Tag: productivity

Productivity Doesn’t Always Come Easy

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Productivity is not easy

Last week was just not a very productive week for me. Well maybe I should say that in terms of actual writing being done, it was not a week of progress. I actually managed to read quite a bit more than I normally get to do but that was mainly because I felt so guilty about not being able to get anything done, writing wise. But the question is should I feel guilty?

Every week is not going to be perfect for a writer. We don’t always know the words we want to say and we aren’t always able to just sit down in front of a computer and just start writing non-stop until the work is done. We have really good weeks where we get all the work we set out to do and more, we have those weeks where we get just what we needed done but nothing more.

And then there are those weeks where nothing (seemingly) gets accomplished and we are sitting there banging our heads against a wall trying to figure out why nothing is coming to mind and your fingers just don’t want to more across the keys of the keyboard. Those are those moments when you have to remind yourself that your mind sometimes needs a break too.

We are not machines, no matter what profession, but particularly writers. It is hard to take mental breaks when so much of what you do lives inside your head. You have characters screaming at you all the time (lol) and ideas just popping in your mind at a moment’s notice and sometimes your mind just needs a break. So I guess last week was my mental vacation. I caught up on some reading and I even caught up on some TV shows.

However, this week, I am ready to get back to the business of writing and working on these projects and finishing up others. Hope your week is starting off right and that you’re ready to get your hustle on this week. Stay focused and be blessed!

 

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/

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When the Focus Has Been Found

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Focus (spelled out)

I have in mind the plans for this year and what I wanted to get accomplished but my plans were somewhat generalized.  I hadn’t been able to be more detailed in my plans and my goals and the focus was a bit off.  Then I talked to Ms. L last night and we talked about things that had nothing to do with writing or our separate businesses, things that were personal.  Eventually we did get to the topic of our business endeavors and I expressed my frustration to her because I knew the things I wanted to do and get done but I just didn’t have a concrete plan (or even a vague one) of how to go about accomplishing them.

Within a manner of thirty minutes (probably less) Ms. L helped me to develop a comprehensive plan of action to get the things I need done, more specific details on how to get the most out of those things, and a plan to promote those projects that I have to get accomplished.  She even helped me to add some projects to the list which tie in really well with the other ideas and can do more for my business as a whole.  She helped to focus my ideas and goals so that they weren’t so all over the place in my mind.

Ms. L is a godsend and I am so thankful that God sent me a friend like her, whose mind works similar to mine, whose bones in her body also are filled with creativity.  I wrote a post about when you don’t have the right people around you it could essentially hinder your progress.  However, having the right person or people around you, who have the same ideals and whose goals are not necessarily the same, but inadvertently linked with one another.

Ms. L was definitely someone sent into my life by God and she keeps me sane and she reminds me whenever I forget (and I forget a lot) that everything that I need to make my dreams a reality is already within me so long as I have the faith that it is there.  Make sure that you know who is surrounding you but not only that, make sure that you don’t let their value in your life go to waste.  God didn’t put them there in your life for nothing.  He placed them there so they could be a vessel to use, so use them!

 

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

What We Don’t Get

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progress not perfection

Why is it that we tend to always focus on what we didn’t do?  Think about it.  When we make a to-do list for the day or the week, once the day or week is over, all we focus on are the tasks that didn’t get checked off.  I’m guilty of this myself.  I sit and stress and beat myself up over the two or three things on a list of ten that didn’t get done instead of celebrating, or at the very least, acknowledging what I actually got done.

I suppose when you step back and look at a list of ten things and see that you got at least seven of them done you are supposed to give yourself a pat on the back but all I ever see is that I didn’t get EVERYTHING done.  We hold ourselves to such high expectations for our own accomplishments sometimes that we forget to take some pride in the things that did get done, for the good job that we have done thus far.

God didn’t build the universe in one day so why is it that we think that we can get everything done all at once.  All of the things worth having, the dreams that we are creating, the legacy that we are building, they can’t all be completed at a moment’s notice.  They take time.  Don’t rush what will eventually get done in the time that it’s supposed to be accomplished.

If we want the best we have to have patience because rushed work doesn’t always turn out to be the best work.  Take your time and give yourself credit for what has already been completed.  Don’t let what you don’t have diminish what you already do have!

 

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

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No More Self-Sabotage

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Don't stand in my own way

I have realized something the last day or so. I keep doing it to myself. Over and over again I will be headed toward something good and then I will overthink it, I will over analyze it, and I will read too much into things and interpret something that isn’t even there. All of it is me sabotaging myself, my own happiness, my accomplishments, my relationships with others. All because I suppose I still don’t get that I deserve those things just as much as anyone else around me.

I think fear plays a part in it as well. I’m afraid that if I do well people will expect me to always do well and what happens when I don’t. I’m afraid that when I have some semblance of happiness that something or someone else will come along and just snatch it all away. I’m afraid that if I let people in too far, if I let them get too close, that they will discover that I’m not perfect, or that I’m not like everyone else, and then they won’t care about me anymore and then they’ll leave anyway, so I just push them away first.

I got to thinking in the last couple of days that if I keep doing this, then I really will have no one, and none of my goals will be reached because I’m too afraid of what will happen once I reach them. I can’t keep getting in my own way and staying in my head all the time. It’s not a good thing and while I always felt that I sabotaged my own self in some way I couldn’t see it clearly before a couple of days ago. It wasn’t so obvious to me before as it is now and now I am on that mission to do something about it. I can’t always change my situations or things that just happen and I can’t necessarily change how other people are and their ways but I can change my ways and I can change how I react to things. I can be a better version of myself than what I am now. What does your better version of you look like?

 

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

 

New Year, New Goals, New Deadlines

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Goals are dreams with deadlines

It’s a New Year and I am a little late at getting started on my goals, one of them being returning back to my normal blogging style.  It seems I was thrown a major obstacle in the first week of it being a new year.  I had been anticipating this year and all of the things that I hope that it holds for me but I didn’t factor in that for great rewards there will more than likely be even greater struggles.  It is so much easier said than done to just “get over it” and not let whatever the issues you are facing bother you.  It’s particularly hard when you feel like every time you start being able to stay afloat some circumstance comes along to push you right back underwater again.

I have made plans for the New Year and set my expectations for myself and once again I am afraid that I might have been a bit too ambitious.  However, I am going to do my best to make those goals happen and despite how this year is starting off I am going to try my hardest to make the most of it.  This is my first blog post of the New Year and I am excited to see what this year has in store for me in my writing career and every other aspect of my life.  Hope all of your New Year’s goals are set and that you aren’t as late getting started on them as I am.

 

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

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Thinking Out Loud

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thinking out loud

I know that it is National Novel Writing Month and I am supposed to be participating.  I had a plan, I signed up, and even tried to motivate myself to focus on doing it.  Nevertheless, I have not written anything on the novel that I was supposed to be finishing (that truthfully should have been finished by now) and to add to the lack of production, I have not done a very good job lately of keeping up with this blog which I love.  

I tried to pinpoint the reasons behind my recent lack of motivation towards writing in general, thinking that for some time it has been my focus and determination to finish up my degree that was enabling my laziness when it came to my writing.  But now that I am finished with my Master’s degree (and have time to contemplate whether or not I want to enter the doctorate program) I thought for sure this would be the perfect time to get back into high gear with all of my writing efforts.  

Sadly, that has not been how it was been working out.  I have felt so un-motivated to write anything, and feeling a lot like what I say doesn’t matter.  I’ve been mostly feeling a little depressed that my writing career hasn’t evolved into what I thought it would have already been by now.  I even mentally entertained the idea that there could be a possibility, that somehow I was not cut out to be a writer like I had dreamed about since the age of 6 and that maybe all this time I thought that God was instructing me that this was my calling and maybe I was wrong, maybe I assumed what I wanted to assume and that wasn’t what my calling was at all.  I even entertained the reasoning that my heart just wasn’t in it anymore, that maybe the amount of rejection for my (what I always thought was talented) writing had somehow hardened me and that I just couldn’t muster up the energy to try it anymore.  

All of those thoughts have been running through my mind and life throwing other monumental curveballs at me in the interim has added its share of unproductiveness.  But then I think of the fact that if that were truly the case, if it truly was not in me to do anymore, if this truly was not the calling that I had always perceived it to be, that I wouldn’t still have so many (good) ideas that flow through my mind and so many ways that I feel I can use my writing, my words to implement things that will not only change my life but the lives of the other people around me.  

My whole message for Write 2 Be is to instill empowerment to people, in particular to children who are constantly told that they can never be what it is that they want to be, that there is nothing that they can’t do with the willpower and determination to make it happen.  Sometimes I have to remind myself that even when it seems like what I am trying to do doesn’t matter, that it does, and not just to me, not just for my daughter, but for anyone who has ever felt discouraged and who has ever been overrun by their fears of never being able to be what it is they feel that they were truly meant to be.  I can’t say why my motivation has dwindled these past several months, but I know that I am definitely not throwing in the towel on my dreams and on my purpose.  

I feel like I needed to write this because I get the feeling that I am not the only one of you out there who has had these feelings and these doubts.  I suppose the hardest part of feeling the fear and doubt in yourself is thinking that you are all alone in thinking what others are too afraid to say out loud.  So this is me thinking out loud and hoping that it helps the rest of you who might be thinking the same thoughts and feeling the same way know that someone else gets it too.  

 

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

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Weekend Motivation

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get things done

I will admit that I have not been as productive as I would like to be lately. I could have been doing so much work that I haven’t been getting accomplished. I could blame it on this Master’s program that I am finishing up which is draining a lot more out of me than I had anticipated it would. I could blame it on the fact that I have been feeling more blocked lately. I could accurately blame it on trying to be an active and aware mother who pours so much of her focus into her child that she sometimes forgets about herself (which is actually truer than I would like it to be).

But won’t do that, I won’t blame things or circumstances in which I have control over. Truthfully I just haven’t been effective at carving out the time for what I should have never let myself lose time doing. So this weekend I will be planning certain projects and figuring out a way to schedule the things that I need to get accomplished. What are your weekend goals?

Jimmetta Carpenter
Writer/Editor
The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)
Writing as “Jaycee Durant”
https://write-2-be.com/
http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

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

When You Feel Your Passion is Slipping Away: 4 Ways to Reignite Your Passion for Your Craft

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reignite your passion

Every now and then some (not all) writers start to feel like they may be losing their passion for the craft.  It most likely isn’t because they actually don’t want to write anymore.  Rather because they are stalled in the current project that they are working on.  The answer is not to start separating yourself from your craft, or to give up altogether.

Yes sometimes you may need to take a small step back but make sure that it is a very tiny step and not you completely letting something you love drift away from you.  I want to give some suggestions of some things that you could do to spark that passion inside of you again that you might feel is weaning.

1)      Go back and read a few or all of the books that made you want to be a writer in the first place

2)      Go through things that you have written in the past.  Go as far back as some of the first pieces of writing that you did.

3)      Watch movies that inspire you and your love of writing.  Whether it is movies about writers or writing in general, or whether it is a movie that provides you with inspiration for the screenplay you want to write, something that sparks your creativity for a story line of your own.

4)      Do something that fuels your creativity.  Go to a museum, go to an art show, go see a play, go to a writer’s conference, or if you are into nature, just take a walk and observe the things around you.

I know that feeling when you start to question everything you thought you knew about your talent and your writing abilities.  You start to feel like you aren’t as passionate about this as you used to be.  You begin to wonder if the fact that your current project is stalled or that you’ve just been hit with writer’s block means you’re no longer supposed to be writing.  You’re not as productive as you once were.

None of this is a reason for you to just give up on your dream.  It’s a reason for you to find that spark again and reignite that passion that you had to begin with.  If you are feeling a little unproductive and like your love for writing is in question, your passion is not gone.  It may just be a little lost, but it can be found again.  Keep going and find a way to reignite that spark.

 

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

 

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

Sometimes You Have to Take a Step Back Just to Realize How Much You’ve Grown

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take a step back

I realize that I have slacked off a lot lately in my writing.  Or at least that is what I think until I realize that I have kept up pretty well with this blog and other articles that I am writing for other blogs and publications.  Let’s not forget that I am still in school finishing up a Master’s degree so that is not to be taken lightly.  I am really hard on myself.  I am my own worst critic but then again I think most of us are highly critical of ourselves.  But when do we ever stop to take a step back to really look at the progress that we have made.

I was talking to Ms. L. last night and we were talking about our journey’s and I was telling her that while I know that most people don’t understand certain choices that I have made, and if I am being honest some days it doesn’t make sense to me either, but I feel like the path I am walking is the one that I am meant to walk.  It may be unconventional (that would be putting it mildly) and it may not be the most common sense choice (to other people who don’t have to walk in my shoes) but I just know that it is the right one.

I told Ms. L. last night that when I do reach my destiny, when I achieve the purpose that God has for me, it will all make sense and then everyone will wonder why they ever questioned my choices.  Truthfully they weren’t solely my mine.  They were what I was being guided to do.  Knowing who I am and that what God has for me is nothing but good, I have to trust the path that I am on.

I am working on not being so harsh on myself and on the lack of productiveness that I feel is taking place within my work right now.  I just have to remind myself to take a step back every once and a while.  Survey everything I’ve accomplished, everything that I have been through and the person that I have grown into.  I have to acknowledge that everything may not be the way I want it to be right now and I may not be in the position that I feel I should be in right now but I am right where I should be and everything is just as it should be.  It’s the way God has designed it to be.

When you think you’re not doing enough, that you haven’t moved an inch, take a step back and just look at where you were compared to where you are now.  I guarantee you that, even if it is small, you will see a difference!

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

 

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

6 Ways to Get More Organized in Your Writing Habits and Increase Productivity

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organized writer_1

Sometimes it’s hard to get your writing habits in check and maintain some discipline when it comes to working on your project(s).  I am working on implementing some ways to get more organized in my writing that I wanted to share with you guys today because I know that this is something that a lot of writers struggle with.  In particular writers who have not yet found their groove, so to speak.

I do have to admit that I have yet to master a couple of these (at least not for extended period of time) and I am still working on some of these suggestions myself.  However, I thought that we writers all need to stick together so I hope that some of these suggestions can not only be good for me but that they can help some of you out there as well.

  1. Hold Regular Meetings with Yourself—Your writing is a business and you are the CEO of that business.  You may not have the office, with the proper support staff (or you may) but you still have to hold the meetings and check in with yourself on where you are in reaching those goals that you are hopefully setting periodically.  They can be weekly, bi-weekly, or even monthly, but they do need to happen.
  2. Work on Multi-Tasking with Your Writing Projects— It used to be frowned upon to work on more than one project at a time.  It was looked at as if you were throwing in the towel on the one project just to go start (and probably not finish) another one.  However, times have changed and sometime when the inspiration is going dry on one project, rather than continuing at something that isn’t working in that moment, there is no reason to let the other ideas that might be filling up your brain (and your notepad) go to waste.  Start another project and perhaps getting fired up for the new project can reignite some old inspiration for the other one.
  3. Prepare Your Writing Projects in Detail— Another way to not get stuck in that “how do I start this” rut or that “I’ve got one chapter down but I don’t know where else to go with this” dilemma, is to outline your project or at least jot down the important story plots that you want to cover within your book.  Having a guide map of where to go in your story doesn’t mean that you have to absolutely stick to that guide but it does help you to not get stuck wondering what will come next in the story and it will keep you from having to backtrack and try to recount minor details that you’ve already written when you forget what they are because chances are your readers will know when one detail doesn’t match the other.
  4. Evaluate All of Your Time Wasters— You don’t have to give up all of your T.V. time, and you don’t have to never see another movie again but you do have to make your writing time matter more than that television show that you think you just can’t miss.  Most people have cable now, and with that they typically have a DVR, so record the T.V. shows that you can’t miss and watch them later in your down time.  But your writing time is precious and should not have to compete with the T.V. or the internet, or that phone call that you know you can make later. Don’t let your writing time go to waste.
  5. Keep All of Your Eggs in Their Own Baskets— Now while it is perfectly okay to work on multiple projects at a time (not too many though) you do want to make sure that you don’t blur the lines between the projects.  You can’t work on two projects at the exact same time period because the back and forth between the two projects would drive you crazy.  Set a time to work on each project individually and separate from the others. (For example, in the morning time you work on project A, a little time in the afternoon for project B, and if you have a third project then perhaps you can devote some time in the evening for project C.)
  6. Schedule the Down Time that You Know You Are Going to Need— Writing is not easy and if you are working on something personal to you it can be extremely emotional.  If you are working on the business side of your writing career it can become quite taxing so you have to remember to take some time to do something for yourself that has absolutely nothing to do with writing. Go see a movie, get your nails done, take a spa day, go work out at the gym, take a mini-vacation or even a long one if you’ve just finished up a big project.  Do something that you enjoy and that is going to give you a sense of calm so that your mind can be refreshed when it’s time to jump back into your writing project(s).

Hopefully some of the writers out there can put this into practice for yourselves and perhaps you have even more suggestions that you can add to this list that you can share with me and the rest of the readers here.  Happy writing everyone!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

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