bemagazine.com/

https://twitter.com/write2bemag

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

https://twitter.com/jcladyluv

Creative Breakthrough

jcladyluv

Breakthrough

This month has done exactly what I wanted it to do by focusing more on the actual craft of writing. It has reignited some creativity that I truly was starting to believe I was losing little by little. I had all of these ideas in my head but they just weren’t coming out on paper and they weren’t really coming into focus. These ideas were in bits and pieces trying to formulate themselves and it just wasn’t happening. But somehow when I took this time to focus on the writing itself and not solely on the marketing and the business side of things it seems to have helped those pieces come together.

I have been putting more and more of my ideas down on paper and they are starting to seem like more of a real possibility. I have even started to have a breakthrough on some ideas for my next novel that I have been stuck on up until now. I feel myself coming out of the funk that I was in slowly and even though some of the obstacles that I have right now have not gone away or even clear up, I feel more hopeful about things these days.

I know that with these obstacles, or financial standstills rather, that worrying doesn’t make them go away and it doesn’t display my true faith in God and that he will never allow me to go through anything that I can’t get through. I trust that there is a reason for everything that we go through in this life and that nothing is without purpose. Perhaps I needed this standstill in my creativity to wake me up to the realization that I can’t wait for all of the stars to align perfectly and that I can’t waste any more time.

I’ve been working on not waiting until everything is perfect to begin. I know there are a lot of things that I do imperfectly so a huge part of my problem is that before I submit work anywhere or display an idea I want things to be perfect but when does perfection ever truly happen. I keep putting off doing things because I have convinced myself that unless they’re perfect they just won’t be good enough but that’s just my self-doubt creeping in to my subconscious.

These last couple of weeks of me just concentrating on my creativity within my writing and not stressing so much on the business end have made me remember where the passion I had for writing came from to begin with. Of course I have in no way forgotten that this is my business as well and that I do have to put effort into that but I definitely do not want to forget what made me fall in love with the power of words in the first place. I have to make sure I stay in love with the power of words.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

http://write2bemagazine.com/

https://twitter.com/write2bemag

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

https://twitter.com/jcladyluv

The Comfort Zone is Not the Place to Be

jcladyluv

The comfort zone is not the place to be

In my last post I wrote about realizing once and for all that I have to let go of this fear that is paralyzing me. It got me thinking about how hard it is going to be to just shut down all of my fears. I know it’s not something that can happen overnight. I’ve had this fear lying inside me for so long whether it was fear of not succeeding or fear of actually being successful. I’ve been stuck in this comfort zone, which is odd that they call it that because it’s not actually comfortable to be stuck.

It’s not that I like how things are right now, or the lack of progress that I am seeing in my business. But there is a sense of comfort in already knowing how things are going to go. But I don’t want to live in the land of comfort anymore. I want to push the envelope and challenge myself. I don’t want things to be hard but I don’t want things to be completely easy either because I want to set higher bars for myself and rejoice when I meet them.

Comfort-ability is great for a moment but it will never sustain you on your journey to your dreams. There needs to be a shift in my life and I have to commit to this shift, this change and stay on track. I keep getting off the path because I see repeated stops to the land of comfort and on the surface it’s appealing.

In the comfort zone there are no high expectations to be met anymore. You’ve reached your current maximum potential and while it is a celebrated thing to do so, it also stirs a bit of inner conflict. You’ve reached the initial bar you set for your goals so do you maintain those particular goals and unintentionally become stagnant or do you see that bar, raise it higher once you’ve reached it, and push through until you reach the next level of your journey. I think that I inadvertently chose to stay stagnant but it most certainly was never my intention to.

I know that to reach my very big dreams that there are a lot of little goals that have to get accomplished along the way. I also realize that I can’t let fear of change whether it’s good or bad, stop me from moving forward and making progress. Change requires some manner of discomfort because you are going into the unknown. However, a change in direction could be more rewarding than staying on the road you’re most comfortable on. Being comfortable doesn’t get you anywhere close to you destination. It can only really hold you in place as your dream moves further away.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

http://write2bemagazine.com/

https://twitter.com/write2bemag

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

https://twitter.com/jcladyluv

Fear Will Not Defeat Me

jcladyluv

Fear will not defeat me 2

I admittedly was a tad bit naïve to think that this going back to basics challenge was going to allow me to somehow negate the usage of the computer completely. Obviously my research is done using the computer, my social media marketing is done with the use of the computer, and of course eventually even what I write on paper has to be typed up on the computer at some point, perfect example, this blog post. I know my plan was to go paperless for the month but I can’t get away from the computer at all. However, I have been writing more using my paper and pen and writing out ideas and plans and it was has been more than I have worked on in a while.

I am discovering things that maybe subconsciously I already realized but just didn’t want to admit to. I always knew I struggled with my fear. It can be quite paralyzing at times. And while I also knew that confidence was another issue of mine, I didn’t even factor in courage into this journey of mine and whether I have enough of it to reach my destiny. I have always said that I may not be confident in myself in regards to anything else but when it came to writing, I was confident in my ability to write.

What I realize now is that this was a lie I was telling to myself. If in fact I was as confident in my ability to write as I have always claimed to be then why do I always stop short of submitting my work and putting my work out there? As I am finding my creative spark again and having a bit of a creative breakthrough I am getting real with myself and the fact that I have to just let go of all of this fear and embrace some courage and confidence. The courage to put my work out there to as many people as humanly possible, and confidence in the fact that although everyone may not love my work, my writing is still good enough.

I have been defeated by so many people and so many things and I think that all of the defeats stacking up really started getting to me and took the fear that I’ve always had and elevated it to the level of being paralyzed by it. Most of all I am realizing that what I have been defeated by most of all is myself and my own negative thoughts swirling around inside my head. So I am going to let the fear go (it will not happen overnight) and just trust in the talent that God instilled in me and trust the purpose that he gave me and embrace everything that lies in store for the journey to my dreams, good or bad.

Yes I included the bad because I know that without the obstacles that are thrown at you along the way you may never know and tap into just how strong you really are. You can’t have a testimony to share with the world without first being tested. I am tired of letting the fear of these obstacles put me in a state of perpetual stillness and I am ready to get moving towards my destiny. I hope that none of you are stuck standing still but if you are, let’s get moving together.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

http://write2bemagazine.com/

https://twitter.com/write2bemag

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

https://twitter.com/jcladyluv

Some Things Just Can’t Be Shared

jcladyluv

Some things Cant be shared

“Stop telling your BIG dreams to small-minded people”

~Steve Harvey

I keep seeing the above quote by Steve Harvey pop up in my Facebook timeline as if a sign and Saturday it became so much more relevant to me. It’s interesting when people who don’t have their own business and who don’t have a childhood dream that they’re trying to bring into fruition attempt to tell someone who does what is and isn’t important. Someone actually remarked that an out of town Skate trip was more important than anything else I could possibly have had going on.

Now anyone who is friends with me on Facebook knows that I have developed a big interest in skating (roller skating) and that I really enjoy it and the people that I have met through it a lot. It’s a form of exercise for me and my daughter and it’s a big stress reliever for me when the rest of the world seems to not be going quite the way I want it to go. However, while it has become a lifestyle for others it is not my lifestyle, my lifestyle is writing and things that foster my craft and my business. I am not going to waste (and yes I said waste) money on something when my dream needs my investment.

It is a reminder (a constant one) that I can’t expect everyone to understand how important my business and my craft of writing is to me and my livelihood and my way of living. I can’t expect people who don’t have bigger goals for themselves then just the immediate present and what’s happening right now to understand the mind of a person who has outrageously big dreams that are only the beginnings of an empire.

It does get frustrating when I have to keep explaining that what’s important to others is not necessarily what is important to me but that’s where my problem lies. I shouldn’t have to explain it, in fact I don’t have to keep explaining myself. My big dreams are mine and mine alone and God gave this vision to me so I’m going to stop sharing my vision with people who are simply not like-minded and who wouldn’t understand. Some people’s vision just doesn’t fully expand and I can’t let their lack of understanding in my dream cause me to doubt my vision.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

http://write2bemagazine.com/

https://twitter.com/write2bemag

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

https://twitter.com/jcladyluv

Like-Minded Creative Types

jcladyluv

like minded creative types

They say birds of a feather flock together and as a child that saying doesn’t appear to hold a lot of meaning. When you are a kid you think that just because the person that you have dubbed as your new best friend does things that you don’t necessarily agree with and have a few personality traits that you might learn to overlook, that it doesn’t say anything about you and the person that you are. In theory it sounds nice, and perhaps it should be that way, but the reality is that it’s not.

You don’t realize it when you’re that young because you don’t, or rather, you can’t see what other people see and you don’t have that kind of clarity when you’re younger. However, as you get older, the birds of a feather phrase starts to reveal its relevance in your life and it is more stated as place yourself around like-minded people.

As you all know I have been struggling with my creativity lately, not necessarily with coming up with ideas but mostly with the follow through of those ideas, the productivity. After a conversation the other day with a friend who I hadn’t talked to in a while, I realized that one of the problems that I might have brought on myself when it comes to my creativity issues is that that I hadn’t done a good enough job of managing the people around me.

In that conversation the other day we bounced ideas back and forth and mainly I got to discuss a lot of my ideas to someone who hadn’t really heard them before. In many ways it reinvigorated my motivation to follow through with and produce those ideas because obviously I want to see those ideas come to fruition. I felt like that conversation helped a little to pull me up out of the funk that I have been in. It was a conversation about creative ideas with another creative individual who has creative ambitions just like I do.

It also reinforced just how important it is to place yourself around people who want the same things that you do and have the same manner of ambition that you have. Of course I don’t mean the same exact ideas and goals but someone that understands where you’re coming from and that you can bounce off ideas and aspirations off of that’s not going to look at you with a blank clueless stare because they simply don’t get it, not because they aren’t capable of comprehending what you’re saying but because it’s not where their head is at so they don’t get you.

I have met some wonderful people recently, in the last year and a half or so, and they are fun people who have, admittedly helped me open up a little and somewhat come out of my hibernation shell (lol), but their ideas of what’s important aren’t my ideas of what’s important. Their idea of fun is not the same thing as my idea of fun, and their priorities are not in line with what my priorities are. They don’t get my creative side and it’s okay because that’s not their thing but it is mine.

I get tired of explaining myself and my goals and ambitions to people who frankly can’t understand those things. It makes me yearn even more for a creative network around me and I only really have a couple of people that I can express my creative self to. The number one person that I could always express those creative ideas to moved further away to North Carolina and frankly doesn’t seem to have time for me anymore, almost as if she’s forgotten our friendship. This leaves me wanting more creative people in my circle.

I am trying to make steps to interact more with creative people who can enhance my creativity even further and bring out in me things that I may be reluctant to display. That is something that I have already discovered as my month of going back to the basics in my writing has just started. It’s going to be interesting to see what else I discover in this month of simply putting pen to paper and letting the words flow.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

http://write2bemagazine.com/

https://twitter.com/write2bemag

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

https://twitter.com/jcladyluv

Can a Change of Environment Spark My Creative Productivity?

jcladyluv

change of environment

I’ve always wanted to go on some kind of writing retreat one of these days. When I was younger I had plans to move to New York and there was a plan somewhere in those years to take a trip to travel around Europe for a year and write.

Then of course life happened and obstacles appeared, circumstances changed, and needless to say I never made it to New York and haven’t even made a trip around the United States let alone to Europe. I have a child to think about now and trips outside the country just aren’t in the near future for me, particularly since I am sending her to private school in about a year.

Now I don’t presume to have all the answers as to how I am going to make the plans that I dreamt up decades ago come to fruition but I am definitely not giving up on my European writing trip that I would love to make happen. I suppose it doesn’t hurt to plan for a trip that’s uncertain.

I don’t have the means to do any writing retreats at this particular moment in my life but I know that there have to be some ways to develop a different writing environment to boost my creativity. I haven’t quite figured out what they are yet but I am definitely searching for answers.

I would love to hear your ideas for getting away without actually being able to get away. What are some creative ways you have managed to spark your creative juices and get them flowing? How can you get away to write without really being able to get away?

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

http://write2bemagazine.com/

https://twitter.com/write2bemag

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

https://twitter.com/jcladyluv