Tag: Novel

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Is a Writer’s Desk Ever Really Free of Clutter?

August 9, 2012 jcladyluv

It’s about that time for the re-organization fairy to come in and clean my office area again. Okay no really it seems like it needs to be done every three or four months and I don’t know about anyone else but it is hard to work in clutter, especially when it is clutter of your own making.

My clutter comes from piling the incoming mail into my little inbox trays and letting it all stack up each and every week without ever tossing any of the junk that needs to be trashed out. It also comes from trying to work on more than a few projects at one time so therefore everything in reference to each project, research, outlines and things of that nature, end up in a pile to the side of my desk and it starts to look a little bit similar to the mail file, accept none of it is junk.

It is time for me to get my desk back in the order that I would like it to be in and this time devise a plan for it to stay that way. But am I kidding myself to think that my desk can ever really remain clean and orderly? Perhaps a writer’s desk is never truly clean of all clutter but when it starts to hinder the progress that you are making (or rather not making) then it becomes a problem.

It’s so distracting that I have not even really done work at my desk for the last few weeks. I’ve simply gathered up my laptop, and my notepad and notes on certain projects and toted them out to my dining room table, which is nice and clean, and I work there but I am really starting to miss my desk.

I miss my chair (well currently it’s broke thanks to my daughter hopping in and out of it like it’s a bean-bag chair) and more importantly I miss feeling like a successful writer/business woman working in her own office (area). That’s what working at my desk does for me. I’ve seen pictures of writers working happily in a cluttered space and they genuinely look happy and at peace with the mess. I just don’t know how they do it. I suppose I should be happy that I’ve been doing a good job of working on my novel for Camp NaNoWriMo so I can’t say that the dining room table is a bad fix but, I miss my desk.

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

What Do You Say On the Days You Don’t Know What To Say?

April 25, 2012 jcladyluv

I made a promise to myself that I would really focus on writing a blog post on a very regular basis. At first it was everyday but then I realized that I wanted my weekends to be about reading, or doing research, or marketing myself in some way. I still have work to do on the marketing part of that equation.

However, I won’t pretend like it is not a struggle to produce words that will be thought provoking and inspirational (hopefully you guys do consider them inspirational) on a consistent basis. Some days I really just don’t know what to say. Some days I go through the whole day and I don’t hear anything that inspires me or gives me an insight into what to write for you guys.

I tend to feel really inadequate as a writer on those days when I don’t know what to say. People have this misconception that writers know exactly the right things to say and sometimes we just don’t. Sometimes our minds are focused on whatever project we are working on and that is what consumes us. Today is one of those days for me.

I have thoughts of finishing my novel going through my head and where to go next with it. I have thoughts of the next novel project that can either be a Young Adult novel or an Adult fiction novel but I haven’t quite decided which way to take it just yet. I have a non-fiction book that I am trying to figure out what direction I want to go with it because it is a book that will be about my weight loss journey which is more about becoming a healthier and happier version of myself but it will also incorporate details of my childhood so it might actually border on something close to a memoir.

That is what has been on my mind all day and thus I couldn’t really come up with anything to say today. So I hope that you will understand my lack of inspiration in my blog post today but I did keep my promise I made to myself to continue posting on a daily basis. Maybe tomorrow I will know exactly what words to say.

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

The No Matter What of It All

April 5, 2012 jcladyluv

“No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you’ve come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself.”

~Madonna

This week I have actually been really productive, or at least more productive then I’ve been in a really long time. I am starting to feel that drive again to get what I need done no matter what. I heard a celebrity say once that those three words were words that drove her to the level of success that she had reached. She said that if she always told herself ‘no matter what’ the job or task had to get done then she would be driven to do it. It may not be done perfectly or maybe not even in its entirety, but it will get done. I’ve been thinking a lot about those three words and this week that is what I have had in my mind. Instead of trying to make everything perfect and get every single thing done, I have just been content on getting whatever I could get done, no matter what.

I was talking to Ms. L. last night and I told her about the submission that I finally sent off to a magazine. It sounds like something that you would think I had been doing on a regular basis by this point but sadly it was not. I have spent months agonizing over whether editors will like my article ideas, whether my writing was really as good as I thought it was that they would even pay attention to a query from me, but mostly I had been trying to figure out how to write the PERFECT query letter. I have stacks and stacks of books (and internet research) on how to write a perfect (or irresistible) query but none of them seemed to help me. I had sworn that I would not send out a query until I got the query letters just right. The problem with that theory was that none of my query letters were coming out perfectly, so of course nothing was being sent off.

This week I said that I was just going to start sending query letters, even if they weren’t perfect, even if they weren’t even close to being right, because if I don’t send anything out then obviously no one will see my work and I will never see my byline in any national magazine. So I did. I sent a submission, and it was indeed imperfect, but it also indeed felt really good. The thing is that I can’t promise that the queries will be perfect, but I imagine that with more practice in sending them out on a more consistent basis, they will get better.

I also told Ms. L. that I was going to work on my latest novel that I have yet to finish because I honestly haven’t touched it since the end of National Novel Writing Month (I’m not sure why I haven’t). I said that even if I didn’t write much on it that I would at least work on it for half an hour, no matter what. I in fact did work on my novel, and though I did not write much on it, I did write for a half an hour. I plan on working on it tonight as well.

I am finding that this week is turning out to do for me exactly what I wanted it to do for me (at least on the writing level) which is re-light that fire under me to get moving and put all my plans in motion. I think now that I have really started to visualize my dreams I can begin to see them as my reality. It’s helping me put some action into all of the planning that I have been doing. It feels really good to feel that fire starting to burn again. I just hope it doesn’t go out again anytime soon. I’ve got too much lost time to make up for. But I will get the job done, No Matter What!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

Slow Progression

January 14, 2012 jcladyluv

It is coming up on the third week of January and I already feel like I am so behind on my action plan to accomplish my goals this year. Yes I know that it is only week 3 of a new year and I have the whole year ahead of me. But in case you’re not aware of it, that time will fly by without you even realizing it. I suppose that the important thing is that I acknowledge I can be doing better and I put forth the effort to continually make progress.

I know that next week will be a challenge because I am finally going to get around to getting started on sending out at least one of the four query letters that I set out to send on a monthly basis (I might increase that number later on in the year). Also I plan on getting back to the novel that I worked on during National Novel Writing month which I took a longer than unexpected break from. Not to mention that I have a Magazine to finish putting together for its debut.

With all of that said I am going to go read now because to be a better writer I also have to become an even more avid reader. I know that I’ve got to get moving on my goal list (because it is quite long) but I am just glad that I haven’t completely stalled. I am making progress, even if it is a slow progression, it is progress nonetheless. Until tomorrow…What counts is that you make progress, not how quickly the progress is made.

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

Back to Business

January 2, 2012 jcladyluv

So now that it is the second day of the New Year everyone should already have their Christmas Tree taken down (or put out in case of those who actually like real trees), the decorations back in their storage space (only to be taken out next year), and the new calendar up with important dates already marked. Hopefully another thing that everyone also has is their game plan in place for the 2012. The holidays are over and now it is time to get back to the business of accomplishing the goals that you set for this year. Whatever your goals are today is the time to begin working on them. Take those plans that you began making in December of 2011 and begin acting on them as if your life depended on it, because it does. I know that I’ve got a novel to finish up and a magazine that needs to be finished and put together by the end of January (preferably before the end) so I’ve got to get moving myself. Until tomorrow…Get moving on those dreams, there’s no more time to waste!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

Who Says Writing is Not a Job?

December 29, 2011 jcladyluv

“Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.”
~Gloria Steinem

After finishing up my walk/run on the treadmill in the gym this morning I began talking to two fellow gym members and we were watching The Wendy Williams Show (no one bothers to turn the T.V. channel after the news goes off) and this morning the Braxton family were the guests today. Now despite saying that I would never watch that mess during the first season (because I hate most reality TV shows), I accidentally ended up watching it one night and I was immediately hooked and have been watching ever since. There’s so much about the Braxton family that I learned in watching their show and it is extremely entertaining to say the least.

Needless to say, one of the sisters, Towanda, is separated from her husband and she talked about that today on The Wendy Williams Show and that one of the main reasons that they are separated is because he doesn’t have a job. Now because I watch the show I know that her husband is a writer, albeit a struggling writer, but a writer nonetheless. He just self-published his first book and already has himself lined up for several media and book events so he is soon about to take off. However, because the fruits of his labor have not been seen yet, he is still seen as the man with no job.

I take great issue with this because that implies that writing is not a job. This sparked some mild debate with my two gym buddies because initially they felt as if I was attacking them. After making it clear that I was not directly referring to them, I expressed how I am constantly hearing that about writers. It’s as if you say you’re a writer and people then say oh, but what is your job. That is my job. I AM A WRITER! It takes time, discipline, determination, persistence, and sheer willpower to put in the work to write a book and then do everything else that it takes to get that book published and then make it successful. Writing is no small feat and I am getting really tired of people who dismiss it as simply a hobby or something that someone with an actual job does on the side.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are people with skilled jobs or even other major career paths who do in fact write on the side and I am not trying to take anything away from them. But you do have those people who are not better suited for a regular, skilled, 9 to 5, type of job because it would simply just take away from doing what it is that they were truly meant to do. I am one of those people. I have had regular jobs and I have once thought about taking up a particular skilled job that I could make a career out of but I just simply am not built that way. I was born to be a writer and while I do not currently have what other people would consider a job, I feel that everyday that I sit down to my computer and write on my blog, or write an article for some online publication, or send out my queries to national magazines for my articles, or send out queries to agents for representation, or work on my novels, or edit someone else’s novel, that I am doing my JOB.

I don’t make as much (right now) that I would like to be making and I do struggle at times without having that steady stream of bi-weekly income to come into my household but I don’t regret not going out there and seeking typical employment. I do what I love and I am home for my daughter when she gets home from school to help her with homework and for whatever else her needs are. I feel like people who just choose to write for a living with no additional methods of income get a really bad wrap. Out of work Actors don’t get told that they are no longer considered Actors because they are not currently making a steady stream of income, no they are still Actors, so what is so different about being a writer? I don’t knock anyone that does go to work in the morning and comes home and parents their children and then if they want to write, sit and write at night. I think that it is admirable and very tough to do, but everyone is not built that way. I know that I was never good at it and frankly it made me quite miserable and at times unbearable to deal with.

I suppose that I am writing to all of those writers out there who might at times be feeling guilty about making the choice to either quit their regular jobs or just not seek another one altogether to focus on their writing. If you feel that writing is your purpose and what you were meant to do, if you feel that you are truly doing God’s work, then go for it. You will struggle, you will get frustrated, you will be looked at funny, you will get rejected, but in the end, when your goal is accomplished and you get to where you always envisioned yourself being, then it will all be worth it. Until tomorrow…Be brave enough to do what’s in your heart and commit yourself to following through.

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”