Tag: productivity

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

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

Looking for Inspirational Surroundings

January 9, 2012 jcladyluv

I am sitting in the corner of my room that is designated as ‘my office’ and looking at my empty bulletin board and I am not feeling inspired at the moment. I run into this problem at the beginning of every year. I want to put new and inspiring things up on my bulletin board but I don’t quite know what to put up there. I have some pictures up surrounding the bulletin board but I’m thinking about changing them. I am trying not to let the lack of inspiration in front of my desk stop me from being productive but it is easier said than done.

I had a battle with procrastination today and I think that procrastination may have won this one. I think that I am going to take a little time this evening to finally fill my bulletin board and the walls around my desk area full of inspiration and try again tomorrow to be my most productive self. I guess every day can’t always be a good writing day. Until tomorrow…What inspiration is surrounding you in your office?

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

NaNoWriMo Day 24: The Season for Preparation Begins

November 24, 2011 jcladyluv

Today reminds me that we are getting closer to a new year, with new plans, new goals, and new projects that we will be working on. I have to take a look at my goals that I had for this year and look at just how many I didn’t get accomplished and see which ones I think I might actually be able to achieve next year and which one’s are just out of my reach (at least for next year). I really should start a short term and long term goal list and then I might feel a little more accomplished come this time next year. I don’t know if I have told you guys but I am an extremely overly ambitious person, sometimes to my own detriment. Usually as Christmas approaches I sit down and begin making a list of my goals, the projects I want to get done, and the books I want to read for the next year. While my friends who do this same thing have short, attainable lists, my lists look like the goals of about two or three people put together. My challenge when I make my list this year is to make my lists something that I can feasibly accomplish. My list has to be something that meets my ambitions, but does not exceed my own reality. It needs to be a list that when I go back and look at it at the end of the year I’m not going to feel like I am an absolute failure because I didn’t even get half of a ridiculously long list done. So as Thanksgiving moves out and the Christmas season officially begins, so does the preparations for the year to come. Until next time…What are your goals for next year going to look like?

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

NaNoWriMo Day 23: Working Holiday

November 23, 2011 jcladyluv

I know tomorrow is Thanksgiving so first I just want to wish all my readers a Happy Thanksgiving and I hope that everyone enjoys their family and friends and treasures them dearly. I am not that big of a fan of the Thanksgiving holiday because I don’t really have a big family and the family I do have is not big on holidays and the handful of friends that I do have either don’t like holidays either or they are too spread out all over the place for me to be able to enjoy them. Now don’t get me wrong I would probably be very much a holiday person if I actually had people to enjoy it with other than my wonderful daughter. However, this is the time of year where I become incredibly lonely and a little depressed. Tomorrow is especially going to be hard because my daughter is going to spend Thanksgiving Day with her father’s family and I will be here alone (my first one without her). So my plan to make it through the day (without bursting into tears) is to write and catch up on my word count, map out my social media marketing plans for several of my projects, and try to squeeze in getting the house decorated for Christmas. So tomorrow will be a day of productivity (I hope) and hopefully, by the end of the day, I will at least be thankful for the work I was able to accomplish throughout the day. I hope that all of you have a wonderful day tomorrow and for my fellow Nano-ers, don’t forget that it is still November and National Novel Writing Month is still in effect. Until next time…Enjoy all of your blessings and don’t take them for granted.

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

NaNoWriMo Day 22: Rainy Days

November 22, 2011 jcladyluv

Rainy days always make me feel a little sad and lazy. Today was a rainy day and unfortunately I did succumb to the feeling of laziness and a touch of sadness (mainly for my character Mackenzie who is going through something right now). However, while it may be late, I have decided to show up. This post may be coming later than I would have normally posted it but I did show up to write it. I also did not write this morning but I plan on showing up tonight to sit down and write. I meant what I wrote yesterday about deciding to show up and I plan to hold myself to it. Granted I would have liked to have a whole day of work to show that I showed up but some is better than none and while I showed up late, it is better late than never. Tomorrow is another day and I already have it mapped out in my head what I need to do and work on to be productive. I am almost at 50,000 words (a little over 32,000) and I plan to be able to say I succeeded come November 30^th. I hope all of my fellow writers out there who are participating in this challenge are doing well in their novels. I’ve got to go now, Mackenzie is getting closer to the person who killed the Congressman. Until next time…Don’t let the rainy days hold you back.

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

NaNoWriMo Day 17: Having a Backwards Kind of Day

November 17, 2011 jcladyluv

Okay today has been one lacking in productivity. I was supposed to write this morning but the bed wouldn’t let me go. So I resolved to write later in the morning but alas nothing was moving me to write. Now I make a promise to myself that by the end of the day I will have my minimum words written for the day but right now things feel a little backwards. I would normally have my words done for the day by the time I got around to writing up my blog post but today will just have to be different. I have actually, in lieu of writing, started thinking about the second book in the series that this book is going to be the beginning of. I was thinking about the kind of case Mackenzie will be encountering in the next book and what else Mackenzie is going to reveal about herself in that one because something tells me that this book will not spill all of the secrets in her life. I was also thinking about what I might want the cover to look like and what the book trailer might consists of. I think I might have to go ahead and put together a marketing plan for this book before all of the ideas leave my mind and before it is too late to start thinking about this aspect of the novel. I have big things planned for this book, at least in my mind anyway. Well I guess I’m going to go actually do my word count for the day. Until next time…What would your book trailer look like?

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

For the Busy Writers

September 9, 2011 jcladyluv

I was so engulfed in trying to be productive and finish my goal list for this week that I almost forgot to do this blog post which is also on my list of goals. So I thought I would share some time management tips that may help those writers out there are that are trying to figure out how to deal with their everyday busy lives and incorporate writing into that mix. Hope some of these tips are helpful to you.

Publicize your writing goals- Tell your friends and family, even your kids, what your goals are that you need to accomplish for the week, or for the month. Put a list of those goals up on the bulletin board in front of your desk (because all writers should have one) or on a post it note and stick it on your computer. If you have a blog share some of those goals with your readers. This will help you to hold yourself accountable to the tasks you set out to achieve because if you don’t, now someone else will.
Do the more time consuming tasks first- You may be tempted to check all the smaller things off your list first but none of those smaller things help you to accomplish the few bigger things on that list then you may still get to the end of the week with those things unfinished and it will feel less gratifying. If you knock the big things out of the way you will feel more accomplished by the end of the week.
Be flexible- You will probably never complete an entire writing project without having something go wrong along the way, or not necessarily wrong, just not as you originally planned them to go. Make some back up plans for when things get thrown off track. This will help you to bounce back quicker than you would if you were just left without some sense of knowing what to do next.
Track where your time goes- Often times we don’t even know where the time goes or what we have done with that time. If this is the case with you, it may be beneficial to chart out your day and make notes of what you do and when. See where you can cut some things out that may not be so necessary in order for you to implement for time for writing.
Just Say No- Distractions are just a part of life and for a writer it is often that people will dismiss your need to actually sit down and write. They expect you to always be available to talk or go out and it’s hard to say no and justify why you’re not spending time with them so you can write. If you start telling them NO and letting them know that this is something serious for you and that it matters, they will eventually get the message and respect your craft. But you have to say No first.

I hope that some of these tips are helpful to you. I am still working on practicing some of them myself. Well I better get back to my craft now. Until next time…be blessed!

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

It’s All About Accountability

August 29, 2011August 29, 2011 jcladyluv

“It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.”

~Moliere

So today I had planned on working on so many different things pertaining to my writing and my many other ideas. I even made a list for the week of the specific goals that I really want to get accomplished this week and my best friend made a list too in which we emailed to each other so that we can hold each other accountable for them.

Now I know the week’s just gotten started and there is plenty of time during the week to actually accomplish those things but I guess I just thought that as excited as I was to get started this morning, I wouldn’t get stalled as soon as I sat down at the computer. However, that is exactly what happened.

So I decided to write this post because it is actually one of the only steps that I have made thus far today towards my goals for this week which include posting here at least 3 times this week. I suppose you could say I used my lack of focus and concentration to my advantage specifically for this blog post. That way if I do nothing else today then I have at least posted 1 of my 3 blog posts for the week.

Now I am not completely giving up hope for producing something else over the course of the rest of the day but I really hope that tomorrow will be more eventful and more productive. I have a very ambitious list for the week but I have the very best friend and motivator in the world, which happens to be one hell of a writer, with very high standards that will hold me accountable for anything that I do not get accomplished.

On that note I guess I better go continue staring at the computer hoping that the words will somehow begin to flow and that my mind won’t continue to wonder. Until next time…..How do you hold yourself accountable?

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

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

The Writer and Their Distractions

August 24, 2011August 25, 2011 jcladyluv

“Work is hard. Distractions are plentiful. And time is short.”
~ Adam Hochschild

I have come to realize and accept the fact that writing completely without distractions is essentially impossible. From the television, to social media, and just life in general, distractions are just a part of anyone’s career path. I’ve also discovered that there are in fact some distractions that are not really a distraction, simply background material for you next story, or inspiration for your next article. When writers go to coffee shops to get some work done, most people would wonder how that is conducive to one’s writing because there is so much noise and so many different conversations going on at the same time around you. What non-writers fail to realize is that those multiple conversations can work their way in to so much of your stories or inspire new one’s.

Those aren’t the distractions that hinder me when it comes to my productivity. One of the biggest distractions that can be my downfall, yet can also be my inspiration, is the television. I try to escape it but there’s always something on it that intrigues me and gets the wheels in my mind turning and thinking of other ideas. Now this would be good if I was struggling with coming up with ideas but the problem is I have way too many ideas. But if I turn the television off then the complete silence becomes an even bigger distraction than the TV itself.

I guess a writer can never really get away from their distractions completely. There are many ways that they could probably limit or eliminate them in an effort to become more productive but maybe the key is in figuring out how to make the distractions work for you. I haven’t quite mastered that part yet but I am working on it everyday. I did manage to come up with a small list of a few things that hopefully will enable those writers who are having the same struggles with distractions that I’m having:

Write By Hand- This enables you to get away from the computer completely, and all of the distractions that the computer holds. Also having to actually write out your words allows you to examine them as you go along and sometimes the words flow easier.

Turn off the Phone- No one can help but to look at their phone when it rings or when you get a text message and of course if you look at the phone when it rings then you are most likely going to answer it. To avoid this timely distraction turn the cell phone off for the amount of your time that you decide to write.

Close out the window with the Internet- If you absolutely can not see yourself writing long-hand and must use the computer then be sure to close all other windows besides the one with your project. While you are typing out your story, or whatever project you are working on, have no other screen up or minimized waiting on you to click on. If you can see the other window (even minimized) you will want to click on it. It almost sounds too simple but it really works!

Write every Morning- Getting up an hour earlier in the morning allows you time when the rest of the world, and your household, is still sleep and you can have complete concentration on your work before your day even really gets started. Now this one is hard for me to do but I think I am even going to put more effort into making this one work for me.

Find your Place- Now some writers have certain places where they have to write. They literally can not write anything if they are not in their special writing place. So if there is a place that the words just flow easier and naturally then that’s where you should probably try to write all of the time. I believe I am one of those writers but economically it just isn’t possible for me to go where I need to go everyday to write.

If any of you writer’s out there has any tips and ideas on how I, or any other writer with this same problem, can minimize their distractions, or make them work for them, please feel free to share. Until next time…I will be busy fighting off my current distraction, the TV!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

Are You Just Another Busy Body?

March 5, 2011 jcladyluv

Procrastination is opportunity’s assassin.

~Victor Kiam

How serious are you about your art and exactly how much are you willing to sacrifice to invest something in it?

More and more everyday I am reminded of just how short life really is and as a writer I get to thinking about how much time I waste on a daily basis doing things that are not going to help me get to where I need to be in life. With the hours that I have spent watching television that was not necessary to watch I could’ve literally written quite a few novels by now. The same goes for the hours that I have spent on the telephone with non-productive idle chit chat.

It seems as though I am always busy yet somehow I still feel like I don’t get anything done, or at least not as much as I should. While I am productive to an extent I certainly have begun to realize that my output could be so much more then what it is. But I have come to a reality that just because someone is busy being busy doesn’t mean that they are being productive.

One of the two key elements in trying to remain productive is time management and using the time that you have available in the most efficient way is a crucial component and affects just how productive you are or can be. It’s really easy to let life’s little distractions turn into excuses as to why you’re not actually working towards what you want but those excuses don’t get you any closer to what it is that you are trying to accomplish. You have to know your limits and be more realistic about your time. While you do need to establish a routine to effectively balance the workload that you have you can not create a schedule that works if you don’t manage your time well thus knowing how much time to designate to any given task.

You also have to know your distractions and how to avoid them. For example my distraction is television. I have come to understand that for me to produce the amount of work I feel I should be putting out I need to go somewhere where there is not a television so I have adjusted to going to the library or a coffee shop in order to get my writing done. Everyone’s distractions are different but you need to recognize them and adjust them according to the time that you have available. Productivity begins with you having an awareness of what works and what doesn’t.

Another key element in productivity is prioritizing. You have to know what you want most in order to know what to do first. You also have to know your goals before you can productively meet them. If it takes you making a list so that you can better visualize what it is that you need to do in order to meet those goals then it’s time to pick up your pen and get writing. Most of us don’t have a problem coming up with things that we want to get done but when we try to keep everything in our head that’s when it can get overwhelming. A little organization and prioritizing of your time can go a long way. Once you have that list written out you can become more organized about how to achieve those goals and assessing their levels of priority which will make your output that much greater.

Time is very precious and valuable and if you don’t use it well and do what needs to be done in the amount of time that you have then you are wasting time that you will not get back again. Saying you are too busy is not going to get things accomplished because the truth of the matter is that if you were busy doing what needed to be done then you wouldn’t be scrounging around for the time to do it.

Look at what it is that you are so busy doing and evaluate it. What is it in your “busy” day that can be cut out? How much of what you do can be eliminated from your schedule to allow for the necessary things. Learn how to manage your time because if you don’t you’re just going to wake up one day wondering to yourself where did all the time go and how come I’m still not where I wanted to be. It’s because you can’t be productive if you’re not prioritizing your time. Time can not be re-created so I suggest that we procrastinators stop being busy just to be busy, and get busy producing greatness.

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/