Tag: Success

Lessons to Be Learned From a Media Mogul—Russell Simmons

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I think Russell Simmons has always been right there at the top of my list of people to watch and learn from within the media industry.  What I think I admire most about him is the fact that he almost doesn’t want to be noticed and he is rather shy about his success and what he has managed to achieve in his life and in his career.  That kind of humble attitude is something that I think a lot of successful people could stand to learn because just as easily as the success has come, it can go away just as easily without the right attitude.

Russell Simmons is someone who has really built an empire to be admired.  He has created a company that spreads positive messages throughout the music and media industry.  He promotes empowerment within the younger generation and has produced many different types of creative programs that enriches the industry and the people within it.  Through all of his accomplishments he has remained humble and eager to share what he has learned throughout his life with the rest of the people who are just as eager to get to the level that he is at.  I wanted to share the lessons that I’ve learned from his journey to the top.

1.)    If You Don’t Believe in You, No One Else Will Believe in You— You have to be your best cheerleader.  You have to have the confidence in yourself that you want everyone else to have in you.  You have to trust in yourself and your abilities to do what you have set out to do.  You have to be your biggest fan.

2.)    You Can’t Be So Willing to Receive Without Being Willing to Give— In Russell Simmons book, Do You! He says “instead of waking up trying to figure out what you can get, you should be waking up trying to figure out what you can give.”  A lot of people gain their success doing something that can benefit others as well as themselves so we have to remember that it can’t just be about what we get out of accomplishing our goals and our dreams, but also about what we can give to the people in our communities, in our states, in this country, by fulfilling our purpose.  For instance, Russell Simmons has taken his success and funded so many foundations and projects that help to further the communities and places that he reaches out to.  Lady GaGa has used her success to build a foundation that helps people dealing with issues surrounding bullying and to help encourage people that it is okay to be who they are born to be.  What we do has to matter in more places then just our bank accounts and our own wallets.

3.)    You Have to Stay Open to Change— Everything is not going to stay the same.  It can’t stay the same in order for those on their journey to success to actually reach their goals.  You have to be willing to change with the situation at hand and adapt to what has become the reality of things and not reside in the circumstances of how things were.  I have learned that change is simply inevitable and trying to fight it and keep change from happening is only hindering your growth and your progress.  You can not succeed staying right where you are, unchanged.  When I think of it like that I say “bring on the change.”

4.)    Always Be Honest With Yourself— Yes of course you should try your best to be an honest person all around but when I say be honest with yourself, I mean be honest about who you are, faults and all.  Other people’s criticisms will always bother you but they won’t hurt nearly as much if you are already honest about who you are and you know yourself and the areas where you can improve and areas where are satisfied with the person you have become.

5.)    Don’t Give Up YOUR Vision Just to Grab a Chance at Success— Along your journey, there will be people who will get just as excited about your vision as you are, but then they will try and convince you to change it.  They’ll say “maybe it will be better if you do this,” or “maybe you’ll have a better chance at it if you do it like that.”  They will have you believing that their suggestions to your vision will propel it forward.  That is simply you, relinquishing your vision to someone else, to do with it what they will.  Your vision is yours and should never be shaped and molded to fit anyone else’s views.

Being open, not just to change within your circumstances, but the changes that take place within yourself, is an important part in succeeding.  You can’t take your life and your career, your dreams and goals, to the highest heights without changing some things up along the way.  More importantly, you can’t do that without staying true to yourself and true to your vision.

People will try to hold you back.  People will try and change what your vision is into what they think it should be.  It will sound convincing and it will sound like they know exactly what they are talking about and that maybe you should be listening to them.  But it is your vision and your dreams.  Don’t let anyone take your dreams and try and change them.  Hold onto them and make them a reality, but do so in your own time, and in your own way.  Believe in yourself and what your vision is and when you make it there, to the top, don’t forget to help someone else up along the way.

I have the Write 2 Be a Visionary…What is your Write 2 Be?

 

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 will be debuting on January 15th, 2013 so please go join the magazine on twitter before it debuts on https://twitter.com/write2bemag and join the email listing for the magazine at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com.  Also please feel free to go and friend me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310 and like my Write 2 Be Magazine fan page.  Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.

Lessons to Be Learned From a Media Mogul—Steve Harvey

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I probably would never have put Steve Harvey on this list of people I admire as a Media Mogul about a year ago.  Mostly because I hadn’t really saw him that way until I started researching just how many things he had a role in within the media industry.  There was once a time where you would here the name Steve Harvey and the first word that came to mind was Comedian.  Now there are so many other things that would fit in a description of him.

He fought hard to be noticed for something other than just being a Comedian and to be respected as a true change within the media industry.  And he did so with some simple principles that he follows from lessons that he has learned while on his journey.  I wanted to share some of those simple principles and lessons with you and hopefully they will help you in your journey as they are beginning to help me in mine.

1.)    Taking Care of You Has to Take Precedence— If you don’t take care of yourself, then you won’t be around to take care of the family and people that you love. You won’t be able to accomplish the things you dream of doing.  Health is a priority that far too many people take for granted and keeping yourself healthy is going to allow you to build up your endurance and stamina to work hard to get the things that you want and to hold onto the things that you want.

2.)    Some Rules Are Meant to Be Broken for All the Right Reasons— Of course most rules should be adhered to in general.  However, there are times when it is okay to toss the rule book out the window.  Rules like “don’t put all of your eggs in one basket,” or “always have a plan B,” are rules that people will tell you to live by because it’s the practical thing to do.  It makes sense for some, but for those out of the ordinary people whose dreams go way beyond the scope of anyone’s imagination, those particular rules only set you up to fail.  Some rules truly were made to be broken.

3.)    Just Because Other People Place You in a Box Doesn’t Mean You Have to Remain There— Just because people label you as one thing, doesn’t mean that is the label you have to accept.  Everyone put Steve Harvey in the box as Comedian and that was it.  Just another one trick pony.  But that is not where he chose to stay.  He didn’t want to just be known as a comedian.  So he stepped out of that box and became an Actor who not only went and took on acting roles but who actually got his own television show, a Radio Host of a nationally syndicated radio program, an Author of a book that is now a major motion picture, and now a television game show and talk show host.  See what can happen when you think outside of the box.

4.)    If You Don’t Work Hard for Your Dream, No One Else is Going To— You can’t expect other people to work hard to help you get where you want to be if you aren’t willing to work ten times as hard.  The goals and dreams you are working towards are yours, no one else’s.  If it means you have to wake up early and go to bed late in order to make things happen, then that’s what you are going to have to do.  Yes it is wonderful if you manage to surround yourself with a team of people who are on your side and are working to help you further your dreams, but they’re not going to work any harder then they see you working.  You can’t really rely on anyone else to help you get to that place of success, just yourself.  Your work ethic is what is going to get you there and it’s what’s going to keep you there.

5.)    Everyone That is Around You is Not There to Help You— When you are younger you thrive on how big your social circle is.  When you get older you start to realize that your circle of “friends” may be too big.  What will hold you back from becoming successful like you are striving to be more than anything is having the wrong people around you.  Some people are just simply too toxic to have in your life.  They want to ride on your coat tales and if you don’t take them with you they will try effortlessly to drag you down right back to where you started.  These are the people who, while they say they want to see you succeed, what they are really hoping you do is fail.  These are the people that you don’t need around you, but you have to know that and realize that before it’s too late.

There are so many rules that you aren’t supposed to break.  There are practicalities that everyone is supposed to take with you through life.  But sometimes being practical is just another way of playing things safe.  There is nothing wrong with saying that you have a plan for your future, you know what you want to do, what you want to be, and where you want to go in life, and focusing on that goal and that dream, without a back-up plan.

I heard once that sometimes back up plans are for those who are not really sure what it is that they want.  Now I don’t mean people with multiple roles within life such as being a singer, an author, and an actress.  That is simply a person who had a broad vision for their future.  I mean those who go down one path and then prepare something to fall back on that is practical but not necessarily something that they are passionate about.

Why isn’t it okay to put all of your eggs in one basket if there is no other basket that you are interested in pursuing?  There are all kinds of rules that people will try to make you adhere to and labels that people will place on you.  Who says that you have to live by anyone else’s rules or labels but your own?

I have the Write 2 Be Different…What is your Write 2 Be?

 

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 will be debuting on January 15th, 2013 so please go join the magazine on twitter before it debuts on https://twitter.com/write2bemag and join the email listing for the magazine at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com.  Also please feel free to go and friend me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310 and like my Write 2 Be Magazine fan page.  Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.

Lessons to Be Learned From a Media Mogul—Oprah Winfrey

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Who hasn’t ever admired all of the accomplishments that Oprah Winfrey has been able to achieve.  I sure have a lot of respect and admiration for the empire that she has created and built up, literally from nothing.  What I admire most I think is the humble beginnings that she came from and how, not only did she never let any of that get in her way, but she in fact let it drive her forward.

Her success came in small doses and she savored those lessons that she learned along the way.  She didn’t rush her success and she didn’t hold onto any of the negative criticism that she received from others who tried to make her be someone she wasn’t.  I wanted to share some of those lessons that I have learned from Oprah Winfrey and plan on implementing on my journey to where I want to go.

  1. There’s No Sin in Failing, the Sin is in Never Trying—  You always hear people use the excuse “What if I Fail” when it comes to trying something different but you rarely here anyone ask the question “What if I actually Succeed”.  Not trying is the greatest harm that people can do to their dreams.  It is always better to try and to fail than to have never tried at all.
  2. There’s Nothing Wrong with Setting the Bar High for Yourself and Your Life— I’ve always had people tell me that people shouldn’t have such high standards for what they are going to get out of life.  For a moment I’ll admit that it seemed that the higher I set my standards the more I ended up being disappointed by the outcome.  I’ve come to realize that it wasn’t the high standards that ended up disappointing me, it was the lack of belief that I had in accomplishing those high standards that left me disappointed.  Now I realize, the higher the standards the better, so long as you believe that you can attain them.
  3. Having the Ability to Forgive Can Allow Your Journey to Move Forward— Oprah particularly likes to drive home the fact that forgiveness is not for the other person, it is for you.  It made sense to me when she pointed out that if you don’t allow yourself to forgive the people that have hurt you in your past you will remain stuck in your past with all of that hurt and anger.  Forgiving others for their mistakes allows you to move forward and become a better version of yourself.
  4. Always Be the Best You— You can’t really get anywhere trying to be what everyone else wants you to be and trying to live up to other people’s expectations for you.  All you can ever really do is be the best you and fulfill the purpose and expectations that you have for yourself.
  5. Do Something that Scares You— If you never do anything that scares you, something that is different from your normal activities, then that means you’re never really taking any risks.  Taking risks is scary.  Starting a brand new company and working for yourself is      scary.  Putting yourself out there to market your business or the book you’ve written is scary.  Doing something that you’ve always      dreamed of doing but never took the chance to do (like sing in front of a room full of people) is scary.  But in the end all of those things bring you to an end result that could be amazing if you are not too scared to take the risks.

You know there are so many people out there (myself included) who were always told to be more like someone else and so that’s what we aimed for.  I can remember so many times saying that I want to be the next Oprah Winfrey, or that I want to write as beautifully as Maya Angelou.  I was always striving to be a version of someone else that I thought was so great and so talented when the reality is that I can never be anything other than myself.  Why spend so much time trying to emulate someone else’s talent, someone else’s goals, someone else’s dreams, when that will never get me what I want.

Truthfully, just as there is no one that is ever going to be like that one person you strive to be like or that person whose talent you wished you had, there is also never going to be anyone like you either.  You have a talent and a uniqueness that is all your own and that no one else could master but you.

I am just going to take what I admire about the people who are where I want to be and the lessons that I have gained from them and fuel my journey with that knowledge.  While I may never be as successful as Oprah and I may never change the world in the ways that she has, who knows, I may be more successful and I may change the world in a whole different and remarkable way.

I have the Write 2 Be Unique…What is your Write 2 Be?

 

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 will be debuting on January 15th, 2013 so please go join the magazine on twitter before it debuts on https://twitter.com/write2bemag and join the email listing for the magazine at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com.  Also please feel free to go and friend me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310 and like my Write 2 Be Magazine fan page.  Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.

Lessons to Be Learned From a Media Mogul—Tyler Perry

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In reading about Tyler Perry’s journey; both his struggles and humble beginnings, as well as his rise to success and his eventual triumph; I can always point out a lesson that he has learned along his road to success that I can apply to what I am currently going through now.  Some of the things that I have learned from reading and just watching his journey are things and words that were never spoken to me growing up.

They are things that I have been struggling to comprehend for a long time now.  They are things that are finally starting to sink in and I am realizing that these are things that will help propel me to where it is that I want to be, and where it is that I need to be.  So I wanted to share with you a few lessons that I have learned from observing Tyler Perry that could help steer you on a more sturdy road to success.

1)      Don’t Let Anybody Define You— People have hated on Tyler Perry since he became a success.  They’ve tried to tear him down, say what they think he should be doing.  Even some people in the industry still don’t take him seriously enough just because he started off in the comedy arena.  None of that matters to him.  He has never tried to be anything that other people wanted him to be.  He has never tried to be anyone other than himself.  And look at where you can go just defining your own identity instead of letting others define it for you.

2)      Guard Your Heart—When Tyler Perry speaks of guarding your heart he isn’t talking about heartbreak (like I initially thought).  He is speaking of keeping your heart in tact when others continue to try and change you.  On your road to success people are going to do cruel and unforgivable things to you, things that you never thought they would do.  Guarding your heart is going to keep you from allowing those cruelties and those unforgivable things to change your heart and turn you into someone that you are not.

3)      Never let the word NO stop you from succeeding anyway—Tyler Perry’s first play that he wrote in 1992 and took his whole life savings to produce and put on was not well received and it placed him back into the poverty that he dealt with in his childhood.  He spent months sleeping in seedy motels and eventually in his car.  He never let the No’s keep him from powering through the rough times and eventually someone said Yes!  The rest is history.

4)      Don’t let the bad that’s in your past hold you back from receiving the good that is in your future—Tyler Perry had an abusive and poverty stricken childhood that could’ve made him shut down and give up.  He took his painful and hurtful past and let it be the fuel that drove him to succeed and to make his life better.  He refused to let his past hold him back from all of the blessings that he was due in his future.

5)      Never question what God has in store for you—No matter what hard times he faced and no matter how bad it got, Tyler Perry didn’t just maintain a strong belief in himself and his talent, but he maintained his faith that he had in God and what God had planned for him.  He maintained his desire to fulfill the purpose that God had given him in life.

I know that they say success is all in who you know, and I do believe that to an extent.  However, in observing some of these powerful media moguls and seeing what lessons they have to teach along the way, that may be an over-exaggerated phrase that everyone just would like to be true.  I mean it’s a good excuse to use for why you’re not where you want to be right?  You don’t know anyone so that’s why you’re not where you want to be.  It’s the excuse I’ve been using for quite a while now.

It’s more about knowing yourself and knowing what your purpose is and never questioning it.  It’s about not letting other people’s ideals for you turn you against what you know is right for you.  It doesn’t help to know all the right people, if all they’re going to do is tell you all of the wrong things and lead you down the wrong path.  You are your best bet to get where it is that you desire to be.

 I have the Write 2 Be Authentic…What is your Write 2 Be?

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 will be debuting on January 15th, 2013 so please go join the magazine on twitter before it debuts on https://twitter.com/write2bemag and join the email listing for the magazine at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com.  Also please feel free to go and friend me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310 and like my Write 2 Be Magazine fan page.  Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.

 

The Writer That Doesn’t Put Themselves Out There Doesn’t Get Seen

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It is very hard to put yourself out there in any capacity, be it love or your career.  It stirs up feelings of fear of being rejected, not being good enough, not being accepted, not succeeding at your end goal, and even of how you will handle it if you do succeed.  Being a writer, you find yourself having to put yourself out there quite often, at least until you have put in enough hard work and effort to where the people you want to write for are finally coming to you.

It takes time to get to that point, where you are no longer the cat in the cat and mouse game of becoming successful at earning your income as a writer, and have finally become the mouse being sought after.  I used to wonder when I started trying to make a go at this, just how long do I have to keep putting myself all out there only to continually be rejected time and time again before someone comes looking for me.

I realize now, and frankly way too late, that in order to become and remain a successful writer, you can’t ever stop putting yourself out there.  Even more embarrassing and much to my deep regret, I have realized that I have wasted so much time feeling all of those fears and playing into them, that I haven’t actually been putting myself out there (not nearly as much as I should have been anyway) and I only have myself to blame for not being a household name by now.

The blame doesn’t fall on the editor’s and the people who haven’t accepted my wonderful words and given me that chance that I am dying to have in order to get into all of those national magazines that I want to be featured in.  I only have myself to blame for not completely putting myself out there.  They can’t accept what I am too afraid to submit.

A writer’s only way of becoming published, of becoming that success that we all dream about becoming, is to keep putting themselves out there.  No matter what the outcome, whether it is good or bad, they have to keep going for it, even when it seems impossible; especially when it seems to be impossible.  A fighter never wins the battle if they never fight to begin with.

 

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

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

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

Everything Is Not Always a Good Fit

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Last week my best friend Ms. L. wrote a blog post about people not thinking that they are too good to do something in order for them to get further ahead.  She was speaking of people who make comments such as “I don’t do windows, or I will not work at a fast food restaurant, or I won’t scrub and clean people’s floors” but still find themselves scrambling to get ahead.  She spoke about the people who turn their noses up at those particular types of jobs because they believe that they are supposed to be somewhere better but yet they have not paid their dues.

Now while I agree with some of what she says in her post, I have to say, unashamedly, that I am one of those people who will not take a job at a fast food restaurant or cleaning rooms at a hotel.  However, it is most certainly not me looking down on people that work in the fast food or restaurant industry or people who are maids, or are in the retail industry.  In fact I worked in the retail industry for years and yes as a part of that work I did clean some bathrooms, and I cleaned up other people’s mess, and I did grunt work that I absolutely hated.

When I decided to work on making writing my full time and only job (or passion with benefits of income as I would rather refer to it) it wasn’t because I felt I was too good to work in those industries (because believe me, I know that is not the case), but rather because I no longer wanted to work to further someone else’s dreams (being the owners of those companies) while my dreams took a seat somewhere in the far back corner.  It wasn’t that I felt I was above those positions, it was more that I felt I would be doing a disservice to those who worked in those industries and loved what they do and who do it well.

It’s kind of like when you go into a restaurant and have the worst waitress you could possibly have and you leave the restaurant saying to yourself “if she doesn’t want to be there, she just shouldn’t be working there”.  I don’t want to be one of those people who is doing a job because I am desperate and have no choice because then I will never do the job the way that it is supposed to be done.  I feel that I am destined to do a specific job on this earth and I just don’t want to waste my time, or anyone else’s for that matter, doing a horrible job at something that I wasn’t meant to do in the first place.

I agree that you should never look down on jobs that don’t appear to be glamorous, especially if you don’t know what it is that you want to do and you are trying to find your footing.  However, I also feel that if you know that you have a dream and a goal, and you know what direction you are headed in, you should never settle for something that you can’t give 100 percent to.  It’s not turning your nose up at a particular job, or even those that do that particular job, to realize that you just wouldn’t do that job justice and that it just isn’t a good fit for you.

 

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

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

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

The Crutches That Keep Us From Healing

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I broke my foot when I was 19 years old.  I was attending MorganStateUniversity and it was during the winter when it had snowed and iced and as I was on my way to a class I slipped and fell and could not get up.  I had to be taken to the hospital and once examined, I had my foot put in a cast and given crutches and told to use them everyday for the appropriate healing time or else my foot would not be able to heal itself properly.  

For anyone who knows me, I am a hardheaded person who typically likes to formulate my own method of how things will wok better for me and needless to say I didn’t really use the crutches.  I tried to use them but they never felt like they actually gave me the support that they were supposed to give and they became more of a hindrance than actually helping me.  It would not be until years later that I realized that using those crutches properly as instructed would have saved me a lot of physical pain down the road.  

To this day I have problems with my foot (especially when it rains) and I know that with any body part that gets broken you are going to have problems but I think because my foot didn’t heal properly, it gave me extra problems.  We all have our own personal crutches in life.  There are ones that we are supposed to use that we don’t, there are the one’s that we use when we don’t need them, and then there are the ones that we use far longer than necessary and then on top of it we don’t use them effectively enough so that when we no longer have the crutches we are ill prepared for the journey without them.  

I have had a crutch for the last several years and it was one that was supposed to only be used to get me in a better position for what it is I really need to be doing.  That crutch was supposed to allow me time to get myself ready for when I no longer had them anymore.  I had been relying on that crutch for so long that not only had I not realized that I should have removed them a long time ago, but now because I didn’t use that crutch properly as they were supposed to be used, I am ill prepared for the journey without them.  The crutch that was supposed to end up helping me has now become the thing that has hindered me the most and without it I feel as if my world is literally crashing in on me.  

A week ago, I had so much school work with this Master’s program that seemed to be getting the better of me, and I was frustrated because not only did I not have the time to write (due to massive amounts of school work) but I also do not have the time to market and promote myself or query to bring the money in as a writer that I need to make.  A week ago I also had a crutch that I knew would be there, until it wasn’t anymore.  

So here I sit, with the crutches pulled out from under me abruptly, with no notice, and amazingly I am sitting here doing the research and working on querying, and thinking of the next project as well as how to complete the novel I am still working on so I can query that, and surprise of all surprises I can am still managing to get my homework done.  I seemed to have suddenly made the time that I needed to have all along.  

Now I’m not going to say that I am glad that the crutches were pulled out from underneath me without fair warning because I am not in a good place right now and at this moment I am not seeing how it is going to get any better as quickly as I need it to.  I can say that without those crutches, I have suddenly jumped into action.  I am getting things done even as I am typing this blog post that I thought I wasn’t able to make the time for.  

I can see now that those crutches were not helping me like I thought after all.   They were giving me an excuse not to take immediate action.  They were feeding the fear that I already had about whether or not I can make this work.  I thought that they were giving me a way to prepare when really they were keeping me from taking that giant leap of faith that I always thought I was taking.  

Most crutches do help us heal from whatever it is that is broken.  However, at some point we have to remember to remove those crutches when they are no longer needed because then all they are really doing is getting in the way.  I took too long to remove mine, don’t wait until it’s too late to remove yours.  

 

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

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

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

(P)interested In Improving What Isn’t Working

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I make no secret of not being heavily into the technology craze but I am not naïve to think that as a writer and someone who wants to become a very successful author and wordsmith that I don’t need to master the art of social media on some level.  I have succumb to facebook, and twitter, and I even try to use linkedin to my best ability but I was not jumping to test out the latest social media obsession that is Pinterest.  

Recent impounding struggles and events have forced me out of my comfort zone and into the mindset that I have to figure out how to master social media at a higher level because my current level is not really working for me.  So in an effort to bump up my social media usage (for the sake of my online presence) and after reading an article in Writer’s Digest about how well Pinterest can really work for and benefit writers and help them to become even more visible in the virtual world, I began to look at more articles online about Pinterest and how it works.  

The more I read the more intrigued I became and the more I started to realize that I might actually like using Pinterest.  I get to create a visual representation of who I am and it could also help me present a visual storyboard of my novels as I create them to my intended readers.  I get to put myself out there into the virtual world in a way that if my words don’t convey who I really am, the pictures will.  

So I am now a new Pinterest user and although I only currently have 2 boards created, I have several more in mind already and I am actually excited to put my boards together.  Now I still have a long way to go in learning how to make social media really work for me and I will most likely be kicking and screaming as I do it (lol) but now I feel like I finally have a piece of social media I can actually tolerate and even (heaven forbid) like.  

Of course I have no way of knowing whether or not Pinterest will actually work for me the way it seems to be working for everyone else that I see using it but I am going to give it all the effort that I can give it and stay positive for a successful outcome.  I hope you guys will check me out on Pinterest and anyone who is also on Pinterest, I would love to check you out as well.     

 

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

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

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

The First Time Around

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Ever wonder what might have been different if all of the opportunities that you have been given, you had got it right the first time around?  If you had the money to do everything that you need and want to do to become successful would you actually be doing them right now instead of just wishing you could be doing them?  

I’ve been thinking a lot about the things that I need to do to get things going the way that I need them to be going and how the lack of money has held me up from actually following through with a lot of those things.  I’ve also been thinking about all of the opportunities that I have had that could have enabled me to be in a different place right now that I have just somehow squandered away.  What kind of difference would it make if I had got it all right the first time around?  

If I had finished college the first time I went and completed my degrees then, instead having to work extra hard to try and finish them up now, so late in the game, then I might already be working in the media industry now as I have always dreamed of.  I might have already moved to New York like I wanted to all those years ago so that I can be surrounded by exactly the right people I need to be surrounded by.  I could have all the right contacts and connections and I would already have my foot in the door that I am trying hard to kick down now.  

I could have learned from the best how to be the best and already be halfway up the ladder by now instead of still being on the second or third rung.  I probably would already be on some New York Time’s best sellers list and I probably would have already had about three or four novels out by now because I would not have had any other responsibilities to worry about other then myself and my work.  I could have already achieved so much by now if I had only done things right the first time around.  

Money would most likely not be an issue (being a New York Time’s best seller and all and working as an editor for a publishing company while freelancing for some of the most prestigious magazines that are housed in New York) so I would not have any problem trying to get my own media empire started because with only myself as a responsibility and my work of course, I could put away money towards that empire and the things that I need to do for it.  Life could be so different right now.  

But the catch to all of that what if stuff is that if all of that had transpired (so-called) right the first time around, then I wouldn’t have met my daughter’s father and I wouldn’t have my wonderful, beautiful, and intelligent daughter who I would not trade for any amount of money, success, or fame.  She is the reason that I get up in the morning and I really have a hard time trying to ever envision my life without her in it.  She makes me want to fight harder to get things back on track and to make sure that she never gets off track.  But also she is proof to me that sometimes what you think would have turned out better if it had been done right the first time around, might not actually be the case.  

I don’t even know if all of that would have come to be without her coming along in my life, but I do know that the possibility is not lost.  I also know that she has enriched my life in ways that I think make me a better writer and a better person.  We can always wonder what would be different if we had another attempt at doing things all over again but when you really think about it, perhaps what you considered to be right in the first place was all wrong for you.  Perhaps for our second shot at things, rather then wishing we could go back and do things differently we should treat our new opportunities as if they are what’s right for us now.  Let’s try not looking back at a past we can’t change, but instead looking forward to a future that was meant to be.  

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

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

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

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

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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”

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

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

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

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress