If Only I Could Have All the Answers

Having all the answers

If you are not someone like J.K. Rowling, Terry McMillan, Steven King, or James Patterson, then making a substantial living as a writer can be a somewhat daunting task.  Admittedly there are some writers who are just starting out at trying to make a living as a writer and have it a bit easier than others.  Quite frankly there are some writers whose talent and execution of their words are not nearly good enough (not saying there is no potential for it to be) to have the success that they are having right out the gate, and yet their luck seems to be iron hot.

I don’t think of myself as the best writer out there, and I consider myself to always be working on my craft trying to make my writing better.  However, I do feel like this rise to the middle ground (which for now would suffice for me) is taking quite longer than even I had expected.  I know the sayings and the pep talks that people give, that I myself have given.  That it takes time, you have to be patient, your time will come, you just have to keep putting in the work and everything will work itself out, etc.  I know all of that but I feel like I’ve been putting in the work (I only sleep 4 hours a night), I feel like I have been patient, and I feel like my time should have already been here.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not jealous of anyone else’s success level. They give me someone to study.  It’s more like I’m curious to know or be shown what I’m doing wrong and what I could be doing differently, or more efficiently.  I study and research methods of others who seem to be having the success that I am trying to achieve (not moderate but rather steady stream) and I implement some of their methods (tailor made of course to my style) and still nothing.  I know that no one can have all the answers but right now I sure wish that it was possible.  I just want to know what I am doing wrong.

I’m trying to reach certain goals and achievements in my writing career and I am way off course in terms of the time that it’s going to take me to get there.  Now of course, even with all of this frustration that you are probably gauging from this post, I am never going to give up on my dream and never going to stop working hard at attaining it.  I just wish that I could see some of the fruits of my hard labor thus far.  True I guess things could be worse and I could not be having any level of success at all but is it really wrong to want more.  Is it wrong to want to have met my own expectations of myself by now if not exceeding them?  Well I know that I can’t be the only one feeling this way so hopefully my venting has somehow helped someone else out there to realize that they are not alone in their struggles.  Keep working at it, WE will get there!

 

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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It’s All In the Promotion of Your Brand

promotion day

So I decided that today is promotion day.  I have quite a few projects I’m working on and I want to share the details about them with you.

Ebook Series

This ebook series (tentatively called “For the Crazy Makers) will be focusing on motivating and inspiring writers and artists who are struggling with their own fears and their insecurities when it comes to following through with your creative endeavors.  Sometimes we need an outside voice to quiet all of those inside voices that keep telling you the wrong things.  I have been working on this ebook series for quite some time now and I am excited to finally be releasing it in the next few months.  If you are interested in information on how you will be able to receive this ebook or other details in relation to the ebook simply leave a comment below with your email information or you can email me at jcladyluv@yahoo.com.     

Novel Releases

I am going to be re-releasing my debut novel, The Diary: Succession of Lies, later this year along with my second novel When Love Calls.  I will keep you posted on the progress of those works periodically but for now, below I have shared with you what each book is about.  Let me know what you think in the comments below.

The Diary: Succession of Lies

What if you discovered that the sins of your mother’s past will forever haunt your future? That finding out the secrets she took to her grave would turn your life upside down?

To the rest of the world Corynn Hayes was a brilliant writer and entrepreneur. To Karlee Jones, she was not only a mother but a best friend. Until Corynn’s unexpected death, Karlee thought that she knew everything there was to know about her mother. Then, Karlee receives her mother’s diary as a farewell gift. The depth of the secrets within those pages end up devastating Karlee, forever changing the memory of her mother.

The Diary: Succession of Lies is a novel that exposes the secret life of a mistress. It is a tale of love, lust, loss, and redemption as well as the trials of two generations of women. The Diary takes a new spin on the mistress image, a woman often vilified throughout literature as a harlot and a home wrecker. It tackles several questions. Why does a mistress stay? Is love possible in such a taboo relationship? Is love enough to endure the consequences that come later.

When Love Calls

Autumn Jennings had thought that she had finally put all of the mistakes that she had made in her past behind her.  Her heart had finally mended from heartbreak and she was able to let go and let someone else love her again with nothing hanging over head.  She never thought she would have to deal with the lies she had told so many years ago but when an old flame that she had never truly gotten over comes back into the picture she is reminded of all of the secrets she has been trying to keep buried.  Those same secrets could not only disrupt the lives of everyone around her but the new life that she is trying to create for herself and her son.  As her secrets begin to unravel so do the lives of the people she loves.  When Love Calls is a novel about a love lost, a love that heals, and a love that was meant to be and the circumstances that can either bring two people together or tear them apart.

Write 2 Be Media Services

Just finished slaving over a novel and you’re ready to begin promoting it?

Is your blog not getting the attention you feel it deserves?

Just launched your business and need to create a social media marketing platform to make everyone take notice?

Write 2 Be Media now offers Social Media Marketing services to help your project get the attention that it deserves in addition to our creative writing resources.  To read more about our services just click the “Hire Me” tab to your right.

I would also like to promote the work of a great photographer. If you are looking for a photographer for your project then please go check out Rashaad Amed McNeil’s page, R&M Photography. He does absolutely amazing work for all of his clients, one of which happens to be LaMonique Hamilton, the CEO and Editor-in-Chief at PIEhole Magazine, a new magazine on the rise. So if you are in need of a photographer and want outstanding results then head on over to his page, R&M Photography, and hit the like button and find out how you can get the best photographer for your next project!

I would also like to extend the offer for anyone who has a book coming out or already published, if you go over to the Write 2 Be Magazine fan page and hit the like button you will be allowed to promote your work on the page.

Have a blessed weekend and hustle hard!

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

You’ve Already Created Who You Are In This Moment

Create your best life

How many times have you heard someone say that they have to go and find themselves?  That they have to search for that knowledge of self, for that sense of purpose?  I have heard that saying a lot used by people, some who were truly lost and others who just truly needed an excuse for why they weren’t doing anything.  I actually hear that phrase from writers a lot because they are always so caught up in making up a life for their characters that they sometimes forget to live the life that they already have.

I heard this quote the other day “The self is not something one finds, it is something one creates”, and it just stuck with me.  People who are always trying to find themselves, trying to figure out what it is they want in life, they don’t realize that in their journey to find themselves, all of the decisions they are making, the mistakes that they are enduring, is already creating who they are meant to be.  Some decisions made for us, when we are too young to know any better, they are in a sense out of our hands, but how we deal with the fallout, the end result, that is in ours.

When we choose something, be it right or wrong, little by little it shapes who we are, and eventually who we become.  None of us start off knowing what kind of person we are going to be at the end of our journey.  Growing up I had to learn and teach myself how to love me.  I guess you could say that who I am now, I created that person and had I made a choice to continue not loving myself and to continue to think that because my mother didn’t love me, or at least didn’t express that love to me, that I was somehow unworthy of that love from others, especially from myself, had I continued down that path I suppose I would have created a whole other type of person than I am now.

So before any of you get it in your head that they need to find themselves and discover who they really are, keep in mind that the decisions you have already been making are already creating the person you were meant to be.  Stop searching for who it is that you think you should be, or should have been and embrace the person that you have already created thus far.  Our journey is not done yet but who we are meant to be is already inside of us, we don’t have to find it, we just have to create it.  Stop waiting for some moment of revelation to come, some big moment where suddenly everything you are is so clear to you.  Create the life you want, don’t sit and wait for it to be created for you to find.

 

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

 

Friday Motivation- When You Die, Die on “E” and Leave No Dream Behind!

I had no intention of actually posting today because I was supposed to be working on some things for my ebook (release date coming soon).  But when I saw this video on Facebook this morning (I know, that’s not work, so sue me) I was so blown away by the powerful message and it was one that I definitely needed to hear (so much so that I’ve watched the video 3 times already) and I feel like some of my fellow writers, those struggling with their craft and even those who are not, could use it as motivation as well.  I hope that you get as much out of watching it as I did and that you carry the message into your weekend with you and even further, all through your journey.  Stay blessed and have a wonderful weekend!

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

When the Focus Has Been Found

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

You Have What You Need For the Season You Are In

The season you are in 2

I have a lot of expectations for myself, a lot of big dreams that take putting in a lot of work.  Unfortunately, a lot of the reason that I end up giving up on some of them is because I’m afraid that I’ll never be able to do it perfectly and of course if it’s not done right then it just shouldn’t be done at all.  The problem with that logic is that nothing ends up ever getting done because perfection just doesn’t exist.  Sadly, knowing something logically does not stop you from continuing the same bad habit.

Sometimes you feel like you just don’t have everything you need to accomplish what it is that you want to get accomplished, in order for it to be done just right.  Truth is that God gives us everything that we need for the moment that we are in and if we don’t have it, it’s because we don’t need it yet.  He would never give us the purpose that he gives us, the passion that he gives us, if he were not going to give us the proper tools and skillset to make those things a reality.

I talked with a friend yesterday and she asked me when I was going to start using the YouTube channel that I have and putting it out there that I can sing as well as write.  Someone else asked me about recording my poetry and putting it on there as well.  I came up with quite a few excuses, I’m scared of the camera, I’m afraid that people won’t like it, I don’t think anyone would even look at it, and so on, and so on.

The pressure to be accepted, or to even want to be accepted, is oftentimes overwhelming but then I had to look at it from the other side of things.  What if someone did like it, what if people did look at it, what if me being less afraid could help someone else out there see that they don’t have to be afraid to do it and should just go for it.  What if something I am not doing could help someone else with the same fears?

So this year I am going to put my YouTube channel to good use and promote my other talents, and I’m also going to publish that ebook for Writer’s who Self-Sabotage themselves (When Fear is Knocking) along with self-publishing my next Novel (When Love Calls) and finishing my next two novels (Through the Looking Glass, and The Weight of HER).  I am not going to focus on what I don’t have, but rather focus on what God gave me for the season that I am in right now.

2014 is the year to stop striving for perfection and just strive for completion.  So are you going to take whatever leap of faith you are afraid of taking this year and just get it done?  It doesn’t have to be perfect, but no one will ever be able to see it if it is not at least complete!

 

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

Picking the Battles That Matter

Choose your battles wisely

Ever had that question in the back of your mind of why when all you are doing is trying to follow through with your purpose, make your dreams a reality, is that it seems every curveball you can possibly think of is thrown at you.  It almost seems like right when you are about to reach the peak of your journey up the mountain that an avalanche of obstacles falls right in your path.

It’s almost enough to make you want to stop and rethink the journey and whether or not it is the one that you are truly supposed to be on.  You second guess yourself a lot when the challenges seem to be so daunting and never-ending.  However, when you look at some of the most successful people in life and go examine the journey that they took to get where they are, it would appear that the one’s with the most difficult challenges on the road to their destiny were the ones who achieved the biggest rewards for their efforts.

I admit that I get thrown off course a lot of the times by the enormity of my struggles and also by people that surround me that don’t always seem to be for me.  Oddly enough these aren’t even people in my inner circle, they are people who just always seem to have something to say against what it is I’m trying to do and I let it get to me.  Sometimes it makes the struggles feel even more insurmountable because no one seems to understand my vision or what I’m really all about.

I was watching something yesterday and it reminded me that not everyone is going to like me, not everyone is going to understand me or what it is I’m trying to do, but that is because it is not for everyone to understand.  I keep getting lured off track trying to somehow prove that I am worthy, that I am important, that what I’m trying to do is important and that it matters.  It is said that the enemy (those that are against you) always fights us the hardest when we are the closest to our victories.

As it pertains to my struggles, Joel Osteen once said in his messages that you cannot expect ordinary problems if you are an extraordinary person, a history maker, so to speak.  I definitely know that I am not an ordinary person and that I intend to be a history maker so I suppose that means I better get ready for some even more challenging battles ahead.

In life, when you are trying to accomplish so much, there just simply isn’t any time to waste energy on things or people that just don’t matter.  That’s not to say that we should be unfeeling or cold towards people in general.  It’s just that when you know what you’re purpose is you have to know which battles to choose before wasting energy on the battles that don’t matter.

If the people you are surrounding yourself with aren’t for you and aren’t going to help you along your journey then that’s a battle that you need to let go of.  So start letting go of unnecessary baggage today because you’re journey.

 

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

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

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

https://twitter.com/jcladyluv

How Big Should the Sacrifice Be?

taken for granted

Well my Fourth of July holiday did not go quite as I had expected it to go.  The plans that I had fell through and I in many ways felt as if I was sacrificed and a little taken for granted.  It made me wonder just how much is too much to sacrifice for your dream.  I know that I have said in the past that there is nothing that I wouldn’t sacrifice (unless it had to do with my daughter) to become the successful writer and media mogul that I feel I am destined to be.  Perhaps I should change that to nothing within reason.

I think that sometimes people get so caught up in the pursuit of their dream and their vision that they have moments where they start to neglect the people that they claim are important to them and begin to disregard how they feel.  They may even scold those people for “not understanding what it is they are trying to do” and try and make it as if they have done something wrong when in reality they may be starting to forget that there are things outside of their pursuit and their goals that are just as important.

I think that it is 100 percent important for people who have that dream and that vision and that place that they are trying so desperately to reach, to try everything they can (with reason, and that is legal) to get themselves there.  Having said that, I do not think that it is okay to forget or neglect the people who have been there for you during the process or to act as if the only thing that matters is what you want, at least not if those people are supposed to be your true friends and your support system.

People that are there for you and support you on your path are just as important as the journey that you are taking and I think that we as artists or just as entrepreneurs should try and remember that when we are pushing the people closest to us away for the sake of our craft.  I am willing to sacrifice many things for the sake of my dreams, for my destiny, but I refuse to act as if the people that are around me and that have been there for me don’t matter just to pursue them.  Now if there is someone in your life that you realize that you have been neglecting or taking for granted lately for the sake of your craft and in pursuit of those goals, just remember that those people are just as important and just as our craft, or careers, need tending to, so do the relationships that we hold dear.

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.

Are You Nurturing Your Writing Craft?

nurture the gift

So I’ve been sitting here thinking about all of the novels that I have started and not finished in the past.  I love when I go back and read something that I’ve written and I start to think “I wrote this” in amazement that it actually reads like something other than mess that I thought it would read like.  But there are the works that I have almost, but never completed that I will read over again and see that the person that wrote that specific piece of writing definitely needed some work and to study her craft.

Over the years I have done just that.  I have picked up and read any book that I could get my hands on about specific genres that I wanted to learn about writing, or books on technique and point of view.  There are so many ways that I feel I can nurture my craft and make myself an even better, and a more confident writer.  I consider my writing to always be a work in progress.  I think that when you are a writer, you are never really finished learning when it comes to your craft.  I wanted to share with you some ways that you can work on nurturing your craft as a writer.

1)      Of course read books on your craft or the craft that you want to direct yourself towards writing.  Whether it is mystery, young adult, science fiction, suspense, drama, or even plays, study it.

2)      Make sure to read the kinds of books that you are trying to write.  If you want to be a mystery writer, then read as many mystery books as you can get your hands on.  If you want to write young adult novels then read plenty of young adult books.  No matter what you do, just read!

3)      Research other writers.  Not just their writing, but research their lives, their philosophies, their values.  Research how they achieved and maintained their success.

4)      Attend writing conferences and workshops to learn things about your craft from a different perspective.  There is only so much that you can learn from a book without visibly seeing someone who has put these techniques into practice.

5)      Pay attention to the work that is being produced that is along the lines of what you want to do.  If writing movies is your thing, watch the movies that inspire you and that have made you want to write films in the first place.  If it is plays, then go see as many plays as you can feasibly manage to go and see.  You have to be able to see that what you want to create is possible and a reality that you can make happen if you want to badly enough.

Writing, despite what some people might think, is something that is not easy to do.  It’s not as if you can just pick up a pen (or open up a computer) and just start writing seamlessly.  It takes research, and preparation, and a lot of time and writing is certainly not for people who want to make a quick dollar (that’s not to say that you can’t make money writing).

It is easy to get comfortable within our writing and our own style of writing and sometimes we forget that to grow we have to keep nurturing our skills as a writer, keep sharpening them, so to speak.  You don’t want to get stuck writing the same thing every time you work on a new project.  You don’t want readers to read book after book of yours and start to think that your writing is predictable and like they are reading the same type of book every time they pick yours up.  Don’t stay in that comfortable spot within your writing.

 

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.