Tag: Writers

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Am I Winning or Losing?

January 23, 2015 jcladyluv

What separates the winners from the losers? I mean there are those that say that there are no losers in any given scenario but really, you’re either a person that wins or the person who takes the loss. It’s a cruel thing to say to anyone who does not end up with the win that they are in fact a loser but isn’t that what it really is? There is no middle ground between winning and losing in life unless you count the limbo phase where you’re not quite losing but you’re not winning either.

I saw this post on Facebook yesterday that had a side by side list that describes the winners and the losers (in terms of successful people). It says that winners say that while things may be difficult they are still possible while losers have it in their mind that even though it could be possible it’s still too difficult to try. Winners see what there is to gain and the possibilities by trying and losers only see the pain or the problems that could come from trying and possibly failing. Winners make things happen in spite of circumstances while losers just simply let things happen to them.

I can’t deny that as I was reading this list I was mentally checking off which column I fell under (winner of course, sigh of relief). I know that I have the mindset of a winner (most days) but I swear sometimes feel so off in the ratio of my perseverance in pursuit of my dreams to my actual rewards that have come from that pursuit. I sometimes feel like I can’t see the results of my efforts and it frustrates me to no end.

I know that all good things come in time and to those who wait and have faith and I have had that faith, well most days anyway, and I have waited for what feels like forever and I keep wondering if my time has somehow come when I wasn’t looking or paying attention. One thing I know for sure is that I will never give up on my dreams and my vision but I have my days when I wonder am I just wasting my time, have I missed my opportunity, or am I just not deserving enough. Crazy thoughts I know but I think we all have them from time to time.

I have learned that I have to get them out somehow, even if it is just to voice them here, because if I keep those thought in my head and let them stay there it will keep me from being my most productive self. And now that I have shared my random thoughts I have work to get back to. If you’re sometimes feeling like you’re losing in the fight for your dreams and that your time is never going to come then you have to realize that to be worried and in still in pursuit you are in all actuality winning the fight because you haven’t given up and that is certainly something to celebrate.

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

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Here’s to Fearlessly Braving the Struggles

January 13, 2015 jcladyluv

Well week 1 of the year 2015 was a rough one. Nothing really went as I planned for it to go and it was extremely frustrating to say the least. However, I think that my mantra for this year is going to be “fearlessly brave the struggle” because someone (can’t think of who at this moment) reminded me that there is no great reward that comes without great struggle. I suppose that anything that is worth having is never really going to come easily. If the struggles that I have endured these last several years are any indication of the rewards that I have to come in the future then my goals in my career are not only going to be met but exceeded.

If I can just maintain my focus and determination then this year alone is going to exceed how things have gone over the last couple of years. The thing about having big plans is that there is an even bigger feeling of disappointment when those things can’t be accomplished. What I have to learn how to do is to take stock in what I do get achieved and not beat myself up over the things that I fall short on. Not saying to just stop trying to complete the tasks that don’t get done, but I have to learn that everything can’t be done all at once and if it’s not then it’s fine. Everything will not immediately crumble if I don’t finish everything all at once.

Another thing I have to learn how to do throughout this year is to take some time and do things for myself. I have to take care of my needs and do what’s good for me without feeling selfish and like I am somehow doing harm to my child by not making every single thing about her. I’m working on that, first by starting back at the gym, in which I started back last week, and also by trying to by myself a little something every now and then.

I find that when I take better care of myself and doing some things that are just for me then my creativity flows a lot better. I’m more focused on my goals because I’ve satisfied something that I’ve wanted. So the lesson for you all is to make sure you don’t throw in the towel when things don’t go as planned and make sure that you do something that is just for you because it will enhance everything else that you do in your life.

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

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Perspective From the Middle Rung of the Ladder

December 10, 2014 jcladyluv

I had a conversation the other day with an older woman, who I have befriended because both of our daughters participate in the same activity. She has taken a liking to me and I to her and I gain a lot of wisdom from her and she in many ways motivates me. I have been able to share my goals and vision for what my dreams are with her and I don’t share my dreams with just everyone.

Every time I feel that fear creep up inside me and I get discouraged and start to doubt myself Ms. Yvonne (that’s her name) always seems to be right there giving me that dose of motivation that I need to get going again. It got me to thinking, there are so many people that see this potential in me, this light as some people say, surrounding me, and that they know that I am going to do so many big things to change this world but I can’t seem to see what it is that they see.

Why is it that other people can see things in us that we either can’t see or refuse to see in ourselves. When I see the journey that I am on to achieve my goals I sometimes get so defeated at how much further I have to go on this journey instead of realizing and appreciating just how far I have come and without acknowledging and thanking God that I am not where I was.

I often feel as if I am still on that bottom rung of the ladder because I keep thinking of what I don’t have yet but if I look at how far I have come and just what I have come through then I can see that I am actually in the middle of that ladder. Perspective is everything and so many times my perspective is thrown off. It’s one of the main things I have to work on in myself and particularly as I go into this new year with new goals and new determination and drive to make these things happen, fear be damned.

Ms. Yvonne told me that even when I don’t feel like I can do it I have to convince myself that I can. If you tell yourself enough that you can, eventually you believe that you actually can and I’ve been telling myself for so long what I couldn’t do because I didn’t have everytihng I needed and things weren’t perfect. It’s time I start telling myself what I can do and open my eyes to the me that other people see.

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

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When Things Don’t Go the Way You Planned

November 21, 2014 jcladyluv

So to say that my NaNoWriMo plans aren’t coming along as productively as I had hoped would be an understatement. I had planned on finishing up two of my book projects that I had been previously stalled on. Now while I have truly put forth honest effort, and have honestly been plagued with multiple back to bak technical issues concerning my computer and what I use to actually write, I can’t lie and say that I haven’t been hit with the procrastination bug. When I got hit with technical difficulty number one I was discouraged and then with the next couple of technical difficulties I had I just felt like giving up on doing it altogether.

Now of course I have not given up on either of my projects but I totally underestimated just how difficult it would be to jump back into my novel and as for the nonficiton self-help book, well I’ve been working more so on that but nonfiction is never easy. I don’t know why it seems I can’t produce anything lately but it is really frustrating to have a lot of ideas that you need to get out but still can’t seem to put them down on paper.

However, November is not over and I am not throwing in the towel on my projects. Whether I finish both projects by the end of November or not, one thing is for sure, it got me started on the projects again. I also have to remember that this could be a great kick-off for my 2015 plans. So how have you been doing in your writing this November? Have all your plans been working out the way that you wanted them to?

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

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The Day Before All Things Get Pushed To the Backburner

October 31, 2014 jcladyluv

It is a proven fact for me that I don’t work very well when I am stressed. I constantly worry about whatever obstacle it is that has me stressed out and there is little to no creative spark inside me to actually produce anything of merit. With the week I’ve had last week, and this week not bringing about any type of resolution for the problem the stressed does not even begin to express what I am feeling right now.

Nevertheless I really need to get into the National Novel Writing Month Spirit because I have not one, but two projects to complete this November and I have an opportunity coming up that relies heavily on me completing them. I suppose on the plus side of things, these are two projects that have already been started and it’s not a brand new project to tackle.

So my question to all of you who will be participating with me in this challenging task of completing a novel (or book) in just 30 days is are you ready to get this done? Do you have everything ready to go and are you clear on the direction that your project will be going in? What are some things that you are struggling with as you prepare to write your book? Feel free to share your plans here with me. I hope that all of you are ready and remain productive.

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

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The Writer’s Guilt I Sometimes Feel

October 29, 2014 jcladyluv

There are many things that I have left to learn about being a writer because I don’t think one can ever be done learning when it comes to their craft. One thing mostly is to not feel so guilty when I’m not writing. Truth be told there is never really a moment when I am not writing in some capacity because the thing with writers is that you don’t always have to be physically writing to be working on something that has to do with your writing.

I get this tremendous amount of guilt when I am not physically typing out words to a story or if I don’t have a finished product. I sometimes don’t stop to realize that whenever I am researching something for a project I am writing. When I am thinking through the storyline in my head I’m still writing. Even when I am reading leisurely then I am still in many ways nurturing my craft because you can’t be a great writer without first being a great reader. My problem is that I tend to follow a lot of writers on Facebook and Twitter and I read about their amazing rates of production and the way they are able to put out work and the way they always seem to be posting that they are currently writing and working on some huge project and I start to think about why I’m not putting out work at that rate.

True enough I have had far too many moments of what I call “creative blocks” because it was a little more than just writer’s block because the words were always there, but with all of the ideas that I have had and stories that have been formed in my head I should have been better at my own production rate. However, I believe that when I do sit down to put those words to paper that it will flow more fluidly because I’ve researched what needed to be researched, I’ve thought through the storyline and even outlined what needed to be outlined, I’ve been reading other writers so I’ve got a good sense of different styles of writing and different writer’s voices and tones.

I have to remember not to feel so guilty for not producing words because there is so much more that goes into the craft of writing than just the actual writing. It’s just another way of sabotaging myself and my own creative efforts because if I somehow convince myself that I’m not a good writer because I am not actually producing what I should be then I will be giving myself an excuse not to try and a reason to just give up altogether.

In life we always can seem to find the things that we did wrong or that weren’t quite done to perfection but so rarely do we stop and revel in the good that we did and the things that we get right. I have to stop focusing on the imperfections that I have within my craft and zero in on what I am doing to further my craft and my career in writing. Guilt can be a very dangerous thing in many aspects of our lives and truly as long as we are continually trying, as long as we never give up on our dreams and our goals then we don’t have any reason to feel guilty.

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

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It’s Time to Start Preparing for National Novel Writing Month

October 10, 2014 jcladyluv

It is October now and I typically take the month of October to prepare for whatever project I will be working on in the month of November for National Novel Writing Month. With me being so unable to really focus on my writing this year (and producing the work I should have) I wasn’t really sure that I wanted to even attempt to do NaNoWriMo this year. However, I have gotten so used to at least making the attempt that I think that I would feel like I would have failed at yet another task if I didn’t at least give it a shot. Last year’s attempt did not actually manage to bring about completion but it did give me quite a bit of blog material in my frustration for not being inspired last year.

So this year for NaNaWriMo I am literally going to double my efforts. I am going to finish up the novel I started two years ago that remains unfinished and I am going to finish up my ebook that I have been working on for the better part of this year. Yes I know that for someone who has been considerably off her writing A game this year it may seem like a daunting task and a possibly heart-wrenching one should I, once again, not be able to finish. But I am a glass half full type of woman who would rather look at the feeling that I will likely feel once the month of November is over and I have not one, but two finished products.

I think that it will fully reignite my creative spark that has been slowly inching its way back to me. I am excited to see what November will bring for my writing and of course I will be blogging about it but I would love to know what your plans are for National Novel Writing month so please feel free to share. Hopefully all of you will join in the challenge for NaNoWriMo with me!

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

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No More Excuses, I Have to Do Better

October 8, 2014 jcladyluv

I need to do better. I was watching a video online the other day dealing with how to become more successful and attain your goals and one of the things the person in the video said to do was to write a new list of what your current goals are. Not look at your old list and revise according to your current circumstances but rather to look at where you are now, who you are now, and what you want in this moment, and write down what your goals are moving forward.

When I wrote down my list I realized that some of my old goals had fallen off of that list and there had also been some new additions that I didn’t even see as something that I would ever want but surprisingly found myself being called to it. Some things were on my old list but the idea has grown into something more than what it was before. It was a little eye opening to make this new list but also made me a little disappointed in myself.

I can’t count how many excuses I have made to not write or do something towards any of those goals on that list and at the time they felt like legitimate reasons (tired, sleep deprived, depressed, no energy, etc.) but in retrospect they were just excuses for one overall fact that I wasn’t feeling inspired and was riddled with self-doubt and fear. I used to have a daily routine in which I at least wrote 1,000 words of whatever novel I was working on and then still wrote my blog and a couple of articles and that was in one day. I was so productive and it seems like that time was so long ago when it really wasn’t. I don’t know what happened in the last two years that made me somehow stall on everything but I have seemingly found myself stalled on everything that I want to accomplish and create.

I am not going to make excuses anymore because they don’t get me anywhere and they only result in me wishing for something that I can just change now before too much time has been wasted and too many things have gone undone. I feel like I might have been on some type of writing sabbatical that was neither planned for nor wanted and I am ready to get back into a normal rhythm of writing again. It’s time to throw away the excuses and put down some results. What excuses have you been making for yourself in your writing career?

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

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Could the Answer Lie in Going Back to the Basics?

August 29, 2014 jcladyluv

Some days I feel like maybe the technology might be hindering my ability to get writing done. I know that that we as evolving writers have to stay connected to social media and network with other writers. We have to, in a sense, keep our name out in the internet atmosphere or else people will forget who you are and move on to the next writer almost without a second thought. But there are times that I feel if I just got back to basics, how I wrote and produced material before I got so heavily into trying to make sure my name stays out there somehow, I think that maybe I might actually be able to re-embrace what made me fall in love with writing to begin with.

When I started writing I only used a notepad and my pen, occasionally a pencil. Sometimes I used a typewriter, even with the option of a computer at my fingertips. It was so easy for me to write then, and I wonder if all of this increased use of technology and increased pressure to know how to navigate my way through social media in order to stay relevant has somehow impaired my creative abilities. I had such an easier time writing and fleshing out storylines when it was just me, my ideas, a pen, and some paper. Words seem to just flow easier to me when I write that way.

I think I stopped using old fashioned pen and paper because it seemed so absurd to do double work by writing with pen and paper only to have to type in on the computer anyway. However, in retrospect, perhaps it wasn’t as absurd as I originally thought. Everything doesn’t work the same for every writer and while I tried to joined to new age technology infused world and not seem so out of touch with the evolution of things, it doesn’t feel like this works for me. The lack of production in my work, I think, is proof that old fashioned works better for me.

This revelation has sparked me to conduct an experiment for my own personal knowledge. For the betterment of my writing career I am going to go very basic, back to my paper and pen for writing (with the exception of my blog posts), for thirty days (starting September 1^st) and highly limiting my social media usage during those thirty days. Of course I will do the necessary marketing via social media but as far as obsessively checking stats and Facebook to see if anyone liked my posts or my fan page, that will be eliminated for at least these thirty days. Now I have no idea if this will jolt my creativity and help me get focused again but nothing is harmed by trying it and I truly think it will open my creativity back up again.

Of course I will keep you updated on how this experiment works and if any of you want to join me in my back to basics challenge please feel free to keep me updated on how it’s working out for you. Keeping my fingers crossed that by the end of thirty days I will have finished my novel and started on the next one. Perhaps a little overly ambitious thinking but I have never been one to dream small.

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

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