Tag: Write 2 Be

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For the Busy Writers

September 9, 2011 jcladyluv

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

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

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

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

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

The Best You

September 8, 2011 jcladyluv

“The best way to get approval is not to need it! Focus on being the best you and the rest will take care of itself.”

~Chris Gardner

It is natural for people to want to seek approval from others. More often than not it is of the one’s that are immediately around you, like your friends and family. We want them to accept us and to be proud of us and to support us in our endeavors and always encourage our ambitions. When we don’t get that support and that approval, especially from family, we are crushed.

As hard as we may try to hide it and act as if it doesn’t really matter that they don’t get our goals and that they don’t approve of the path we chose, it matters. It begins to feel like if the one’s you love and are supposed to be able to look to for support can’t be there for you then everyone must be against you. However, the problem isn’t them for not approving the goals we put forth; the problem is us for depending on the approval of anyone but ourselves to begin with.

On the journey towards being successful in our dreams and or passions the focus has to be us; what we think, what we approve of, and what we demand of ourselves. At some point we are going to have to realize that seeking the approval of anyone else is only going to be our downfall. People spend so much time trying to do what others expect of them and trying to be perfect in order to fit someone else’s standards. What they should be focused on is meeting their own standards and not so much on being perfect but on being the best that they can be for themselves.

Trying to be what everyone else wants you to be can become exhausting and it wastes entirely too much time and energy that can be better spent. If the people around you are making you feel as if you aren’t meeting their expectations, then you need to reevaluate who it is that you are surrounding yourself with and if they are really what you need to be focused on. I know, easier said then done.

It’s hard to let go of that need to be accepted and I know because I’m still working on the letting go part. But I am starting to realize that all the time that I’ve wasted trying to seek approval and be accepted could’ve been time that went into actually accomplishing the very things that I sought approval for. So today you should stop and ask yourselves, whose approval is that you really need? Theirs, or your own. Until next time…Be the best you that you can possibly be and everyone else will just have to follow suit!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

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

Passionate Writer

September 7, 2011 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”

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

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

Even the Mind Needs to be Recharged

September 2, 2011 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”

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

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

No More Negative Nancy’s

August 31, 2011 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”

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

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

It’s All About Accountability

August 29, 2011August 29, 2011 jcladyluv

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

~Moliere

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

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

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

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

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

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

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

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

The Writer and Their Distractions

August 24, 2011August 25, 2011 jcladyluv

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

In the Land of Writer’s Block

August 10, 2011 jcladyluv

For a long time I thought that writer’s block was simply a person being unable to write anything at all and unable to come up with ideas for things to write about. While that is an aspect of the term writer’s block. I didn’t think of the alternative which was that a person would be able to write, just not producing anything worth publishing.

For a few months now I have been able to come up with ideas, research projects, and even create details for my writing projects for when I get back to actually writing. The problem was that I wasn’t feeling motivated to actually write. It was simply a bad case of letting life’s road blocks get in my way and affect my inspiration.

Even as I am writing this and trying to get back into the swing of things I still feel somewhat blocked. I mean I am beginning to feel more motivated and inspired to write and I am actually able to produce some wonderful work worth sharing when I get ready but I still feel that in many ways I am not back to my old self, full of inspiration and letting the muse take me on it’s many journey’s. I still feel somewhat blocked.

I am not sure which one is worse, being blocked in a way of not being able to create anything whatsoever, or being blocked in the sense of I can produce work but have it not be worth showcasing or up to your own expected standard of work. I guess I’ll have to get back to you on that one once I figure it out. Well I’m off to trying to be more productive today. Until next time, be blessed!!!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

http://spokenlikeaqueen.wordpress.com/

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

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

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/

Write 2 Be Magazine…Coming in January!!!

August 3, 2011 jcladyluv

Okay I was going to try and come up with some profound and thought provoking blog post today but I am actually not feeling so blocked today and have been working on putting together the contents of my new project. I am creating a new online magazine called Write 2 Be. This magazine will be completely digital and available for free online only. There will be print versions quarterly for subscribers who choose to receive them. It will be designed to give writers and artists a broad platform to showcase their work and share their experiences in dealing with the ins and outs of both the creative and business side of writing and the publishing industry.

I am currently looking for writers who would like to showcase their work, be it fiction or informative articles, artists who would like to display their artwork, spoken word artists who would like to share video clips of their performances, and author’s who would like to be interviewed and who would like their books to be featured in the magazine. It is set to debut in January of 2012 and I am excited about what I feel it will bring and the knowledge that will be shared. Anyone who would like more details or to share in this new venture please send an e-mail to write2bemagazine@yahoo.com.

I am going to go ahead and get back to working on my new project before my motivation dies down and will provide further details at a later date. I will be writing again soon. Be blessed!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”