Month: October 2014

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The Future That Lies Ahead of Me

October 30, 2014 jcladyluv

I was listening to a motivational video by motivational speaker, Les Brown that urged the listener to live in the future. If only for a moment it wanted its listeners to imagine their lives being the way that they want it to be, as the person that they want to be. Les Brown tells us “we have to see ourselves there long before it happens” and urged people that if you are going to fail then fail forward and don’t take two steps back like so many of us tend to do when something doesn’t work out.

When I heard this it immediately had me envisioning my life ten years from now and trying to focus on how I can live like I am already there. Ten years from now my Write 2 Be Media Company will be going stronger than ever with, at minimal, ten published books from me and successfully publishing other authors. My company will not only have Write 2 Be Magazine in print and digital form but also two other successful magazines as well. I will have a television show already into production and a couple of movies being optioned.

I will have my book store up and running by then as well as my line of Write 2 Be t-shirts and other novelty items well into production. The main thing, one that is truly a project that is vitally important to me, my Write 2 Be Creativity Camp will be successfully operating in the state of Maryland and hopefully beginning to branch out to other states for the encouragement of the arts in our children’s lives as a way to not only enrich their artistic abilities but to foster self-acceptance, self-love, and confidence within themselves in this fight against bullying.

There are a few other things that I have in play as well but those are my main focuses and that is a vision that I cannot let go of. I’m not sure that I can so easily live as if I am already there in that moment but I can see where Les Brown has a point of the fact that if we don’t act as if it can ever happen then there certainly is a great possibility that it never will. I think that a lot of times when we fail we want to just give up and stop trying (or maybe that’s just me) but what we need to do is fail forward, meaning learn from that failure and use that failure to progress the next time.

The future holds whatever we allow it to hold so if we don’t envision a prosperous future then how can we truly facilitate the future that we say that we want? We are all meant to live a prosperous life but we have to start acting like we want that life. The future is whatever we make it out to be. What does your future look like?

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

The Writer’s Guilt I Sometimes Feel

October 29, 2014 jcladyluv

There are many things that I have left to learn about being a writer because I don’t think one can ever be done learning when it comes to their craft. One thing mostly is to not feel so guilty when I’m not writing. Truth be told there is never really a moment when I am not writing in some capacity because the thing with writers is that you don’t always have to be physically writing to be working on something that has to do with your writing.

I get this tremendous amount of guilt when I am not physically typing out words to a story or if I don’t have a finished product. I sometimes don’t stop to realize that whenever I am researching something for a project I am writing. When I am thinking through the storyline in my head I’m still writing. Even when I am reading leisurely then I am still in many ways nurturing my craft because you can’t be a great writer without first being a great reader. My problem is that I tend to follow a lot of writers on Facebook and Twitter and I read about their amazing rates of production and the way they are able to put out work and the way they always seem to be posting that they are currently writing and working on some huge project and I start to think about why I’m not putting out work at that rate.

True enough I have had far too many moments of what I call “creative blocks” because it was a little more than just writer’s block because the words were always there, but with all of the ideas that I have had and stories that have been formed in my head I should have been better at my own production rate. However, I believe that when I do sit down to put those words to paper that it will flow more fluidly because I’ve researched what needed to be researched, I’ve thought through the storyline and even outlined what needed to be outlined, I’ve been reading other writers so I’ve got a good sense of different styles of writing and different writer’s voices and tones.

I have to remember not to feel so guilty for not producing words because there is so much more that goes into the craft of writing than just the actual writing. It’s just another way of sabotaging myself and my own creative efforts because if I somehow convince myself that I’m not a good writer because I am not actually producing what I should be then I will be giving myself an excuse not to try and a reason to just give up altogether.

In life we always can seem to find the things that we did wrong or that weren’t quite done to perfection but so rarely do we stop and revel in the good that we did and the things that we get right. I have to stop focusing on the imperfections that I have within my craft and zero in on what I am doing to further my craft and my career in writing. Guilt can be a very dangerous thing in many aspects of our lives and truly as long as we are continually trying, as long as we never give up on our dreams and our goals then we don’t have any reason to feel guilty.

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

When It Seems Like the Devil Is Winning The Battle

October 28, 2014 jcladyluv

Last week was a really bad week for me. Without going into too many details I will just say that the obstacles piled up high to the ceiling for me in the form of a really thick brick wall and at the moment there doesn’t seem to be any way around it.

The devil seems to be quite busy with me lately and it comes right at the moment when I have just started to get my motivation back into high gear and right when an important opportunity could be coming my way and when my energy for completing some of these projects that I have stalled on for the better part of this year has returned at full force. It’s not like insurmountable obstacles have never been dropped at my doorstep in the past but unlike those times, this is one that I’m not seeing a way out of (at the moment) and it’s an obstacle that could have a domino effect on everything else I have coming up down the road.

I have been told to keep the faith and to not give up but right now that is exactly what I feel like doing. I have been praying over this situation continuously and I have been trying not to worry but it’s hard not to when it all just seem so bleak at the moment. The devil has been extremely busy with me lately and I’d hate to think that he might be winning this one but it’s starting to look that way.

I am trying to keep my focus on what’s in front of me and on the opportunity that is approaching and the projects that I have to finish but it is hard to concentrate on work when I feel so stressed and worried. I have always remained a person who was optimistic that things worked out for the best and I would hate to lose that faith that I have now but I truly don’t know if there is a light at the end of this tunnel and it scares me.

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

How To Get Away With Being Your True Self

October 21, 2014 jcladyluv

Okay so I know that I am a few days late in writing this post considering that the most talked about moment in television happened on Thursday night on Shonda Rhimes new show “How To Get Away With Murder”. I really just wanted to take time to get my thoughts together because that moment when Viola Davis removed her wig, and then her false eyelashes, and finally all of her make-up, was probably one of the most defining moments in television history to everyone who watched and in particular, to women and just those who struggle with being themselves on a regular basis.

When Davis revealed her true self, or removed all of her body armor as the world is calling it, it was almost as if she was signaling to the rest of the world that it was okay to be yourself no matter what you looked like under whatever mask that you happen to be wearing. This after Davis recently revealed in a speech that she made that she suffered through a childhood of extreme poverty and had at one point in her life felt ashamed of her impoverished childhood.

We all wear the masks. Those faces that we want people to see because what’s behind the mask is sometimes just too painful for us to be able to share with others. We want to cover up all the old wounds and scars from every rejection, every discouragement, every ugliness that lies within us. We tend to have this waiting period before we can reveal our true selves to people before we can take off the masks that we have been wearing far longer than we care to admit.

The thing is if we are only revealing our true selves once we’ve decided someone has proven themselves worthy enough to get that close then are they really getting to know the real us. I think that if we stop trying to figure out who will and won’t like the real us and stop trying to please everyone else around us we need to be happy with who we are and love our own selves enough to not care if there is anyone else who likes us or not. I know it’s easier said than done because what person does not want other people to approve of them but when us needing others approval interferes with us being authentic to who we are it becomes more problematic.

We somehow think that if we are authentic and true to ourselves that the world will disapprove and that people will no longer like us. However, something that I have discovered over the last several years, especially within the context of this blog, is that allowing yourself to be vulnerable to others is really what sets you free and allows you to be who you were meant to be. Vulnerability seems like such a dirty word to most people but if you really think about it, once people see who you really are, odds are, they accept you more. And the people who don’t accept you when you are being your true self aren’t really worth your time anyway.

We shouldn’t be trying to figure out all of the ways that we can get away with deceiving others by making them think we are someone we are not. Instead we should be celebrating the uniqueness within us. If we weren’t so reluctant to remove our armor and so concerned with covering up all of our metaphorical scars then we could see the beauty in letting the world see our flaws and we would celebrate those flaws. Those little imperfections are what makes us perfect in our own individuality. The best way to get away with being our true selves is to not give a damn whether anyone else approves of us or not. Be yourself, remove the armor, and trust that who you truly are underneath that mask that you’ve been wearing all this time is enough.

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

The Challenge Ahead: Getting Mentally Prepared for National Novel Writing Month

October 16, 2014 jcladyluv

The good thing about working on two unfinished projects for National Novel Writing Month is that I don’t have to complete the task of writing an outline like I would normally do for a new project. However the challenging thing about it, aside from the fact that I will be working on two books at the same time, is that they are two different types of books. One book is my novel that I started about two years ago and the other book, which I started working on about nine months ago, is non-fiction, more of a self-help/motivational book for writers. The two projects couldn’t be more opposite of each other so I’m not sure how the contrast is going to affect my production.

While National Novel Writing Month will not be new to me, trying to complete two different projects at the same time that are not in the same genres. I am a little more confident about the non-fiction project because I started it more recently and it will be fairly easy to jump back into it. The fiction book, I’m afraid I might have taken too much of a break from that one to just jump back in. Either way I am determined to make the best of the month of November and to attack these projects as if my life depends on it (they really do, lol). Once November is over and I (hopefully) have my two finished projects I plan to immediately get them into the editing phase so I can get the ball rolling on getting these books published.

I have my work cut out for me and for any of you who have participated in NaNoWriMo, you already know it is not an easy task to accomplish. I will share the process with you as it goes along and I hope if any of you are doing NaNoWriMo this month please feel free to share with me your process and how you’re achieving the task. I guess November will be a pretty busy and productive month!

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

Even If It Takes a Dozen Coffee Cans I Will Get There

October 15, 2014 jcladyluv

Another nugget of inspiration that I took away from the Elizabeth Gilbert sit down she had with Oprah on Super Soul Sunday was when she talked about everyone needing to make a plan to go on their own quest similar to the one she went on in her Eat, Pray, Love. She expressed that everyone’s quest is naturally going to be different but that if you have a desire to go on your own quest you should not let any manner of obstacle stop you from doing so.

She told a story of a woman whose mother saved $1.00 a day in a coffee can every day for twenty years until all of her children were grown and on their way and she finally could take the trip around the world that she had been looking forward to taking. Elizabeth Gilbert spoke of getting our coffee cans together and even if life prevents us from going on our quest now, we should still start preparing for the moment when we can go on our quest.

I immediately went to my closet and got my coffee can and put a few dollars in there. I have a quest that I definitely want to go on. It was once my plan to have gone on a trip around Europe around my 30^th birthday but circumstances and life and motherhood prevented that from happening and four years later I still have not made it to Europe. What Elizabeth Gilbert reminded me of was that just because my trip didn’t happen the way I wanted it, or in the time that I wanted it to, doesn’t mean that it can’t still happen.

I still want my writing vacation trip around Europe so I am putting my plan into place and I have already started my coffee can savings. I think that this gives me even more to look forward to in my life and it fuels me with even more motivation to accomplish all of the dreams that I have in mind to reach in order to be able to allow things like this writing European trip to happen. The journey is always worth taking, even if you have to save a dozen coffee cans to get to your destination.

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

Becoming a Vehicle for the Message

October 14, 2014 jcladyluv

I love to watch Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday for that extra sense of creative inspiration. Oprah always seems to have guests who are truly inspiring and motivate me that much more towards my goals and my destiny. The past two Sunday’s she had Elizabeth Gilbert, the Author of Eat, Pray, Love, on her show and while I didn’t watch them the precise moment that they were on, I recorded them on my DVR to be watched later (I love being able to forward through the commercials). So this morning to get my creative juices flowing and get some inspiration for my blog posts this week I sat down and watched both episodes (only intending to watch one today). While I admittedly have not read the book Eat, Pray, Love (although I fully intend to, I promise) every time I watch Elizabeth Gilbert speak or do an interview I feel like she always makes me realize something new that I had never realized before.

This morning as I watched the clips from her speaking at Oprah’s “Live the life you want tour” (which I so desperately wanted to attend but could not afford) and her interview with Oprah I found myself hoping that I could inspire people someday the way she does to the millions of people that she inspires. Now I have a lot of things that I want to do with this Write 2 Be brand, and the message that I want to share with this blog, my magazine, my books, this company in general, I feel, is so vital and important, and the way in which I want to deliver this message is steadily growing. As I put all of the parts of this vehicle together I realize more and more each day that the vehicle seemed to have always been missing a little something and I could never usually put my finger on it until today.

I have never been one for public speaking. In fact in grade school I used to take F’s as grades for not doing oral reports in front of the class until the teachers realized just how real my stage fright was and started letting me just do longer written reports. However, over the years I have become much better at voicing myself in front of people and more importantly speaking to people about my message of being authentic and being imperfectly perfect in whoever you were meant to be. My message is beginning to fall even more in line with the message of anti-bullying and in making sure that children are encouraged to be themselves despite whatever people have to say about them. I am beginning to realize that that message needs to be voiced even more and that there can never be enough people (because I ruled out my becoming active about it because there are already so many “important” people doing so) to get this message across to the world.

Now of course I am realistic enough to know that I can’t just miraculously become a public speaker and activist for anti-bullying and self-acceptance overnight. But I know that I want to expressly make sure that I am promoting the message of individualism and authenticity and of people being okay with who they are and more importantly of being okay to not fit in. I want to make sure that what I am doing with my company and with the direction that I want the Write 2 Be brand to go in compliments that message in every single facet possible.

I admittedly have my work cut out for me. I have a lot of excuses I’ve been making that I need to stop making. I have a lot of work on my current books that should’ve been done that I haven’t been doing for one reason or another. I have a few projects that don’t necessarily involve me writing anything that I have to get the ball rolling on (one’s that tie into this message by the way) and haven’t even the first idea of where to begin. I have some research to do on some things I am trying to put together. But I know that the icing on the cake of all that I have to do and all that I am determined to get accomplished is this message that I must deliver.

It’s in me and it’s something I have dealt with personally as a child (the bullying and lack of self-acceptance) and it’s something I see my child and so many other children that I currently interact with struggling with now, and I know that I bring something special and experienced to this platform. I bring something worth sharing with the world to this message and I want to add my vehicle to the many other vehicles that are out there driving this message home. My vehicle is different but it is definitely worth the ride.

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

It’s Time to Start Preparing for National Novel Writing Month

October 10, 2014 jcladyluv

It is October now and I typically take the month of October to prepare for whatever project I will be working on in the month of November for National Novel Writing Month. With me being so unable to really focus on my writing this year (and producing the work I should have) I wasn’t really sure that I wanted to even attempt to do NaNoWriMo this year. However, I have gotten so used to at least making the attempt that I think that I would feel like I would have failed at yet another task if I didn’t at least give it a shot. Last year’s attempt did not actually manage to bring about completion but it did give me quite a bit of blog material in my frustration for not being inspired last year.

So this year for NaNaWriMo I am literally going to double my efforts. I am going to finish up the novel I started two years ago that remains unfinished and I am going to finish up my ebook that I have been working on for the better part of this year. Yes I know that for someone who has been considerably off her writing A game this year it may seem like a daunting task and a possibly heart-wrenching one should I, once again, not be able to finish. But I am a glass half full type of woman who would rather look at the feeling that I will likely feel once the month of November is over and I have not one, but two finished products.

I think that it will fully reignite my creative spark that has been slowly inching its way back to me. I am excited to see what November will bring for my writing and of course I will be blogging about it but I would love to know what your plans are for National Novel Writing month so please feel free to share. Hopefully all of you will join in the challenge for NaNoWriMo with me!

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

At Times the Horizon Seems So Distant

October 9, 2014 jcladyluv

“What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the world tests everything that was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons we’ve learned as we’ve moved toward that dream. That’s the point at which most people give up, it’s the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one ‘dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon’.”

~From “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho

I saw the above quote on a friend’s timeline in my seemingly constant Facebook surfing (which is really great for inspiration by the way) and it struck a chord with me. It’s kind of like those quotes that say don’t give up because success is right around the corner except in this quote it is much more profound and hard hitting. I won’t say that I am a person who gives up a lot because I am still not where I thought I would be, and long after the period in which I thought I would be there, and I still get people who tell me to just go back to working a regular job so I could live a much more comfortable lifestyle. Yet here I am, still going for it and pursuing it, one crushing blow after another.

But I’m not going to say that I haven’t had constant moments of doubt and wonder about whether I should give up. That quote hits home with me because I feel like I am constantly being tested, and not to sound too melodramatic, but I feel like the tests come at least every other day and they don’t ever stop. It is said that the bigger the battle the bigger the victory that God has in store for you and I just keep thinking that God must have one (excuse my language) hell of a victory waiting for me at the end of this part of my journey.

I suppose one would think that the constant testing is to make sure that you are absolutely certain about what it is that you say you want, what you say your dream is. We as a society tend to expect immediate results a lot. We want what we want, when we want it, and exactly the way we want it to happen. I suppose it is natural to have a plan and to actually expect that plan to go accordingly but in such an unpredictable world with surprises at every turn, we can’t allow ourselves to be so thrown off course that we simply stop moving.

I sometimes feel like this journey for me is like a trek through the desert. I keep seeing mirages of what I think is about to be my breakthrough. I see glimpses in the distance of what my future will look like but those glimpses seem like they will take forever to reach. Oftentimes it seems like I am standing in some figurative form of quicksand where I am sinking faster than I can find some far away branch to grab ahold of. And even when some spiritually appearing hand pulls me out of that quicksand the well of water sitting underneath the shady palm trees (my dream) still seems so far off in the distance that I feel like just giving up and succumbing to dehydration and heat exhaustion.

But I am still here. Through every test that the Soul of the world seems to be giving me, I am still making my way through that desert. I may still be seeing mirages far off in the distance but I know that the well of water and the shady palm trees are there and I will get there, eventually. I don’t want to be one of those that collapses along the way and finds the well and palm trees right at the edge of their fingertips at the point that they gave up. I plan on being the one who survives every tests and who makes it to the well. And if that well is dry, I plan on being the one who treks on until I find the well that is full, of all my dreams and all that God has in store for me. I am told that I am stronger than I give myself credit for and looking back on just how far I have come in this journey of mine, without giving up even once, I am starting to realize that maybe they are right.

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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