Tag: Writers

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Riding Around On a Near Empty Tank

August 10, 2012 jcladyluv

I was reading an article on the Freelance Writer’s Den website that is supposed to help struggling freelance writers figure out how to better market themselves and their business. There are a total of 21 marketing tips and I have decided to take one at a time and kind of marinate on them and really take them in and process them. The first one is of course that you have to believe in your product, in this case, me.

It commented on the obvious fears that freelance writers, or writers in general, experience as they try to build their business and get them off the ground good, especially the one’s that are struggling to even get the wheels of the plane up. It gave a couple of suggestions about how to fill up your positive-feelings tank and I thought that was a good and interesting way to look at it.

If my confidence this week were a gas tank I would be really close to empty right now and I have to work on filling that tank up and keeping it damn near full all the time (if not always full). The list that the article gave on how to re-build your confidence and positive feelings about yourself included many things but the things that stuck out to me were to avoid negative and toxic people and surround yourself with people who think you are great, flipping through your portfolio of work to remind yourself how good you are, and to list your strengths as a writer.

Now I am working on making sure I surround myself with positive energy and people that exude that, and I have occasionally flipped through my portfolio of work and was astonished at some of the things that I have produced, but one thing that I have never done is make a list of my strengths as a writer and as a person. Perhaps I will try that this weekend and perhaps that will help to fill my positive-feelings tank (or as I like to refer to it as my confidence tank) up to its highest capacity.

It’s not that I don’t believe that I am a good writer (most of the time) and that I was meant to communicate with my words. It’s that I worry way too much about whether everyone else will agree and my confidence as far as other people finding my writing great is wavering, a lot. I still haven’t worked through all of my fears but I know that I’m going to get there.

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

Is a Writer’s Desk Ever Really Free of Clutter?

August 9, 2012 jcladyluv

It’s about that time for the re-organization fairy to come in and clean my office area again. Okay no really it seems like it needs to be done every three or four months and I don’t know about anyone else but it is hard to work in clutter, especially when it is clutter of your own making.

My clutter comes from piling the incoming mail into my little inbox trays and letting it all stack up each and every week without ever tossing any of the junk that needs to be trashed out. It also comes from trying to work on more than a few projects at one time so therefore everything in reference to each project, research, outlines and things of that nature, end up in a pile to the side of my desk and it starts to look a little bit similar to the mail file, accept none of it is junk.

It is time for me to get my desk back in the order that I would like it to be in and this time devise a plan for it to stay that way. But am I kidding myself to think that my desk can ever really remain clean and orderly? Perhaps a writer’s desk is never truly clean of all clutter but when it starts to hinder the progress that you are making (or rather not making) then it becomes a problem.

It’s so distracting that I have not even really done work at my desk for the last few weeks. I’ve simply gathered up my laptop, and my notepad and notes on certain projects and toted them out to my dining room table, which is nice and clean, and I work there but I am really starting to miss my desk.

I miss my chair (well currently it’s broke thanks to my daughter hopping in and out of it like it’s a bean-bag chair) and more importantly I miss feeling like a successful writer/business woman working in her own office (area). That’s what working at my desk does for me. I’ve seen pictures of writers working happily in a cluttered space and they genuinely look happy and at peace with the mess. I just don’t know how they do it. I suppose I should be happy that I’ve been doing a good job of working on my novel for Camp NaNoWriMo so I can’t say that the dining room table is a bad fix but, I miss my desk.

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

There is No Comparison To Be Made

August 6, 2012 jcladyluv

So I have begun CampNaNoWriMo as of last Wednesday and I was right that it would help me get focused again on my novel. I haven’t necessarily written the amount of words I should have written by this point but I have gotten back into the story and my mind has started swirling ideas around regarding the outcome of my character.

My words are coming along much better then I thought they would but I do still have that feeling every once and a while of wishing that I could write like…well any of the writers who crank out more than three or four novels in a year. That list would contain some of my favorites like Joyce Carol Oates and James Patterson and Eric Jerome Dickey and Zane.

I keep thinking to myself I wish I could do whatever it is that they do to produce the amount of work that they produce. Then I remind myself that I have to stop comparing myself to other writers because I am not them, but rather the best version of myself that I can be. I do that a lot you know. Think that so many other people have it better than I do and have so much more than I do or that they seem to be able to be so much better at writing or succeeding in general than I am.

I try not to compare having the old saying in the back of my mind that the grass is not always greener on the other side, but it’s hard when you see others who just look like they have it all, like they have all the answers to the questions that I keep asking. But just like other people don’t know my story and my struggles, I do not know theirs either. I don’t know what they had to go through to get where they are and what they have to continue going through now that they’ve gotten where I seemingly would like to be.

It is a slow process but I am learning to take stock in what I have and what I can do because the truth is that there is no comparison to be made here. I am me, not anybody else and what I have is for me to have or for me to struggle with. I have to keep in mind that I shouldn’t wish for anyone else’s journey. These struggles and this journey of mine is what was meant for me to travel and I am going to take stock in every bump in the road along the way until I get to the destination that was meant for me.

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

Gearing Up For Another Writing Marathon

July 31, 2012 jcladyluv

So a few posts ago I wrote about doing Camp NaNoWriMo this August so that I can not only finish my novel that I started in last November’s NaNoWriMo but also so that I can get my writing groove back. Although you might think that I wouldn’t have to do the same necessary steps to prepare for this that I did in November because at least this time I am not starting from scratch, that is far from the truth.

Even though I don’t have to come up with an outline and create character sketches I still have to get a handle on my time management. Not only am I just getting my bearings within my Master’s in Psychology program and but I am really trying to work on some freelance work and trying to pitch certain magazines and increase the success of my business, throw a novel in the mix along with the everyday fulltime job of being a mom. Not to mention, I have just thought of another business idea that has some real true potential to make me and my family some money and could launch a lot of things for me, and I have to start putting in the research for that quickly.

I already know what my issue is that I have to work on during this coming month of August, time management. I suppose this will mean a lot less TV and telephone (accept for my very necessary conversations with Ms. L. that tend to turn into brainstorming sessions) and a lot more late nights—and by late nights I mean one’s that are productive late nights and not me catching up on my TV. Thank goodness for my DVR. Well I have a lot of organizing of my time to go figure out and I hope that some of you out there click on the link in the post for CampNaNoWriMo and join in on the writing challenge with me. Tomorrow begins the rest of my novel. Yay!

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

Could Reality TV Be the Next Best Marketing Strategy?

July 27, 2012 jcladyluv

The other night Ms. L. and I were talking about reality television. You know the usual, what train wrecks are worth watching and what is just simply too much drama even for us. We both talked about how we are not really ‘Reality TV show watchers’ even though there were some that had managed to reel us in over a period of time. I’ll give Ms. L. credit in the fact that she hasn’t been as reeled in as I have.

There was a time that if the caption about the TV show said reality I would instantly turn away and wouldn’t even give it a second look. But then I realized something that I think some people still have not caught onto yet. Reality TV is not truly Reality. I mean think about it, they have writers on Reality TV shows (why if the show is in fact unscripted as they try to convince us). Not only that but there is a whole lot of editing film to make the show’s end result look just real enough to not look like most other television shows and yet still fake enough to know that this much drama could not possibly happen this often to this person.

But the reality shows that I truly love the most are the one’s with a purpose at the end of it. You know, the competition one’s like America’s Next Top Model, Hell’s Kitchen, Master Chef, HGTV Design Star, Food Network Star, those types of shows. However, I have been thinking a lot lately about what a Reality TV show can do for a person who might be trying to make a name for themselves and isn’t having much luck at getting their name out there. If you think about it, these people (you know, the one’s who are at the center of all the drama) are actually smarter then we give them credit for.

Let’s take Snookie from Jersey Shore for example. If she ever decides to stop boozing it up and grows up (hopefully before her child gets here) and she decided that she wanted to start a new business, she doesn’t have to worry about getting her name out there, it already is. Everyone and anyone knows who she is and like her or hate her, she has made probably millions off of the drama that she is the center of. She could literally forge any type of career she wants all because of her stints on reality TV.

It just makes you wonder, just how easy could it be for any one of us to make the name for ourselves that we want. I’m in no way, shape, or form, interested in ever being a part of a reality show (not that I think anyway) but that is largely in part because I care way too much about what people think of me. But if I had the nerve, I can’t say that it wouldn’t be a consideration. Hell these days with the new phenomenon of web series on YouTube you could really start your own. I mean personally I think that there are way more talented people out here then the Snookies and Kardasians of the world that could stand to make a name for themselves. Reality could be the next new way that people can market and brand themselves and become the household name that they want to be. Would you ever consider starting or being a part of a reality show so everyone can know your name?

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

Too Many Stories to Juggle, Not Enough Discipline To Keep Them All From Falling

July 26, 2012 jcladyluv

It’s starting to happen again. All of these different ideas and characters are circling around inside my head and trying to tell me all of their stories, ALL at once. Now I know what many writers may possibly be thinking. How could this possibly be a problem? In fact a lot of writers have the opposite problem, no ideas and no characters speaking to them.

Well the problem that presents itself is that I have yet to finish the novel that I started writing last November for National Novel Writing Month. I have no idea why I haven’t because it’s not as if I’ve lost interest in telling the stories of those characters. In fact I am very intrigued to see if the main character in that novel will end up how I once thought she might end up. It’s not as if she hasn’t been begging me to finish telling her story either, in fact I think she may just have some adjustments that could change a lot of what was going to happen.

My problem is that I am a serial story hopper. It’s not that I have never finished a novel. In fact I am actually a published author (although you wouldn’t know it due to my inability to do a better job at marketing myself—yet another thing I must work on sooner rather than later). I actually have another novel that is also completed that is currently in the hands of my editor now. However, if you had any idea of the novels I have already started and stopped because I had another story enter my head and another character that kept shouting at me to tell it, you would probably laugh at my lack of discipline.

That’s what it is, a lack of discipline to stick with one story from start to finish. But how do you silence the characters that come to you in the midst of telling another character’s story that has nothing to do with theirs? I mean you can’t completely ignore the ideas that come because if you lose them you might never get them back again. On the other hand feeding into the constantly flowing stream of ideas is the reason why I have at least 5 or 6 novels started but left unfinished.

I read one article that suggested writing down the ideas as they come and then setting them aside to finish the current project. The problem I have with that idea is that once I get started writing that idea out, then I start sketching the characters, then I start to outline the story and the setting. Next thing you know I’ve moved completely from one story to the next. So what am I going to do about it?

Well it seems that when I knew I was under the pressure of National Novel Writing Month I had no problem sticking to my one story. So NaNoWriMo is having this thing they call CampNaNoWriMo where they do the same thing they do in November, just in June and August as well. Since I’ve already missed June’s, I am going to do the one that they have in August.

Technically you are supposed to start a new novel from scratch but I think that I am going to use the one in August to finish the one I started last November. Perhaps that will give me some focus and discipline and then I can finally complete this novel before moving on to the next one. Who knows, I might just finish this one and move on to another one that I already started earlier and finish that one up too. Discipline is extremely key to a writer’s work because without it you would just be all over the place with more stories going on than any one person can handle. Kind of like me!

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

I Don’t Like Looking At the Empty Calendar Squares

July 11, 2012 jcladyluv

I don’t like it when I feel a touch of envy. Not a bad envy (although I’m not really sure there is a good kind of envy) but the kind of envy that motivates you into actually doing something. Now you might be wondering, if it motivates me to get going again, then why wouldn’t I like it?

It can never be a bad thing to get re-motivated to do something that you know you should already be doing. That’s just it right there. I don’t like it because it’s something that I already know in the back of my mind, that I should be doing as it is and that I shouldn’t have to watch or read about other people doing it to get moving in that direction.

I was reading some other bloggers posts as I was doing some research for a project, and I kept reading about other writers having such busy schedules. Talk about going to conferences, and doing book signings, and interviews, and things of that nature; the things that I feel like I should be out there doing too.

It’s not as if I wouldn’t like to have a full calendar and to have to tell people that I have this book signing to do, or that conference to speak at, or this interview to give. In fact every year when I buy those desk calendars or day planners I can see in my mind the pages, one after the other, full of appointments and deadlines that just can’t be missed. And yet year after year those pages have gone blank, left unfilled, and more time passes.

I guess the only thing left to really figure out is when I am going to get around to filling those pages up. I suppose I would have to finish filling up the pages of the rest of my novel that is still undone, or finish one of the other projects that I am working on. It’s not easy to have those blank squares on the calendar taunting me with missed opportunities.

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

From One Struggling Writer to the Rest Who Think They Are Struggling Alone

July 9, 2012 jcladyluv

Sometime last week (it may have been the week before that) Ms. L sent me a link to a blog post titled Don’t Break the Chain by a wonderful blogger named Catherine Ryan Howard who I am now following (and you all should be too). Ms. L knows I have been struggling with finding the time to write and work on all things related to my writing business so she thought that this would be helpful. Well as usual, Ms. L always knows just what I need to read (and hear) to get me jump started again. Of course it helped to know that this post also helped Ms. L as well because I knew that I was not alone in my struggles to be productive in my writing efforts.

Well the blog post talked about many things in regards to one being more productive but more importantly it gave the idea of marking off days on a calendar with a red X for every day that you have accomplished your daily writing goals, whether it be actually writing or working on the business side of your writing career, and of course after so many days of seeing a chain of red X’s you get into the mode of not wanting to break that chain and having to see those X’s stare you in the face everyday becomes an incentive to actually get things done.

Well there is a website that helps with that, for those of us who don’t want to go out and buy a huge wall calendar to mark down the days. The website (once you register) will allow you to mark each day with a red square for every day that you have achieved your daily goals and you can even create other chains for you business efforts or whatever other goals you want to set. I signed up (almost immediately) and have found it to be extremely helpful.

I have actually been getting things done because I simply just don’t want to break the chains that I have created for myself. Who knew something so simple as marking off days on a calendar could be so helpful in keeping me focused and making me produce more work. I hope that any of you out there who is struggling with this very same issue clicks on the links to the websites and gets started on their road to becoming more productive.

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

Oh the Obstacles We Duck and Dodge While Investing In Our Future

June 6, 2012 jcladyluv

“If you make the investment up front, the return will come back later.”

~Bishop T.D. Jakes

As writers we go through many obstacles, if we’re lucky, before ever really hitting our stride in our career (and I say our, because I am speaking my future successes into existence even though it is not quite a reality yet). We go through tons of rejection, writer’s block, having doubters and negativity with anyone who doesn’t see the vision, and often times we are our own and biggest obstacle that stands in the way.

I was just talking to Ms. L. earlier and saying that I really wish that my journey to this success that I know I am destined for could be going a lot smoother and with a few less obstacles to stumble over. But then I quickly took that back because I remembered something I heard while listening to Bishop T.D. Jakes talk about living your life on purpose. He talked about making investments in your future, in your purpose, and how sometimes our mistakes and our struggles are our investments.

They are what make our successes all the more worthwhile. He said that sometimes “what you think is working against you is actually working for you” and that “it is the digression that causes the progression”. I suppose that is what is meant when people say what doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger (although it never feels like that when you’re going through whatever it is you’re going through). Our struggles are in many ways our fuel and motivation to keep going and to keep dodging those obstacles as they come.

Bishop T.D. Jakes also said that when it comes to making investments into your future “you can never reap of a dividend where you don’t make an investment—you sow first and reap later; you can’t sow and reap at the same time.” I suppose that I have to be a little more patient as I make my investments and have a little bit more faith that everything will work out the way that it should.

I can’t honestly say that all of the obstacles along my journey have not had their purpose. It may not have felt like it at that particular point in time, but looking back on them now, they all, in so many ways, served their purpose. I think that all of the struggles that we go through are simply just preparation for when our success comes to fruition. Then we’ll be able to say to anyone who has something to throw at us to bring it on because there won’t be anything that they have to hit us with that we can’t handle.

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”