Tag: Writers

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Will Write For…

July 23, 2014 jcladyluv

I am continually shocked at the questions that I get asked when it comes to my writing career, even more so at the assumptions that people make about it. When I say I am a writer people tend to respond “okay but what do you do for a living, as your day job” and my response is the same, I am a writer. I swear that it seems that unless you are on the New York Times Bestseller list (of which I plan to be on someday) or unless you are writing for a television show or a script for a movie that is already in production, then people don’t seem to take a person being a writer seriously. As if the people who got all of those accolades arrived there magically without putting in the hard work for little to nothing.

I am what some may call a starving artists’ except that I make sure that neither I nor my child, are never starving. Yes I might live from paycheck to paycheck, or in this instance, from assignment to assignment, but if I am going to survive (sometimes barely) that way then at least I am proud to be struggling to survive by doing something that I love and am so passionate about. Of course there are hundreds and thousands of people who do the regular job by day and then work on their dream by night and I did that for a while but I couldn’t keep that up because what ended up suffering was my dream and I just couldn’t allow that to happen.

When asked (repeatedly might I add) why would I struggle at solely being a writer, give up so many of the luxury things that I would love to do, both by myself and with my daughter, have to decline so many activities that I would love to be able to do, just to make barely enough to cover my bills and most of my necessary needs. My answer is always simple. Because it was what I was meant to do with my life, it is my calling, and I can’t devote fully to my calling and purpose if I’m devoting half of my time to someone else’s calling and purpose.

I write for many reasons. I write to say all of things that I can’t say out loud. I write to express feelings that I think no one else will care about. I write to deal with the hurt that I have felt for most of my life. I write to invent a life that I have always wanted and have not managed to attain yet. I write to cope with the harshness of this world. I write to get away from the criticism of others. I write to survive. But mostly I write for those who feel what I feel, go through what I have gone through, and can’t express what they really want to say, because I want to be a change in their lives. I want to inspire and help others heal. I want to give pieces of myself so that others can realize that it’s not just them that feel that way. I became a writer because I want to be the change in this world that I want to see and I use my words to do that.

Every time that I was working on someone else’s dream by day and had to minimize the work on my dream to the few hours a night that I got it was like dying a slow death, a little every day. Now that I don’t do that, now that my dream is my sole focus, yes I may not have things as easy as I would like to, the struggle some days might even feel too overwhelming, but I come alive more and more with the nurturing of my dream. I may not be wealthy (and not saying that wealth is not in my future) in terms of money but I am wealthy in my peace of mind, and in my heart, and in the joy that I feel from knowing that each day I am that much closer to my dream.

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

Not All At Once: Multitasking Does Not Always Equal Productivity

July 1, 2014 jcladyluv

I am one of those people that feels like they should be doing about twenty different things at one time. We all know that multitasking is something that writers have to have a handle on if they want to get an extraordinary amount of things accomplished. However, there does come a point in working on various different projects in your writing career, or any career really, where you are going to have to make one thing the focal point and everything else is going to have to fade to the background, just a little bit.

My problem is that I still want to believe that I am as excellent at multitasking as I once used to be (in my teens and twenties) when I could balance four or five different projects at the same time and devote equal time to them. Now it feels as if the more I try to balance different projects the more I end up slacking on something. I think that I am being productive to work on several things at once and try to give equal time to all but it just isn’t possible (not for me anyway).

Now I am in no way saying that multitasking is not in some ways productive. What I’m saying is thinking that you can devote an equal amount of time to all of the projects that you are working on isn’t. I think that if you are working on about three projects at a time (and I think that it should be kept to three) you have to know which project to place the priority on and let the other two be the secondary concern. That way the most important project gets accomplished.

This is a lesson that I am learning now and am going to start trying implement myself because trying to place priority on every project equally has caused me to fall behind on a project that should’ve been done already. So for all you multitasking writers out there remember that you can’t accomplish everything at once. Some things are going to have to wait so don’t end up accomplishing nothing by trying to accomplish everything.

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

5 Things to Help Me Become a Better Writer

April 22, 2014 jcladyluv

I read an article the other day on Writer’s Relief detailing five things that a writer can do this week to become a better writer. It was a very interesting read and got me thinking about my own improvement that needs to be done as a writer. I believe that I am a very good writer (at least I hope so) and that I have a lot to offer the literary world but I am not naïve or bold enough in my confidence to think that there isn’t always some way that I can become even better. In fact I think that I can stand to get a lot better, if in no other area but the sheer discipline of writing.

My routine has suffered dramatically in the last few years, due to many things, one of them being overcome with deep depression. I am trying to get back to some normalcy of a routine as far as writing because I know if I don’t produce work then I might as well not call myself a writer. In reading this article, I didn’t necessarily feel that all of the points could be applied to me personally but I did write out the five things that I feel I could do to make me become better at my craft.

1) Pledge to write at least 15 minutes every day. (Seems easy enough but harder than one might think)

2) Divide each project to having their own separate time to be worked on instead of trying to work on several different points of each project at the same time (Multi-tasking)

3) Take one day a week to focus on the social media marketing/networking aspect of my writing business. (obviously marketing needs to be continuous but I need to at least devote 1 day to the planning of how that marketing needs to go)

4) Take one day to specifically dedicate towards submitting pitches and articles and querying agents and local publications. (Again needs to be ongoing but one day to make sure to get those submissions out there)

5) Take one day specifically for reading and researching. (Reading is so important to the craft of writing and I need to make sure I don’t neglect that)

I think these are the things that I really struggle with maintaining as a writer so I am going to be working on these things. A personal thing I want to work on that’s not on this list is a health thing that I think would work in favor of my writing career as well. I need to make sure to get the proper amount of sleep because I haven’t been and my level of energy has diminished which is affecting my rate of production.

As writers we tend to keep late hours, often times even pulling all-nighters, and sometimes don’t realize the long term damage all of those late nights can do to our energy levels, and health overall. So writers take some time this week and think of at least five things you can be doing differently to improve your craft and the amount of writing you produce. If you have any suggestions please feel free to leave a comment and let me know. Take care of yourself and take care of your craft!

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

Leaders Must First Learn To Follow

April 2, 2014 jcladyluv

I know that you’ve heard the saying “Be a leader, and not a follower” a lot, probably more often than you even care to count. This saying is particularly used towards those who are aspiring to run their own businesses and striving for successes of great measure. I always believed in that saying, for the most part and have always tried to steer clear from ever being put in the category of being a follower. However, I recently have come to a realization that you can’t really be a true leader if you have never known what it is to follow.

I mean following is essentially being a team player. Learning how to work within a setting where it is not just your opinion that matters and things don’t just rely on what you say but on what others say or do as well. After all, once you reach your leadership status, you are asking others that are working for you to be that team player right, and follow you on your journey to help build your dream and your legacy up. Is it not only fair that you, the leader, would have some knowledge of what it is like to be a part of a team, to work with others to form a well working collaboration, to in essence, follow.

How can you blindly ask people to do something for you that you have never at one time had to do for anyone else? You can’t. In all actuality, unless someone was just born into wealth and an already built legacy, you have to follow for quite some time before you ever get to lead anyone. So where did this saying come from? Where did people get the idea that following at some point in your life, is a bad thing? Yes you have people who are natural born leaders but they too must first be followers before they can learn how to lead anyone.

I think that sometimes people get hung up on this saying and pass up on many opportunities that would allow growth within themselves because they don’t want to be labeled as a follower. I myself have done that. Passed on something that would mean I am helping someone else build up their dream but yet taking away from working on building up my own. Not even realizing at the time that those whose dreams that I help to build can then show me the way to in turn build up my own. I may have not seen certain situations for the opportunities that they truly were, all because I didn’t want anyone to ever see me as a follower and not the leader I know I was destined to be.

But see the good thing about getting older and making certain mistakes is that you also get wiser and learn how to work smarter. One of the bigger lessons that I am learning now is that in order to lead you must first learn how to follow. It is the lessons that you learn while following others that you can then take into your journey of leadership. So remember that before you turn your back on opportunities that require you to follow all because you don’t like that label. All leaders were once followers. Stay focused and pay attention!

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

Productivity Doesn’t Always Come Easy

April 1, 2014 jcladyluv

Last week was just not a very productive week for me. Well maybe I should say that in terms of actual writing being done, it was not a week of progress. I actually managed to read quite a bit more than I normally get to do but that was mainly because I felt so guilty about not being able to get anything done, writing wise. But the question is should I feel guilty?

Every week is not going to be perfect for a writer. We don’t always know the words we want to say and we aren’t always able to just sit down in front of a computer and just start writing non-stop until the work is done. We have really good weeks where we get all the work we set out to do and more, we have those weeks where we get just what we needed done but nothing more.

And then there are those weeks where nothing (seemingly) gets accomplished and we are sitting there banging our heads against a wall trying to figure out why nothing is coming to mind and your fingers just don’t want to more across the keys of the keyboard. Those are those moments when you have to remind yourself that your mind sometimes needs a break too.

We are not machines, no matter what profession, but particularly writers. It is hard to take mental breaks when so much of what you do lives inside your head. You have characters screaming at you all the time (lol) and ideas just popping in your mind at a moment’s notice and sometimes your mind just needs a break. So I guess last week was my mental vacation. I caught up on some reading and I even caught up on some TV shows.

However, this week, I am ready to get back to the business of writing and working on these projects and finishing up others. Hope your week is starting off right and that you’re ready to get your hustle on this week. Stay focused and be blessed!

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

Tooting My Own Horn!

March 21, 2014 jcladyluv

It’s Friday and as I get prepared to work on quite a few of my projects this weekend as I know a lot of you are as well, I did not want to go into the weekend without updating and promoting some things within Write 2 Be Media and without extending an All Call to all the writers and artists out there who read my blog. As someone who is constantly working on trying to become a better marketer of my business and my brand it is important for me to have days where the focus is on the sole aspect of marketing and not so much the creativity of writing.

Upcoming Releases

Of course some things that I have mentioned before and that I am still in steady progress of, my ebook series, which is tentatively called “For the Crazy Makers, focusing on motivating and inspiring writers and artists who constantly struggle with their own fear and insecurities which holds them back from following through with their creative goals. The first book in this ebook series is set to be released this Spring and details on how to get a copy will follow soon. I also have at least two novel releases that are due out later this year, one being the re-release of my first novel, The Diary: Succession of Lies. The other novel, titled When Love Calls, will be released soon after.

How Write 2 Be Media Can Help You?

If you have recently finished your novel and are looking for an editor? If you are in the editing phase and you’re not sure how to go about getting the promotion started? If you have a blog that you just don’t have the time to maintain or promote? If you have just launched your business and have yet to create a solid social media marketing platform in order to get noticed?

Write 2 Be Media can help you with those things and much more. To read more about our services just click the “Hire Me” tab to your right or email me at jcladyluv@yahoo.com.

The Magazine

Write 2 Be Magazine is a magazine is back as of last month and I will be publishing it every month. You can go check out the latest issue of Write 2 Be Magazine and follow the magazine by clicking on this link or finding the link to the magazine to the right of your screen. You can also check out and like the Write 2 Be Magazine fan page for updates on what’s coming soon for the Magazine.

Now here is where the all call comes in. Of course a lot of you that read my blog are writers, artists, or photographers. Well Write 2 Be Magazine is looking for more writers and photographers and artists work to be able to showcase. We are also looking for authors who would like to be interviewed as well because as I stated in a previous post this week, I love author interviews and I especially love being the one who does them. So if you have poetry, short stories, articles, artwork and photographs that you want to display, please feel free to email write2bemagazine@yahoo.com or leave a comment below to inquire more. If you are an author who would like to do an email interview with me please email me at jcladyluv@yahoo.com. Also for anyone who goes and like the Write 2 Be Magazine fan page once you have liked the page you are more than welcome to promote your books, or projects on the page for free. I look forward to hearing from you and would love to see what some of you are working on!

Promoting Others

I would also like to take this time to promote the work of a great photographer. If you are looking for a photographer for your project then please go check out Rashaad Amed McNeil’s page, R&M Photography. He does absolutely amazing work for all of his clients, one of which happens to be LaMonique Hamilton, the CEO and Editor-in-Chief at PIEhole Magazine, a new magazine on the rise. So if you are in need of a photographer and want outstanding results then head on over to his page, R&M Photography, and hit the like button and find out how you can get the best photographer for your next project!

I would also like to promote Next Up Media Consulting, Inc. Founder and CEO Jocelynn Drawhorn, also a freelance photographer and the social media coordinator of WEEN (the Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network), launched this company with the intention and purpose of helping to shape the innovative brands of the future. Next Up Media Consulting, Inc. provides services such as copywriting, resume, and interview services. Contact them today for a consultation!

I hope all of you out there are working hard on your projects and that they are moving forward. Have a blessed weekend and hustle hard!

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

What’s Your Habit?

March 20, 2014 jcladyluv

I was reading this article this morning in preparation to get started with my work about the routines and habits of famous writers. It got me to thinking about how much my routine and habits as a writer have changed over the years. When I was younger I used to stay up all night to write (I’ve never been a morning person) because that was usually when the inspiration struck, plus I always had a hard time sleeping at night. As I became a mother I had to adjust that crazy schedule because all-nighters and motherhood just didn’t go well together (at least not for me). So when my daughter was an infant I slept (as long as she was sleeping) at night (even though I still stayed up later than I should have) and during the day I would try to write while she made gurgling noises at the cartoons on TV or when she napped.

There was even a six month period when I wrote my first novel in which I didn’t talk to anyone for that whole 6 months, to the point where people sent people to check on me because I had to get the novel out. Now as my daughter is getting older, I still feel more inspired at night and so I stay up late most nights (even though I really shouldn’t) but I also try to work in the morning hours as well (mornings still are not my thing, lol).

I find it fascinating when reading of others who have somehow managed to keep their routines and habits the exact same (or with very little variance) throughout their writing career because although I have tried to keep things the same (because I hate change) my routine somehow ended up changing regardless. I guess as we grow as writers, or artists so must the way that we do things but I wonder if a person’s routine has never changed does that mean that they haven’t grown as an artist.

Does the lack of change symbolize the lack of growth in your work ethic or your writing or art? Or does it just mean that the person whose habits and routines haven’t changed, that they are the more disciplined ones within their craft? And what about those of us who waste an exorbitant amount of time procrastinating, or rather productively procrastinating (which makes it a part of their routine as well) and then have spurts in which we are vigilant and pour out a novel or task in a month or two? Does this mean that the habit of procrastinating can possibly be seen as helpful to some more than others? I suppose we all have our own vices and rituals of what works and what doesn’t.

I think it’s fascinating sometimes to see or rather, to read how another person harnesses their talents and to see what kind of discipline they have in getting what they want accomplished. So what are your habits or routines? How have they changed throughout your writing career? Do you consider yourself the disciplined and diligent writer or the productive procrastinating writer? Let me know what’s your habit? I hope to hear from you….stay blessed!

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

I Write Outside the Box That People Keep Trying to Put Me In

March 19, 2014 jcladyluv

I like to read author interviews, doesn’t really matter whether it’s an author who is already bestseller famous or one that is just publishing their first novel (although I tend to like the first timer interviews the best). I love when the person doing the interview poses the question of what type of writer they consider themselves because I always like to see if their answer would be anything like mine would be. Some are but a lot of writers tend to stick to the same type of book, or rather the same genre.

I once had someone tell me that I needed to write urban fiction (or street lit) because that is what is selling in the African American community. My response to that was that’s not my type of writing. I don’t write for one specific race, or cultural community, I write for everyone, but mostly I write for me. The funny thing is that thinking back, when I set out to be a writer, I mean really got into the idea of wanting to write novels and not just poetry and stories, I knew that I did not just want to stick to one genre or style of writing.

I know that a lot of some of the greats did that, they were known for one genre type or another, but I never wanted to be predictable. I wanted to surprise my readers and my fans and I didn’t want them to be able to predict what type of book I would come out with next. When I had my first novel published (in which I plan on re-releasing soon) there were some people who said “oh this is the type of book that white people read” and that was just off of reading the back of the book, before even opening to the first page. I responded with the fact that I hope that it’s the type of book that EVERYONE reads.

I write the type of things I myself would like to read, and although I’m not going to deny that I have read urban fiction in the past, those are just not the kind of books I like to read. My first novel was considered contemporary fiction, and my second may be as well, but I know I have a mystery that’s going to come out as well, a self-help book for writers (which will start come out as an ebook series first), and a historical fiction novel soon to come as well. I also still write poetry and have a huge collection of poetry that I will release as separate books soon, a children’s (mid-grade) series that I want to write, as well as I’ve been recently inspired to write some paranormal fiction but that is still up in the air.

I’m not just a one genre writer, and I don’t say that to say that there is anything wrong with those that are, but I don’t like people placing labels of what I should be writing on me either. Just because I am African American I am supposed to write this urban literature which is an insult really because it implies that it’s all that African American’s can write and I know that’s not true. I want to write for everyone and I want my messages in my articles or my novels, or my poetry, to reach everyone because that’s what it’s about for me.

Sure if I was solely in it for the money then I guess I would write whatever is popular but then I’m not being true to myself and then readers are liking an image that is made up, not the real me. So if you are feeling pressured to write something that is simply not you, don’t fall into that trap. You have to stay true to yourself because while it may take a little while longer to get to your destination this way, you can bet that you will certainly stay at the top longer by doing so. Stay blessed and don’t be afraid to write outside of the box!

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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

What Does the Term “Being A Real Writer” Mean Anyway?

March 12, 2014 jcladyluv

Some days I wonder, if I don’t write that day does it make me any less of a writer? There are those that will tell you that you must write every single day, whether it be one page, one paragraph, or even just one sentence. For years I felt that the periods of time when I was blocked and when I wasn’t able to write anything (not anything of any merit at least) that I was no longer able to consider myself a real writer. There was even a period of time, after having my first novel published, that I felt that because it didn’t do well that I wasn’t really a writer.

I often forget about the poetry book that I self-published and don’t even count that, although I should, just because at the time I didn’t really possess the tools that I needed to really be able to promote myself and my work. So throughout the years I have discounted my work (some of it anyway), and I have considered the times where I slacked off a bit as days when I wasn’t to be considered as a real writer. But who is to determine what a real writer is except for the writer themselves.

There’s this line in the movie Sister Act 2 where she told the young lady if you wake up every day and all you can think about doing is singing, then you are supposed to be singer. The same holds true for any chosen profession including writing. That is all that I think about. My craft, how I can make my writing better, how I can promote my writing and myself better, what I want my writing and my media company to be able to do for people throughout the world, what I want my words to be able to change, what story comes next, what project comes next, what I want in the bookstore/lounge that I will one day open.

Writing, many different capacities of writing, is what I eat, sleep, and breathe on a daily basis. Even if I’m not writing I am writing because I am thinking up a story in my head, a new idea for a stage play that I want to write and produce, lyrics to a song that I want to record, articles for my magazine that I might write or want to publish within my magazine, novels that I want to be turned into screenplays someday. I write in my head a lot so even when it appears that I am not writing, I am in fact writing.

So should someone say to me that because I don’t put words to paper, or type words on a computer, on a daily basis, that I am not a real writer. Because I get to do what I love to do from the comfort of my own home and make a living at it (as unsteady as it may be right now), does that make me any less of a writer? I think you are what you say you are, and even more importantly, what you prove you are and what lives in your heart.

So if there are some of you who may be experiencing writer’s block of some sort, or even if you are feeling guilty because you don’t write every single day, stop feeling guilty. There are no set rules for the profession of writing. No proven way that it works for every single writer. What works for you is what works for you and you should never let anyone else tell you that your way is wrong. It may very well be wrong for that person, but your career path is not theirs. So write in whatever fashion that you write in, in whatever time frame that you write in, without guilt and without pause. It’s your journey to travel however you see fit. Be blessed and carve out your own writer’s path!

Jimmetta Carpenter

My Write 2 Be is…

CEO/Writer/Editor

Write 2 Be Media/Write 2 Be Magazine

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