Tag: Jimmetta Carpenter

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

Another Side Note: If any of you would like to buy me a coffee and donate to my creative endeavors then please feel free to https://ko-fi.com/authorjccarpenter

Make the Choice to Invest in Your Own Dreams

July 19, 2021 jcladyluv

I was having a conversation with someone last week about purchasing a graphic design program for my creative endeavors after the free trial that I am currently using runs out. Their response was to ask me why would I do that, it’s too much money to spend monthly and why wouldn’t I just find another program that has a free trial run? I thought about what they said for just one second and then my response to them was “it’s an investment in myself and if I’m not going to make the investment in me than how can I expect anyone else to”

Now I assure you that this has not always been my way of thinking. I am cheap and when it comes to whether I can get something free verses having to pay for it, I used to be the person that would take the sub par free item over just paying for the product that I really wanted, in which case I usually regretted later. Now I still like to get things on a budget but with age comes wisdom and thus the understanding that when creating products for people to consume or putting books out that I have to be willing to put my money where my belief is.

If I believe in myself (and I absolutely do) then I have to be the first one to show that I believe in me. Otherwise how can I really expect anyone else to put their belief in me? The saying you get what you pay for comes to mind because things that are of good quality aren’t free or they surely won’t stay free for long and sometimes going with something that seems practical is not necessarily the better choice.

I am re-releasing my first novel, under my company (finally) in August and I have two poetry books that will be coming out soon after that as well and there are things that need to be done concerning these releases that will require me to further be willing to invest in myself. I also have products that I’ve created for writers (and bookish people in general) that I have to invest in as well because I want people to like the products that I put out there.

It’s hard, when you’re not overwhelmingly rich, to be able to invest in everything that is needed, at least all at once. I believe in my dreams and I believe in the message that I put out there to the world so it’s not a choice in my eyes. To those that would argue that I’m investing in something that I don’t even know people will want to buy but my counter to that is well if I don’t put the best possible product out there, if I don’t invest what needs to be invested, then it won’t be out there for people to even consider. No one can buy what hasn’t been put out yet. When you are passionate about something and when it’s your dream and you’ve been working towards it for a really long time then isn’t the investment worth it? Take the time to invest in yourself and in the things that you are passionate about. I promise you that it will all be worth it in the end.

Until next time… #BeGrateful #BeMindful #BePersistent

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

Another Side Note: If any of you would like to buy me a coffee and donate to my creative endeavors then please feel free to https://ko-fi.com/authorjccarpenter

Be Grateful Standing In Your Present

June 28, 2021 jcladyluv

Photo Credit: Risa Rodil |www.risarodil.com

“You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.”

~Nightbirde

The news has been really heavy lately and it feels like if there isn’t one thing then it’s another and you might think that it would make me less optimistic and less hopeful. You would be wrong. I used to think that it was a load of crap when people said that if you get your spiritual walk in life on track then everything else will fall into place. I just didn’t think that it could be as simple as being consistent with my daily devotionals and daily spiritual motivation along with my long and extended daily talks with God plus a healthy dose of manifesting the life I want. I, as usual, found that I was wrong.

In a time where things are definitely not certain and the world is at its highest level of chaos that I’ve seen since probably 9-11, I have to say that I have never felt more at peace in my life. And it’s not that I have anything figured out (because I assure you that I do not) and it’s not that I have become suddenly successful and have stepped into complete financial security either (because that definitely has not happened yet). I can only say that my peace comes from knowing that God already has everything worked out for me in whatever way he needs for it to happen in order for me to fulfill the purpose I am here to fulfill.

I heard the above quote from a young lady who auditioned for America’s Got Talent and who is currently suffering with a terminal cancer in which she was told that she only has a 2% chance of survival and her attitude about it was that “hey it’s not 0% and I’m going to live while I can” and I loved her outlook. She basically pointed out that you can’t just keep waiting for the day things get better because they might not and then what.

It’s the same when you are working towards accomplishing your dreams the way I have been aggressively doing so (and sometimes not as aggressive as necessary) for what feels like forever now. There are good days when I seem right on the cusp of something big about to happen and then other days where I am acutely aware of how far away my goals truly are. It doesn’t matter how many bad days I have, I can’t just give up and stop now. I can’t just throw in the towel on my dreams because of the hard days that I have along the journey.

The way I see it (or at least how I see it now that I have grown and matured lol) is that the hard days are going to be so worth it when I reach the actual goal. And even then, I’m just going to create another goal and extend the journey. As long as you are given another day to breathe on this earth you have to be grateful for each day that you get and be happy no matter how hard the day was because you are here, and you are present, and God is giving you another chance each day he wakes you up. Don’t squander the time you have here by dwelling on how hard the day may be. Be thankful that you are alive to get through the tough days so that you can better enjoy the good ones that are surely to come.

Until next time…#BeBold #BePresent #BeGrateful

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

And if any of you would like to buy me a coffee and donate to my creative endeavors then please feel free to https://ko-fi.com/authorjccarpenter

Trust In His Plans and His Timing

June 21, 2021 jcladyluv

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ~ Jeremiah 29:11

This may shock you but I am not an optimistic person by nature. It is my natural inclination to always be waiting for the other shoe to drop, for bad luck to strike, just for something to go wrong on a grand scale. I had a traumatic childhood with virtually no one who was supportive of anything I wanted to do except for the few friends that I had, the few people that didn’t bully me and make my life miserable at school too. So when I say I have come a long way in how I see things, on my shift in perspectives, I am not being melodramatic or overstating things. For a long time I had no reason to see anything good about my life, accept for my writing.

Writing saved me in so many ways. When I was six I knew that writing was what I wanted to do but I didn’t actually start writing (aside from the very short picture book that I wrote after my revelation that I was going to become a writer in which I gifted to my then best friend lol) until I was ten years old. I started writing poetry to cope with the abuse I suffered at home and all of the feelings of hopelessness that I felt but couldn’t tell anyone about. I wrote to escape and enter into a world that I wanted to be in and more often than not a world I wanted to stay in. I don’t see things as bleak as I once did and I have to say it is much better to see the brighter side of things than having that dreaded feeling that nothing will ever get better.

I’ve only recently, well within the last five years anyway, been able to shift my perspective and see that sometimes it’s not about my plans for my career and what I want my writing to do for others, but rather God’s plan. I like to keep the phrase in mind that when we plan, God laughs because it’s as if He’s up there saying “oh you think that’s how things are going to go but you don’t know what I’ve got planned for you.” This is why we have to trust the plan, and not our plans mind you, but His plans.

I just don’t know if, back when I was in a depression so deep that most days I didn’t know how I would climb out of it, or when I knew I had this dream and this passion for writing but I wasn’t really sure how to use it to help people, I don’t know that if God had given me the clear vision I have now, that I would’ve been able to do what He wanted me to do with it. Back then I didn’t see a brighter side to anything so I wouldn’t have known what to do with the purpose God was sowing into me.

God’s timing truly is perfect because I think without all of the abuse I experienced (physical, emotional, mental, and psychological) and all of the other experiences I had that went along with all of that, I wouldn’t be who I am, I wouldn’t have built up what was needed inside for me to go to the next levels that He is preparing for me ahead of time.

If we don’t show Him that we trust His vision for our lives and that we know that His plans are to better us and further enrich us, why would He then trust us with the ability to see His vision through? If you are in a phase of doubt when it comes to your dreams or whatever is going on in your life, sometimes you have to just let things be whatever they are going to be. Sometimes you just have to throw your hands up and literally let go and let God.

Until next time… #BeEncouraged #BeEmpowered #BeinFaith

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

And if any of you would like to buy me a coffee and donate to my creative endeavors then please feel free to https://ko-fi.com/authorjccarpenter

Don’t Let Someone Else’s Disbelief In You Become Your Reality

June 14, 2021June 14, 2021 jcladyluv

There are so many people who have big dreams and visions for their lives and they never even try to accomplish them. They essentially give up before they even begin. What’s more surprising about that is that the reason they don’t try is not because they don’t have the passion to do so, but rather because someone else told them that they wouldn’t achieve it. I don’t have to imagine how someone can let someone else’s predictions for their lives become their reality because I was almost that person.

I had a mother who constantly told me that I would never accomplish anything that I dreamed of doing and who did her best to keep me down in terms of my goals and my vision and for a really long time I allowed her to keep me from trying at my full potential. Mind you, there was never a time that I wasn’t trying (because the calling to write was just too strong) but I know that I held back on the level of try that I had because I believed what she said about me.

There was a lot of things I had to go through and realizations that I had which made me come to terms with the toxic person that my mother is and made me understand that I just would never really have her support and that was okay because I knew what I was meant to do and what my dreams and goals are and only I am responsible for the level of tenacity I have.

Now what I really want others to realize and see for themselves is that they can’t let other people’s ideas of what your life is supposed to look like affect what you want your life to look like. Their perception of your aspirations is not your problem nor should it ever become your reality. If you are still struggling to figure out what your purpose and vision is for your life I encourage you to sit down with yourself and God, with some paper and pen and really think about what it is you want and then put a plan of action into place to go after it.

If you already know what you want but you are grappling with others opinions, stop! Their opinions don’t matter. God and you are the only two opinions that matter and in all honesty, truly it’s only God’s opinion and purpose He has for your life because sometimes what He has planned for us isn’t even what we planned for ourselves. Make your own path and don’t let the outside noise cloud your focus.

Until next time… #BeBold #BeFearless #BeEmpowered

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

And if any of you would like to buy me a coffee and donate to my creative endeavors then please feel free to https://ko-fi.com/authorjccarpenter

Laying the Groundwork

June 7, 2021 jcladyluv

So I’m about to have another birthday on Thursday and I’ll be turning 41 and thinking about really crossing further into the forties has me thinking about whether or not I’m satisfied with the direction that my life is going. I mean of course I had plans when I was younger of what my forty year old self would be doing in life and where I would be in my career and on the ladder of success.

However, when I was younger I was naïve to the reality of adulthood and what having all of those things that I want would take in terms of effort and sheer willpower after getting repeatedly knocked down and having to pry myself off the ground to get back up and keep pushing forward. Honestly if you had asked me when I was younger if I thought I had the tenacity and strength to have to keep pushing through all of the obstacles that have been thrown at me I would have said no, I can’t do it, I’m just not that strong. I’m glad to say that I would have been wrong because you never truly know how strong you are until you have to be.

So what have I learned in these 41 years of living? I suppose I would say the biggest thing that I’ve learned about myself, and that I continue to learn as I move forward in my career goals, is that I have never lost my passion for what it is I know I am supposed to do with my life. Even though I’m not sure how I knew writing was my purpose back when I was just six years old (at six I wouldn’t have known anything about the use of the word purpose lol) I have never wavered from that dream. Sure I thought I would be where I desired to be by now but again, that was the naiveté of a child dreaming that just assumed if you’re talented and wanted it bad enough it would happen easily.

I know a lot of people who think writing is nothing special and that it’s an easy thing to do. I often get those that think I don’t do anything at all because I’m “just a writer” they say and that’s “not that hard to do” which is infuriating because this is not a career for the feint of heart. I have literally dedicated my entire life to this craft and it is who I am, not just what I do. At 41 I’m not on any New York Time’s Bestsellers list (as I hoped I would be at this point) and frankly I am just now in the process of re-releasing my first novel and a couple of poetry books this year but I have put in years of article writing and blogging here on this blog, creating a newsletter first, and then magazine, to make sure that I do my part to highlight other authors to the best of my ability, and now I even have a YouTube channel in which I talk about my writing life and that is not nothing.

A couple of years ago, in the mindset I was in then, I would have been sulking and further depressed about where I wasn’t in my life, only focused on what I haven’t been able to accomplish. Today, because I have been working on my spiritual journey, my mindset has drastically shifted to where I don’t see it quite that way anymore. I see all that I have been able to accomplish as me laying the groundwork for all of the victorious things that I know are to come. I have been getting prepared for my dreams to come to fruition and I think I needed that preparation.

Just because things don’t happen on the timetable that we want them to, doesn’t mean they won’t happen. In fact it may be better for them not to happen when we want them because I find that oftentimes when we think we are ready for things, more than likely we aren’t ready at all. If you haven’t gotten to where you want in life just yet, don’t let that get you down. Just think of it as you laying the groundwork for all that is to come and keep pushing, keep working, and you will get there. God wouldn’t give you the vision and the dream if He hadn’t prepared a way for you to have it when He’s ready for you to.

Until next time #BePatient #BePersistent #BeReady

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

And if any of you would like to buy me a coffee and donate to my creative endeavors then please feel free to https://ko-fi.com/authorjccarpenter

We Repeat the History We Don’t Address

May 31, 2021 jcladyluv

Today is Memorial Day and I would first like to say thank you to all of those who have served and given their lives for the freedoms that we hold dear. Today is also commemorating another day. I don’t want to use the word Anniversary because that would suggest it was a celebratory occasion in which it was most certainly not. I guess I would say it is a day to honor those whose lives were slain 100 years ago in the Greenwood Neighborhood of Tulsa Oklahoma.

It’s a history that I myself had no idea about until I was well into my twenties (so not even in college had the history of this day been told to us) and even when I had first heard of this Massacre I hadn’t yet heard the extensive history behind it and I’ll admit that until recently I hadn’t wanted to do a deep dive of that day because I knew of the trauma it left behind and as someone who suffers from occasional bouts of depression I just wasn’t ready yet to know the totality of what had happened back then. I have since learned more about that tragedy and watched numerous documentaries and television specials on it and to say that having done so, it makes the Insurrection of January 6^th feel as if history was once again repeating itself is an understatement; perhaps in different ways but a repeat all the same.

It’s striking how much hate there is in this world. It’s sad that when I hear things that happen to people who look like me these days I have to even utter the statement of “I’m not surprise” because it should be surprising. It should be surprising that in all of this time we as a country, and for the sake of this argument, a good majority of white Americans (I’m not saying all because it is definitely not all) that a lesson hasn’t been learned. It is disheartening that hate still seems to be triumphing over love in a lot of ways.

As a person who truly does try to find the good in most every scenario and find the love in all ways it’s hard for me to look at the story of what happened on that day in 1921 in Greenwood of Tulsa Oklahoma and see any kind of good or positive in that. I suppose that I could say that I don’t think that something like that would happen in America today but honestly I’m not sure I can comfortably say that.

We get a little uncomfortable sometimes when we have to talk about painful pasts and tragedies that happened in American history but we can’t move past it until we actually address it and learn from it. There’s this phrase that states we are doomed to repeat history if we don’t acknowledge it and I think it is a very true statement. When people are hurting they don’t just miraculously heal, they have to first talk about the hurt because we can’t heal what we don’t acknowledge.

There is deep pain in this country and it stems from a deep-seated hatred that keeps getting buried as if it never existed but that’s just allowing things to fester. I still believe that love really can triumph over hate but the hate has to be addressed first so we can start to heal. I am really ready for that American Dream that the founding fathers talked about in that Constitution they wrote to be experienced by ALL Americans, as a whole. I think the healing is long over-do.

Until next time… #BeBold #BeBrave #BeTheChange

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

And if any of you would like to buy me a coffee and donate to my creative endeavors then please feel free to https://ko-fi.com/authorjccarpenter

Slow and Steady Makes the Journey Worthwhile

May 17, 2021 jcladyluv

I would be telling the biggest lie I’ve ever told if I said that I wasn’t one who was hoping to write something spectacular and hit it big immediately and become rich within the first five years of my writing career. As you may have guessed, that has not happened. Not only have I not hit it big in name recognition or notoriety but I am so far from rich it’s not even remotely funny. In fact I’m going to let you in on a little secret (that’s not really so secret if you’ve been paying attention lol) but I am not even all that financially stable. I am literally just getting by, and barely.

Where am I going with this, you ask? Simply that sometimes quick and easy is overrated and slow and steady really is the right pace we all should be going. I have had so many experiences, both good and bad, along this journey that is my writing career and there was a time that I would have wished all of the struggles I’ve had away but I realize in doing that I would wish away all of the experiences I’ve had with them. Some of those experiences, especially the bad ones, strengthened me and made me into a much better writer and while you never stop growing as a writer, those experiences were vital.

I think that once I get to the level of success that I am striving for (the first level anyway), I will be far more grateful given all of the long, hard, and oftentimes depression filled years that it took to get me to that place. I have recently launched a few things and am moving closer to re-releasing my first novel with it’s new cover and releasing my poetry books, all while working on new novel projects as well and I am so excited for the day when I can say I have like ten published books (because that day is coming lol).

I think most of all I will look back on this slow (depressingly slow) and steady journey and be thankful that everything didn’t just speed by so quickly and that it wasn’t an easy road because as I’ve said here before, I don’t believe that anything worth having is ever going to be easy to obtain. I want a long steady and very successful career as an author, one with a legacy I can pass down to my daughter and I think maybe that means that the journey needs to be long and steady as well. We would do better to remember that it’s not about how fast you get to where you are going, it’s about making sure that you actually get to where you’re going and hopefully as prepared as you possibly can be. Faster isn’t always better.

Until next time… #BeGrateful #BeDiligent #BePatient

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

And if any of you would like to buy me a coffee and donate to my creative endeavors then please feel free to https://ko-fi.com/authorjccarpenter

Pushing the Boundaries

May 10, 2021 jcladyluv

So I did it! I did my first live stream this past weekend and I’m going to be honest, I did not hit it out of the park. I wasn’t necessarily planning to hit a home run here because if you know anything about me then you know I am terrified when it comes to doing something new, in particular something new that terrifies me in the first place. I’m never eager to fail at anything but I have been doing some growing these past few years, both spiritually and mentally, so I get that in order to succeed at anything there are going to be a few failures along the way because perfect is not a realistic goal. Could it have gone better? Yes! Do I regret doing it even though I feel I could’ve done much better? No! Just in the way that I felt terrified when I started my YouTube channel about being on camera to begin with but then gradually adapted to it and even liking it.

Sometimes doing things that we don’t necessarily want to do can end up being the best thing that we’ve ever done and if we just focused on the fact that it scares us then we would never much of anything. It’s scary to grow past the box that you have learned to maneuver yourself in. You get accustomed to things being just the way you like them and in a way that doesn’t require you to have to learn anything new or do something you’re not used to doing and in my case, someone who has extreme anxiety and OCD and a nearly paralyzing fear of change, it can feel pretty good to know what to expect out of every day. But then you never end up growing if it stays that way and to succeed in life with anything there has to be growth.

It’s something that I’m learning along this journey and something that definitely makes me feel uncomfortable. I suppose we all have two choices in the ladder of success. We can hold on to the rung that we’re on with the knowledge that as long as we hold on tight we won’t fall, we’ll stay right where we are. Or, we can have faith that if you just carefully move forward and grab one rung at a time, even knowing that there is a possibility of falling, that God will always be your safety net, thus remaining cautious yet still in motion.

We can’t hold on at the same level forever, not if we ever expect to get anywhere. Success lies in the ability to reach for the next rung of the ladder and having faith that you won’t fall and if you do that God will be there to catch you and get you back on track. We can’t live in our comfort zones forever, and I’m not sure we should really want to even if we could.

Until next time… #BeBold #BeCourageous #BeBrave

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

And if any of you would like to buy me a coffee and donate to my creative endeavors then please feel free to https://ko-fi.com/authorjccarpenter

What Is Left to Be Discovered?

February 8, 2021 jcladyluv

I love that even at the age of forty I am still discovering things about myself and my creative abilities that I had not realized before. For instance, I have been doing my YouTube channel for almost a year now (May 9^th will be a year) and I was so hesitant to dive into that realm of the creative world. I don’t know if you know this about me, but I am an extreme introvert and being on camera terrifies me. Nevertheless I took the risk and dove into the world of becoming a YouTuber and while it is a bit of a slow crawl to get a good sized audience I have discovered that I like doing it more than I thought I would.

Not the being on camera part mind you, but knowing that something I said or some advice that I have given has somehow inspired some other writer or given them courage to start their own YouTube channel. I always want to make a difference, in whatever I do, so getting comments on my videos telling me how much they enjoyed the video and how much they got out of it really makes me feel like I’m leaving my mark, however small of a mark it might be. We all leave our marks in this world, admittedly some leave bigger marks than others, but it all adds to the betterment of this world and the people in it.

I also happened to discover that I like editing videos and I’m not too bad at it either (imagine how good I can be at it if I can learn some more about the proper techniques) but I would have never discovered this hidden capability had I not attempted something that I was fearful of doing. Now I’m not saying we should dive into every single whim that we have. However, taking a few risks every now and then can help us really learn things about ourselves that were just waiting to be discovered. Have you ever wondered what talents you might unearth if you just took a leap into that endeavor you’ve been holding back on? You should take the risk and see just what you discover about yourself.

Until next time… #BeFearless #BeBold #BeCourageous

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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