Tag: Write 2 Be blog

Passionate Writer

jcladyluv

“A strong passion for anything will ensure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means.”
~William Hazlitt 

Very seldom do I ever wish that I could go back in time to when I was younger, perhaps in high school, and just live in that moment for while.  Perhaps I would enjoy and take stock in the moments when I wrote simply because it was all I could do to get my feelings out, or when writing was not so much of a job or chore and more of a past time that I didn’t have to actually think about anything past the point of writing the actual story.  

Now don’t get me wrong, I still absolutely love to write and I could never imagine anything else that I should be doing in this life or the next other than writing.  But before there was the business aspect of writing (the hardest part of being a writer), and the marketing and publicity aspect, and the managing sales figures and making sure you are actually making money off of your passion, there was simply just the passion of it all.  

I remember rushing to get home to just get the words of my characters out on paper (because back then I wrote long-hand), and I remember the feeling of accomplishment when the story was finished and when someone else told me that my words meant something to them.  I didn’t worry so much back then about how to get my words published and how to market and how to make actual profits off of my work.  I just knew that writing was my life’s dream and that was how I wanted to make my living.  I knew that I wanted to make the best seller’s lists and write movies and write for magazines and television shows and that I wanted my living to be made from what I loved to do more than anything in the world.  

Now I am making schedule’s to try and fit what I love into the rest of my life and reading and teaching myself about things pertaining to marketing and publicity, which are things I really don’t care about, but I have to know these things to make what I love to do work for me.  I would just love to get to that point again where all I have to think about is the sheer enjoyment of writing my words down on paper and telling the story of my characters; back to the moment when I first fell in love with writing to begin with.  

However, in reality, I want my words to be seen by the world and that part of my dream takes work and hard labor.  But it is definitely a labor of love and one that I am willing to make many sacrifices for.  So what are you most passionate about and are you willing to put in the hard labor to make it happen?  Until next time…be blessed and make your labor of love count! 

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

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

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

Even the Mind Needs to be Recharged

jcladyluv

“If you neglect to recharge a battery, it dies.  And if you run full speed ahead without stopping for water, you lose momentum to finish the race.”

~Oprah Winfrey 

Sitting in the starbucks working on trying to finish up my list for this week and just remembered that I have not yet posted my third blog post for this week, which is on my list.  So while this post will not be long because I must get back to working on this query letter, I thought I would say a few words.  More than anything this is for my best friend who always motivates me to get out of my own way and stop insisting that I can’t do something and change my way of thinking.  Today she is having one of those “I don’t really feel like doing anything” days and while I know I started to get on her about working on her list for this week, I stopped myself to tell her that it’s okay because sometimes we just have those days.  I had months of those days so who am I to get on her about anything.  Sometimes the mind just needs to rest and recharge its batteries and that’s okay. 

If we really think about it, recharging the mind does have a lot to do with completing our tasks and our goals because if our minds aren’t sharp then nothing we produce will be of much good.  So to my very best friend, and any other writer out there who is just having one of those days, don’t feel too bad because in actuality as long as your mind is still spinning those ideas around in your head then you haven’t really stopped working.  Until next time…let your mind recharge, and begin again tomorrow! 

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

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

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

No More Negative Nancy’s

jcladyluv

“Dwelling on the negative simply contributes to its power.”

~Shirley MacLaine 

In life you tend to get back what you give out.  At least that is what most people will say about how a person should perceive things.  I was watching the news this morning and they have these motivational minutes where the guy will give a tip for success for the day.  Today’s tip, in so many words, was that in order to have and attract success in your life that you have to wipe out the negativity surrounding you and get rid of those thoughts of what you can’t do and what you don’t have and just focus on what you can do and what you do have.  

This ties into getting back what you give out because I suppose if all you hear is people around you telling you that you can’t do something, or that what you want to happen for yourself can’t happen, you start to believe it then you are putting out that negative energy.  In turn all you are going to get back is negative results.  This struck a nerve with me because it seems that the more positive I try to be about my circumstances, and about my dreams and what I want out of life, the more I get negative backlash from other people, one of whom happens to be my mother, who I should get the most support from.  

When people say that you have to cut out the negativity from your life in order to really make your way towards success you never want that to include family.  I am sadly realizing, or should I say accepting, that my mother is one of those people.  When I make the mistake of sharing my ambitions with her she never fails to tell me that she thinks my dreams are impossible and that I am not living in reality.  But if I only focus on what isn’t going right and what I have not managed to accomplish just yet then I would never move forward and enjoy all that I do have and the things that I have managed to achieve.  

It’s true that lately everything has not fallen in line the way that I wanted them to, especially within this last year.  However, no matter what, I will always keep pushing through and propelling myself towards accomplishing what it is I want.  A person’s dreams are not just going to magically come true overnight but complaining about the bumps along the road is not going to change things one way or the other, so why waste that time that could be better spent.  

There is always going to be that one person around you that will make sure to run down the list of the things that you can’t get done and rub in your face what you don’t have.  But instead of listening to them you have to ask yourself why it is that they feel the need to tear you down and what is it that they don’t have that they are trying so hard to take away from you.  Until the next time…try to enjoy the things that you have accomplished and keep building on those accomplishments!  

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

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

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

It’s All About Accountability

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”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

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

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

Are You Waiting for the Muse To Strike?

jcladyluv

“It is by sitting down to write every morning that one becomes a writer.”

~Gerald Brenan~ 

There are a lot of notions and fantasies about being a writer.  The idea of waiting for the muse to suddenly walk into your atmosphere and only writing when inspired is a nice way to look at the life of a writer and a very nice fantasy.  It’s the way I looked at writing once upon a time, largely due to the fact that at one point in my life it seemed as if the muse never left me and I was always inspired in one way or another.  I never had a problem with only writing when inspiration struck because with me it always seemed to strike.  It was when the muse left and the inspiration was no longer an everyday occurrence that I started to wonder, “If the inspiration isn’t there and the muse is gone and I am not writing at a steady flow, can I still consider myself a writer?”  

There are still those writers’ who are always inspired and the muse seems to always be there for them and that is a wonderful thing.  But that alone is not the only thing makes a person a writer.  A person can still be a writer even if it means them having to appoint a designated time to write and put together a schedule of the projects that they need to work on.  Scheduling a time to write does not remove the artistic creativity in writing like so many people seem to think.  I mean if you think about it, that makes more sense doesn’t it?  A person who makes a living as a freelance writer can not simply wait to be inspired.  They have to make a plan of action and follow through with it or they don’t make a living.  

When I think of all of the time I have wasted waiting for some miraculous moment of inspiration to just jump up and hit me, I try not to think about the amount of novels I could’ve finished, or all of the magazines that I could’ve queried by now, or all of the many ideas I could have made come into fruition.  What makes a writer is someone who puts tenacity and determination behind their drive to write and sitting in that chair behind that desk in front of that computer even though the words might not come that day.  

Well if you are out there, sitting around and waiting for your muse and inspiration to suddenly strike like lightening, I am going to tell you that while you are waiting your ideas are going to waste.  Your characters are going to stop speaking to you, and the stories that they are trying to tell you are disappearing and losing ground.  While you are waiting, the ideas for those articles that you want to pitch to those prestigious magazines are being written by someone else who knew better then to wait.  The screenplays that you are dreaming about writing are already being written by some other writer and you will no doubt be seeing them on the big screen wishing you had woken up out of your sleep and put those ideas down on paper.  

It’s always nice when you can get inspired by something or someone and when you can find that perfect moment of uninterrupted inspiration.  But how many novels could you have written while you were waiting for that moment?  How many magazines could you have seen your articles placed in waiting for that one thing that inspires you to sit down and write?  Shouldn’t seeing your name in print be inspiration enough?  It is for me.  Until next time….make every moment count, even the uninspired ones!  

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

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

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

Defining Moments

jcladyluv

“Our lives are a series of defining moments, strung together by passing time.  Surrender fully to this moment, because it is not the moment itself that defines us, but how we choose to live in it.”

~Jill Pendley

Imagine having to make a decision today or tomorrow that can potentially define the direction your life takes in the future.  In every person’s life there are choices to be made and more often than not the choices get harder to make the closer you get to where it is that you want to be in your life.  We all have those moments, whether big or small, that will reshape our lives and define not only who we are and what direction we will take but also what we stand for.  Your defining moments, whether positive or negative, will inevitably be the outline for your life and will help you to get some clarity about your life’s purpose and values.  It is the way you choose to perceive those moments that will help guide you in one direction or another.  The choice is always up to you. 

There are times when you may find yourself standing still trying to figure out exactly what moment it was that changed the course of your life?  What moment was it that made you the person you are today and would you change things if you could?  Apart of being able to make good choices for ourselves is to be able to reflect on the bad decisions that we have made and to use those hard lessons to get it right the next time.  There is a lesson to be learned in every experience but that’s not to say that we don’t sometimes need to make those bad choices in order for us to appreciate the times that we do get it right.  The difference between a mediocre life and a great one is all in the way a person handles a handful of moments.  How they choose to act and react to them.  All of our greatest successes and our greatest failures are merely two sides of the same coin and it is all in the function of choice.  

All of the moments that helped shape our lives are not going to be positive ones but it is in the challenges that are presented to us that we strive and persevere.  Understanding the decisions you’ve made and where those choices have gotten you can make life a little less unpredictable and a lot less confusing and help you realize just where you veered off the course you thought you were on.  In order to figure out where your life is headed sometimes you have to realize where your life has been.  It provides great comfort knowing whether those decisions you’ve made along the way, good or bad, have helped make you who you are and knowing exactly what impact they have made in your life.  

In everyday life you will find that someone is always making you doubt your choices and that life is somehow always trying to knock you down and it may even succeed at keeping you down for a while.  It is you who have to take that particular moment in your life and figure out whether you are going to stay knocked down or if you are going to pick yourself back up off the ground and use that moment to empower you to move forward.   At each and every crossroads you are free to choose between the high road and the low road.  That defining moment is going to be in the decision that you make and that decision that you make could very well affect the course that your life ends up taking.  Have you done everything you could’ve done in those moments that life has given you? What do your defining moments say about you and your life and?     

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

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://freemynd.wordpress.com/

http://spokenlikeaqueen.blogspot.com/ 

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

www.authorsden.com/jimmettacarpenter