Write 2 Be – Page 40

Organization Monday

March 11, 2013March 11, 2013 jcladyluv

It’s the beginning of yet another week in our continuing journey to become successful entrepreneurial writers. Organization is a key aspect to being a writer. I know that those that like to work surrounded by clutter and confusion will disagree with this statement but no good work can be done in chaos. Even people who claim to love chaos have some organization to their clutter. Here are a few tips to get your week started on how you can get organized and (hopefully) stay that way.

Keep Your To-Do Lists Short and Sweet—I am notorious for starting a to-do list only intended to be a few items long but then somehow ends up being about twenty items long. Well Ms. L. provided me with a tip the other day that is so appreciated that I had to share. She suggested making a list with only five items on it (stop at five) of the most important tasks needed to be done. If more items pop up in your mind then just begin a new list that will get addressed either when the first list is completed or the next day. Five items to a list, it’s short and it’s simple, and also manageable.
Keep a Clean Writing Space—This may sound like it has nothing to do with actually producing good writing but I believe that it does. When there’s nothing but clutter around you how can you possibly produce good work. If you clean the area your writing in I think it will make it more conducive to write your next great piece of work.
Set a Time Frame to Accomplish Your Task—It is good to have a deadline for when your projects should be completed. Having an unlimited time frame gives you to much of a reason not to complete the task and the deadline will give you something to aim for and less time to procrastinate.
Work on Minimizing the Distractions Around You—If you are a person who checks their email ten times a day and who networks on social media (hopefully you’re networking more than socializing), or who has their specific television shows that they just can not miss, then you are not going to suddenly become the polar opposite. However, you can work to minimize those distractions that are keeping you from doing your work. If you know that your novel isn’t getting worked on because you can’t part from you favorite TV program, then you know what you need to do to make that happen. I myself am drawn to watching my soap opera’s when I should be writing so recently I decided to just DVR the soap opera’s to watch later so I can write when I’m supposed to be writing.

These are just a few things that I try to remember to help me to stay more organized and also more focused on my writing and on the ventures that I want to pursue within my writing. I hope that at least one of these suggestions strikes a chord with you and that you can implement in your writing efforts.

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.

Does Playing It Safe Just Get You a Lot of Missed Opportunities?

March 7, 2013 jcladyluv

There’s this saying, “with great risks comes even greater rewards”, and I thought about that as I was watching a news segment about Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg, discussing her success and her new book that is causing much controversy. She was discussing her thoughts on women and their role as leaders in the business world and how women, albeit ambitious enough, are always playing it too safe and that is often what holds them back in their efforts to succeed. She has taken many risks throughout her career and her several different roles as a leader and she has had many great rewards simply because she refused to play it safe.

It made me think about the fact that I am not a huge risk taker and if that is what is holding me back it would be a terrible shame. Is that what is slowing me down on this journey to the top? To say I am cautious would probably (if you ask my best friend Ms. L.) be putting it mildly. I think things through, sometimes too much, and then once I decide something I rethink it through again, a couple more times. The funny thing is that I don’t remember being this way when I was younger. Granted when I was younger I was limited in the things I could do because I was not yet an adult and most of my childhood I was not a working individual so I relied on my mother for monetary well being, but I don’t remember being so scared to do things.

I don’t remember over analyzing things nearly as much as I do. I mean I did to a certain extent because I had to analyze whether or not the risk I was taking was going to get me beat by my mother or in trouble in other ways, but I never thought of myself as playing it safe. So now in a time in my life where I should be throwing caution to the wind and just going for everything and every opportunity that could possibly come my way, I am resistant, I find that I just want to be safe. I don’t know if it was motherhood that made me that way or not but I know that I want my daughter to take risks and go after the dreams she wants without worrying what is or what is not going to go wrong.

The author of Wild, Cheryl Strayed, wrote her memoir about the journey that she took along the mountainous Pacific Crest Trail from California, all the way through Oregon and up to WashingtonState, with practically no money to her name and little idea of what it was she was really in search of. Somehow she managed to complete her trip as well as accomplishing a level of self discovery that she didn’t even realize she was looking for. She didn’t let the fear of not really knowing where she was going stop her, nor did she let the fact that she had barely any money stop her and she managed to get a New York Times Bestselling book out of it that landed on Oprah’s book club lists. She didn’t play it safe and she took a huge amount of risk and she got great rewards.

Now obviously, it is not realistic for most of us to go and try that, but the point is that we shouldn’t let things hold us back and we shouldn’t play it so safe that we miss out on the adventures that we could have in our lives. Now being overly cautious is a hard habit to break and I am not crazy enough to think that overnight I am just going to be this “throw caution to the wind” type of person but I do know that I don’t want to play it safe anymore and I can’t afford to over-think myself out of the next opportunity. What about you, have you been playing it safe lately?

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

Is It Camp Season Already?

March 6, 2013 jcladyluv

So I got an email in my inbox today about CampNaNoWriMo and the date is approaching in April. I hadn’t actually planned on doing CampNaNoWriMo this year because I didn’t do so well in actually producing anything last year when they did the mid year program. This year they have one in April and in July and at first glance I want to just say no and wait until the normal time in November.

Throughout the course of the day I have thought about the fact that I never use not doing something well the first time as an excuse to not try again and I don’t want to start now. Perhaps the CampNaNoWriMo is just what I need to finish up the other novel and get working on outlining the ideas for the other one.

It will not only allow me to finish up a project but also to prepare for the NaNoWriMo in November and if I should choose to do the one in July as well (which knowing me I probably will), it will be a good warm-up for that one as well. So since April is approaching (quicker than I would like it to) I suppose I had better get my time management skills in check.

Hopefully some of you will join me in the month of April and participate in the CampNaNoWriMo and get warmed up for the November round. If you do decide to participate please let me know and maybe we can help hold each other accountable. Let’s go camping!

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

We Have To Be Aware of What We Are Inviting Into Our Lives

March 4, 2013 jcladyluv

“God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a disciplined mind.”

~ 2 Timothy 1:7

It’s a new week and I am starting off this week feeling inspired. I was watching Joel Osteen again yesterday (another one of those instances where I accidentally turned to the channel) and the topic of his message was fear, specifically activating faith instead of activating fear. Obviously this is an issue that I have within myself because I have been known to miss a lot of opportunities due to my fear for one thing or another.

However, this message wasn’t just discussing how fear holds you back but rather about how dwelling on our fears is giving those fears power and essentially when we are fearful we are coming into agreement with whatever it is that we are afraid of, therefore giving it a right to become a reality. There were so many things that Joel Osteen spoke about in his message that struck a chord with me and I really wanted to share them with those of you out there who feel like they are constantly fearful of whatever might happen and who increasingly worry about being defeated and failing. Below I have listed the things that had the most impact on me and maybe they can impact your life as well:

Whatever you meditate on is what is going to take root.
Fear and faith have something in common; they both ask us to believe something is going to happen that we can not see.
Fear is using your faith in the wrong direction.
The first place that we lose the battle is in our own thinking.
When you go around dwelling on your fears, expecting the worst to happen, you are inviting the worst into your life.
By worrying you are saying that you do not have faith in what God has in store for you.
When the enemy is placing negative thoughts in your mind and you agree with those negative thoughts, you are coming into agreement with that negativity; Pay attention to what you are coming into agreement with.
Fear always presents itself to look much bigger than it really is.
Fear can create a barrier; wrong thinking can keep you from God’s best.
Don’t agree with what the fear says about you, agree with what God says about you.

In the end of his message Joel Osteen asked two really important questions. How many times do we kill our own dreams with our thoughts and how many times have we stopped God’s blessings and his favor because we are dwelling on the fear? We give the fear we have way too much power and by giving it that power we in a sense agree with whatever our fear tells us is going to happen.

Fear has become something that the majority of us deal with on a pretty consistent basis (I feel like I am attacked by it most times) but watching Joel Osteen yesterday I started to realize that the key to dealing with fear is not to face it head on, but rather to not even invite it in your life to begin with. Instead of worrying about all of the things that can or have gone wrong, take note of all of the things that have not gone wrong and trust in the fact that God would never put anything on your path that was meant to harm you or to keep you from the destiny that he has prepared for you.

Rather than inviting fear and defeat (or bad luck) into your everyday life, invite victory and realize that with every obstacle that we face and every hurdle that we jump over, we are becoming even more victorious in reaching the life we were destined to have. Have you been unknowingly inviting all of the things that you are afraid of into your life? Don’t activate fear, activate faith! When fear knocks, let faith answer the door.

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

Getting To the Task At Hand

March 1, 2013 jcladyluv

So adhering to my own words in my post the other day about having deadlines, I have decided to use my calendar for productivity and not just let it sit there waiting to be filled with events that are not yet in the works. I took out my planner and although I had planned on filling it with events and conferences that I would be headed to this year (which is still not out of the realm of possibility), I decided to begin making those deadlines that I said I needed to set for myself.

The first task on my calendar is to send out those queries and letters of introduction to those publications that I am terrified will say No to my work. I suppose the reality is that they can’t say yes if I don’t submit anything at all. Of course the biggest deadlines that I had to set for myself is to finish the one novel that I’ve been working on for a while now (what feels like forever) and outlining and beginning the next one that I am anxious to get working on next.

I’m actually scheduled to start working on accomplishing some of those deadlines this weekend so I am looking forward to getting back to work on my novel. I’ve actually really missed my character and she’s kind of been wondering why I abandoned her story. Do all of you have your projects lined up for this weekend yet? I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend!

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

What My Book Shelves Might Say About Me

February 28, 2013February 28, 2013 jcladyluv

I was reading one of the blogs that I follow this morning and in her post today she posted a picture of her bookshelves and posed the question of what your bookshelf says about you. I never really thought of the books on my bookshelves as somehow being clues to a deeper knowledge of the reader which is odd given that I am a writer who has always been curious of what some famous author’s house on their own bookshelves. I got to thinking about my bookshelves and what on earth they could possibly capture about me and my personality or my writing style.

So naturally I journeyed into the living room where my main three bookshelves are (although I have bookshelves located in other locations of the house) to take a look at my books. I have the one bookshelf that is just dedicated to all of my writing style or instruction books as well as dictionaries, travel books, and business books. Then the other two bookshelves are for the fiction (mostly anyway) books but what surprised me about those was just how eclectic my fiction collection actually is. I’m not saying that as a bad thing, I always think that it is good for people to read an array of different styles of books, I just didn’t realize I had branched out into one of those people that actually did.

When I really started to get into my love of reading I was younger so naturally I read things like the Babysitter’s club, Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High, and those real girly girl types of books. As I got older I was introduced to Eric Jerome Dickey, Mary B. Morrison, Terry McMillan, and more books considered to be urban fiction. As I have evolved into an even better, more matured writer I have historical fiction novels, mysteries (James Patterson, Sue Grafton, J.D. Robb, Dan Brown) and of course some of the classics.

My collection of books says that I have evolved in my selection and also that my yearning for the knowledge of different styles of writing has grown as well. I noticed something else too. Even when I wasn’t really reading mystery books in my younger adulthood I was still buying them and stocking my shelves with books on writing mystery which is odd given the fact that at that time I had no interest in mysteries or writing them. Something had told me to buy them anyway and what’s ironic is now I think that that may be the direction that I want to take my writing in.

I’m not saying that I now only want to write mysteries because there are many ideas for books that I have that are of different genres, but the novel that I am working on finishing up now and that I want to develop into a series is a mystery and I also have decided down the road that I want to write a mystery book series for young adult as well. I guess I just find it interesting that even when I had no idea that I would end up desiring to write mysteries as well as loving to read them I was preparing for this change of direction.

It is interesting when we take a look at the things around us what they can say about us. As we evolve over time so does our interests and our tastes in the materials that we buy as well as the importance of those material things. Sometimes it can be really nice to look at old writings, and old pictures, and even the books on our bookshelves and see just how far we have come and what an interesting (whether wonderful or troublesome) the journey has been. What does your book shelf say about 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

The Road to Success Is Filled With Bumps and Potholes

February 27, 2013 jcladyluv

As I was watching the Oscars the other night and looking at little Quvenzhane Wallis who is 9 years old and the youngest actress to ever be nominated for an Oscar, I thought for a moment if only someone had taken my passion for the arts seriously when I was younger I could be in such a different place right now. I often wonder about the people who are starting out on their dreams at such younger ages now and could it possibly be that it is just too late for mine to come true. Of course this moment was a slight lapse in sanity (lol) because I hardly believe it is ever too late for anyone who has a dream to make it come true.

I remembered a quote that I heard when I watched L.L. Cool J’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, “dreams don’t have deadlines.” Then I thought about all of those people who have reached their goals and have accomplished their dreams and who are now deemed successful by the rest of the world, but who didn’t get there quickly, or who didn’t get there without their own share of personal failures, and even some of who were told that they would never get there.

I wanted to share with you some names of some really influential and inspiring people throughout history. Maybe some of the names on this list will give you the hope that they give me that your dreams are not unattainable and that no matter how many people tell you that you can’t, there are people out there proving that you can.

Bill Gates—He was a Harvard drop out whose first business failed. He didn’t give up and tried again and the rest was history.
Steven Spielberg—He was rejected from the University of Southern California School of Theater, Film, and Television three times. He attended school somewhere else only to drop out before finishing.
J.K. Rowling—Before publishing her Harry Potter Series, she was homeless, virtually penniless, severely depressed, divorced and a single mom while attending school. She went from having to rely on welfare to being one of the richest women in the world in a five year span but her fairytale story did not come without its share of rock bottoms.
Abraham Lincoln—While he may be considered to be one of the world’s greatest leaders to date, he did not have an easy life without failures. He went to the war as a Captain and came back a private which is the lowest rank in the military. He started several businesses that failed and had been defeated numerous times in running for public office. If he had let any of that stop him who knows how different the world might be right now.
Laura Ingalls Wilder—This author of the famous “Little House series” which eventually led to the show Little House on the Prairie, along with several other well known young adult series, did not become a success at a young age. Her first book of her Little house series was not published until she was in her mid-sixties. She attributed the years of struggle and hardship to her eventual success.
Albert Einstein—While he is now revered as a genius Einstein was thought to be mentally handicapped, slow , and anti-social by both his teachers and his parents because he did not speak until the age of 4 and could not read until he was 7. He was eventually expelled from one school and refused entrance to another. In the end he faired rather well winning the Nobel Prize and changing the world of physics.
Lucille Ball—She was widely regarded as a failed actress and a B movie star. Her drama instructors even told her that she would never make it and told her to try a different profession. It wasn’t until her staring role in I Love Lucy, at the age of 40, where she finally achieved the level of success that she was looking for and proved all of her drama instructors wrong.
Sidney Poitier—Poitier was told by the casting director after his first audition that he should just stop wasting people’s time and go back to being a dishwasher. It took him four years from his first audition in 1943 to even begin getting roles in film and TV and it would take another 20 years from that first audition until he became the first African-American actor to win an academy award (Oscar) for best actor in 1963 for his role in Lilies of the Field.
Steven King—Before his first book, Carrie, was published in 1973, he received 30 rejections and he actually threw the book in the trash. It was his wife who retrieved it out of the trash and nudged him to try again. His career has only skyrocketed from there but it didn’t come to him on the first try, or even the first dozen tries. But he eventually got there.
Walt Disney—Was once fired by a newspaper editor due to the fact that he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” Afterwards Disney started several businesses that did not last long and he ended up in bankruptcy and considered himself a failure. Obviously he didn’t stay knocked down for long because he came up with a brilliant world inside of his mind and thus we have Disney.

What if they had actually believed that there was an expiration date on when they got to achieve their success? Some of the most influential people in this world’s history and the most influential people of our present and our future did not start off having all of the answers and they did not get it right on the first, second, or even third tries. What would this world be like if any of them just threw in the towel and said “it didn’t happen by now, must not be meant to be”. I have been one to tell myself that this or that should’ve happened by now but that’s not really for me to say. Have you been putting a time limit on your success lately? Time is never up when it comes to accomplishing your dreams. Try and remember that. I will be trying right along with 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

Is Having a Deadline Really Such a Bad Idea?

February 26, 2013 jcladyluv

I don’t have a tight schedule to write on. I’m not an author who is on the New York Times Bestsellers list (not yet anyway) so I don’t have any major publishing houses breathing down my back for my next novel (they would be quite upset with me right now). I also don’t currently have any newspaper or magazine editors waiting for my next article and hounding me about when it will be done. That would sound like heaven to most writers, no stress and worry about being penalized for being late with an assignment.

However, what I have discovered about me over the last several years is that I am one of those writers (hopefully not the only one) who needs a deadline. I need that invisible ticking clock over my head ticking away the minutes that I am wasting on something that is not going to actually earn me any income as a writer. I need that editor or major publishing house breathing down my back and constantly checking in with me to see if I have finished that article yet, or that next novel that I would ordinarily be stuck on if not for the fact that I have a time limit.

I have an ebook that I was supposed to have written by now so that I can begin promoting and selling it. However, despite the fact that I have an outline to get me off to a good start I have yet to produce one single chapter of that ebook. Perhaps if I had some editor telling me that it needed to be done in a month I could sit down and just crank it out already.

I’ve always known that I worked a little better under pressure. It seems like the more intense the pressure the faster I work and the better the writing is. Even with school papers I have always waited until the final moment, even now as I am earning a Master’s degree I will wait until the night before the paper is due to do it. I wish I was that person who could start things a week or more ahead of time, giving myself ample time to get things done and produce good work but I don’t believe I am wired that way.

So since I don’t have that editor or that publishing house screaming at me through emails I have to be the one dangling that deadline in front of my face. I have to start setting dates for the production of my work (and actually stick to them instead of just moving the date further up) and either find a computer program (not sure where to even start with that one) to help me keep track of those deadlines or mark the calendar and hold firm to the date I set. I suppose until I have that editor or publishing house tapping their fingers at me as a signal to hurry up and finish my project, I have to hold myself accountable in other ways. Otherwise I might never make it to that New York Times Bestsellers list (and on Oprah’s book club list) and that is an outcome that I refuse to let happen.

How do all of you deal with deadlines? Are deadlines your friend or your enemy?

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

Feeling Grateful

February 22, 2013 jcladyluv

This week I had a lot of different emotions going on. I felt really excited for my well received second issue of Write 2 Be magazine. Then I felt anxious about the novel that I have yet to finish as well as the novel that I am also anxious to get started on. I also felt full of doubt and I still had to wonder is my writing really good enough to start going after those freelance positions at the newspapers and magazines that I want. However, despite all of that, I woke up today just feeling grateful.

Looking at the news and seeing all of the tragedy that there is out there and all of the problems that people are dealing with that are so much bigger than mine, I can’t really complain. I mean sure my struggles, to me, are going to always feel like they are mountains that grew out of molehills, and for me the issues that I am struggling with are difficult but whose issues aren’t. There are people, who just this past week in my area, have lost their children and all around the world there are people who are homeless, who are hungry, whose lives are cut short for one reason or another.

I woke up today, seemingly healthy, my child is healthy, and I am making it (miraculously) and I just had to tell God thank you. Not just for all that he has pulled me through, but also for all that he shields me from, and also for the potential of my opportunities both in the present and in the future to come. We all have to remind ourselves to be grateful for the things we have and sometimes for the things we don’t have as well because when we think about the things that we want and don’t have it gives us drive and fuels us with determination to be able to make those things happen.

Just remember, before you rest your head tonight, to make sure to take in what you do have around you and make sure that you cherish it. Another thing I am grateful for (among so many other things) is that I have this blog to share my thoughts and my life with all of you out there and I am grateful to those of you are interested enough to tune in. Have a great weekend everyone!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

Beware of the False Negatives

February 21, 2013 jcladyluv

I think that sometimes people, particularly artists, have a hard time trusting ourselves. I’ve noticed that with myself at least. I know I’ve shared with all of you in the past that I constantly second guess myself and then when I decide on something, I rethink it and wonder if I made the right choice. I wonder if I’m good enough. Sometimes I even think that when I have confidence in something that I might be getting too far ahead of myself because maybe, just maybe, I shouldn’t be nearly as confident as I am.

I tend to give advice to others about trusting their gut and doing what they know if right for them and trust that God will not steer them wrong or allow them to get too far off course. I give good advice that I never seem to be able to take myself. I seem to have no problem filling my head with all of these false negatives, I’m not good enough, I’m not smart enough, I’m not strong enough, I didn’t work hard enough, I didn’t try enough, but the odd thing is that deep down inside I know those to be false statements and yet they are so much easier to believe then the truth. Why do we do that?

We tell ourselves the worst, perhaps trying to not allow ourselves to get big headed or to get overly confident or to get our hopes up, but why shouldn’t we be all of those things? Why shouldn’t we be confident and why shouldn’t our hopes be raised? Joel Osteen said something in one of his sermons that stuck with me. He said “you can’t have faith if you don’t first have hope”. We’re always so worried about the other shoe dropping from somewhere out of the sky to make everything around us crumble.

The fact is that so many things can go wrong that we don’t need to add to it by standing by and waiting for what we presume might be the inevitable. Instead of worrying about this invisible shoe from some unknown place and filling our heads with all of these false negatives that we like to tell ourselves about our own abilities, why don’t we just chose to act now. Act on those instincts, don’t second guess, don’t over think, don’t wonder if you’re good enough, don’t question all that might go wrong, just take action.

Think of all of the opportunities you’re walking right pass while you are worrying and waiting for that other shoe that just might never drop. It’s a false expectation that helps to foster all of those false negatives that you have come to rely on to be true. Sometimes the lies we tell ourselves can end up being the death of all of our dreams.

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