Tag: writing

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If You Don’t Dream Big You Might As Well Not Dream At All

June 5, 2012 jcladyluv

“If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.”

~Lawrence J. Peter

I was reading a blog post by one of the bloggers I subscribe to today (Chersti Nieveen) about daring to dream. She spoke about a conversation she had with one of her critique friends about allowing yourself to believe whatever you want for five minutes, and then accept the reality of the situation. Basically allow yourself to dream big, as big as you wish, for five minutes, and then focus on what your reality is.

At first I was a little confused because it seemed like if you thought about everything you wanted for yourself and then you jolted yourself back to a reality that makes those dreams seem impossible then it would feel like a big let down. However, after thinking about her post for a while I think I realized what it was that she was trying to advise to her readers.

If you allow yourself to imagine all that you dream to have for your life, all the things that people will tell you are just not possible, and then tune back into the reality of where things stand, it can give you some focus on what needs to be done to make those visions you had for those five minutes become a reality.

When I took five minutes to think about what I dream of (to be honest I probably would need a little more than five minutes) it included many things but the main things are to sustain a living solely from my writing, to publish more novels, to have my articles start to appear in national magazines and newspapers, and to start my online magazine (Write 2 Be Magazine). Allowing myself to dream of the those things as if they were already in existence gave me a clearer focus on how to better go about attaining those things.

Sometimes I forget that it is okay to let myself think about the big bold dreams that I have for myself. The one’s that for so long seem so impossible to ever reach. It’s not crazy to think that you could actually make those dreams come true. It’s not that far fetched is it? After all, how can you ever really go after what it is you want without really admitting to yourself all of what it is that you want. Knowing where you want to end up only enables you to focus on the path you need to take 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

Smiling Through the Not Knowing of It All

June 4, 2012 jcladyluv

“Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain.”

~Author Unknown

You ever have those days where you sit and think about all of the things that are just not going the way that you expected them to. Where you are not where you thought you would be and you’re tired of trying so damn hard because it all seems like it just might be for nothing.

Today wasn’t a bad day for me necessarily but I had a conversation with someone who was talking about how much they doubted themselves at what they’re purpose was at one point in time and how they finally decided to move out of their own way and get hustling even if no one else believed in them.

It’s the way I used to be and the way I would love to be again but I just had that slight feeling of ‘what’s the point’ after having that conversation. I believe in me but to this very minute I still feel like I’m the only one that seems to believe that I am good enough at what I do to ever make a decent living at it. Ordinarily there is nothing wrong with being the only one who believes that you’re good at what you do, for a while that is.

The only thing is that with being a writer, there has to be someone else that believes you’re good enough eventually if you ever want to make a living at it. I don’t just mean the one person here and the one person there that comes around so sporadically that you can’t really call that a decent living, I mean the steady stream of people that are willing to take a chance on the belief that you have in yourself.

Well when I have one of those days, where I just want to throw in the towel on it all and simply give up I try to listen to music that motivates me and gets me back in the right frame of mind again. One of the best songs for me to listen to when I feel like giving up is Kirk Franklin’s ‘Smile’ because the lyrics of the course are just what I need to hear.

I Smile. Even though I hurt see I smile

I know God is working so I smile

Even though I’ve been here for a while, I smile.

Smile. It’s so hard to look up when you’ve been down.

Sure would hate to see you give up now.

You look so much better when you smile, so smile.

How can you not smile after hearing such lyrics? How can you want to give up after hearing those lyrics? How could you not feel motivated to do what God put in motion for you to be doing? After hearing that song everything seems to be put back in focus again. My purpose seems to be back front and center, where it should have always been.

The fact is that I would not just be letting myself down if I was to toss my dreams aside, but more importantly I would be letting God down as well. I just have to remember that just because I am down right now, just because I am not where I want to be right now, doesn’t mean that God isn’t still working on me and my life. I guess I keep forgetting that I am not the only one who believes in me and my gifts, because God believed in me first.

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

Who’s Still Afraid of Rejection? Oh Yeah, That Would Be Me

June 1, 2012 jcladyluv

“Believe in yourself and in your own voice, because there will be times in this business when you will be the only one who does. Take heart from the knowledge that an author with a strong voice will often have trouble at the start of his or her career because strong, distinctive voices sometimes make editors nervous. But in the end, only the strong survive.”

~Jayne Ann Krentz

Yes, I said it. As much as I try to convince others not to be afraid to go after what they want for their dreams and to not always be afraid that someone is going to say no, I have not yet been able to take my own advice. But isn’t that how it always goes? You tell someone to go for it, don’t be afraid, go big or go home, and all of those other motivating and encouraging things you say to your friends, that you whole heartedly mean when you’re saying them, yet somehow you still can’t apply that rule of thumb to you and your life’s dreams.

I can’t seem to move out of my own damn way. I keep putting it on my to do lists that I have to get these query letters to these national magazines that I’ve been dying to see my writing in, or the query letters to this list of agents that I want to possibly represent me, and yet when I go to type up the letters, or even just a simple letter of introduction, I get so caught up in trying to make them perfect. I’ll get the letters done but then when I go over them it just doesn’t scream perfection and I get worried about a rejection that hasn’t happened, and one that can’t if I don’t ever send the damn letters anywhere.

I can’t figure out why I always do this to myself. I know I’m not perfect and while you hear people always talking about pitching the perfect pitch and not sending imperfect query letters out, I know that all of them couldn’t have gotten it right all the time. Their letters couldn’t have always got them a guaranteed acceptance from the publication or agent of their choice. So why is it that I can’t get the notion of perfection out of my head?

It’s seriously holding me back and the truth of the matter is that the most imperfect query letter is the one that never gets seen by anyone. Next week I am going to make it my mission to get up the courage with being okay that I’m not perfect and that my letters most likely won’t be perfect, but at least they will be sent out, and at least, if they do get rejected by everyone I send them to, they were still seen.

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 Life You Breathe Into the Words That You Speak

May 30, 2012 jcladyluv

“As it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.”

~Romans 4:17

Words have a lot of power. Not just the words that we write down, but also the words that we speak. Not just to other people but the words that we tell ourselves. I was watching an interview between Dr. Wayne Dyer and Oprah Winfrey on her Super Soul Sunday show the other morning and he was speaking about the Art of manifestation and placing into our imagination who it is that we are and not stressing who it is that we are not.

That really hit me when he said that. No really, I was actually still asleep when the interview was on and I could hear the T.V. in my state of being still half sleep and half awake, but when I heard him say that it woke me up. I quickly sat up in my bed as I heard him talk about how people who constantly say I am depressed, I am sick, I am sad, I am broke, I am not good enough, are inadvertently breathing life into those words and those feelings. I thought to myself, I am one of those people.

Not because I ever wanted to be. Just because I think I spend way too much time professing the circumstances that I am stuck in instead of approaching it in the manner of claiming the end result. Something so simple as taking the phrase ‘I am broke’ out of your vocabulary, and claiming the prosperity that lies ahead of you and that is within your reach could change the journey for any one of us. Instead of reminding ourselves of what it is that we don’t have, or the not so positive feelings that we might be feeling, we have to lay claim to what it is that we want to be true.

It’s not that you should pretend that you are not depressed, rather that you can choose another thought to have. You can make the choice not to put into your imagination something that you don’t want to materialize. If I am feeling like I am just (as I felt all last week) not very much in the writing mood, and I breathe those words into life, then of course no writing is going to get done.

I am going to work very hard to start practicing those words of wisdom from Mr. Wayne Dyer in regards to manifesting what I want in my life by speaking it and making it so. I have to keep in mind that when God said that all things are possible through him, he didn’t mean some things and not others. He meant exactly what he said, ALL. I want to breathe life into much more positive ways of seeing things.

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 Trouble with (My) Time Management

May 29, 2012 jcladyluv

I have missed my blog in the last week that I have been absent from it and it was not my intention to not post anything for that length of time but I know that my problem is my many issues with managing my time. As I told you guys before I recently started my Masters program in Psychology so I have been trying to adjust my time to fit my school work in which makes it harder to find the time to write the way I want.

However, that is not a good enough reason for the lack of writing on my part lately because this is my dream and my passion and I know that if I want it bad enough (and I do) then I need to put in the work and the time to get it done without all of the excuses.

In a previous post I said that a writer must show up everyday, even when they do not necessarily feel the inspiration to write. Especially those writers that consider writing their business and career as well as their passion. I had intended to practice that but you know what they say about good intentions.

And just as I start to feel so guilty about not writing as consistently as I had planned to and I start using even my lack of writing as an excuse of why I feel too depressed to write, I start to think that I can’t be the only writer who has time management issues when it comes to trying to fit the whole world into the small window of 24 hours.

Well if any of my fellow writers out there have figured out the secret to managing their time and maintaining a decent level of productivity please clue me in on it because I am seriously losing the battle of managing my time over here.

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

Time Sure Does Fly When Your Goals Aren’t Being Met

May 11, 2012May 11, 2012 jcladyluv

The year so far has gone by so fast already. We are already in the month of May and I find myself feeling like I just want to hit the rewind button and begin this year all over again.

I had set out to do so many things this year and once again I am in another year of endless letdowns (some of my own making). I don’t know if it is that I set my goals for this year way too high or if I just didn’t bust my ass hard enough to make them happen by any means necessary (probably the latter).

I wanted to travel this year (nowhere specific, just anywhere to get out ofMaryland). I wanted to have my second novel in process of publication already and getting ready to make its debut to the world. I wanted to go to a vocal coach and get my voice back in shape because I wanted to make use of it before it’s too late. I wanted my freelance writing career to become a lot more successful then it has been and getting me to the level of income that allowed me to do the things I wanted to do this year.

So much time I have wasted worrying and stressing about the everyday necessary single mama type of things that there just wasn’t any energy left over for the things that I just want for me. I know that you are probably saying that it’s not too late, the year isn’t over just yet and that is true, but it’s hard for me, at this very moment, to see this year turning out the way I had hoped it would.

I could’ve sworn that this year was going to be my year. I could feel it deep down in the very pit of my soul. Were my gut instincts wrong? Was I thought off in my timing? Is it next year that I have to look forward to?

Well the year isn’t over yet and I do still have a lot of things I could still put in the works, at the very least, to begin the next year off with a good start. I just hope that I can still make the rest of this year that is left count for something.

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 Never Was the Best at Juggling Too Many Balls

May 9, 2012 jcladyluv

“In truth, people can generally make time for what they choose to do; it is not really the time but the will that is lacking.”
~Sir John Lubbock

Yesterday was the first day of the first class for my Master’s Program in Psychology. I have gone through both frustration and excitement about getting back into school for months now as I went through the enrollment process. It’s something that has always been on my life goal list and that I knew I would not be satisfied had I never completed it.

My excitement faded a little as I read over the syllabus and realized just how hard this was going to be. It’s not as if I expected it to be easy, I mean it’s a Master’s program so the expectations are automatically high. I guess the doubts just hit me as I read over all that had to be tackled in just the first class alone.

I began to wonder ‘why did I sign up for this’ and ‘what exactly did I get myself into’. I started to doubt whether I can really do this successfully. But of course you know the doubts eventually go away and while I am still wondering every other minute if I can handle such an intense program, I am not a quitter and there is no way I am going to turn back now.

The one thing about going back to school that works somewhat in my favor (sometimes it works against me) is that it forces me to have to be more organized in the managing of my time. With this being the Master’s program in which I can’t get anything lower than a B (although I’m striving for all A’s), my need for being better at multi-tasking is even greater now than ever before.

Not only do I have to juggle being a single mother and a struggling writer trying to become more successful with my Freelancing career, but I have to factor in school as well. This makes me have to come up with a time management plan that absolutely has to work because I can’t afford for it to fail.

Have I mentioned I was never good at juggling, hence my inability to master the art of time management in the most recent months. I suppose that I just happen to be one of those people that work better and more effectively when I am under pressure and on some kind of deadline. Well I am definitely going to deal with many deadlines from now until the time I finish my Master’s Degree (especially since I don’t plan to set aside my writing goals). I guess I have to learn to get a lot better at my juggling skills.

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

Scheduling Quality Writing Time

May 7, 2012 jcladyluv

“You don’t find time to write. You make time. It’s my job.”

~Nora Roberts

I was sitting at my desk today thinking about my projects that I am supposed to be working on. I was trying to figure out the best way to be productive in getting them done. I realized that it is actually going to have to come down to me making an actual schedule for me to work off of because at this point that is the only viable way that I think I am actually going to get any of my projects underway and completed.

I started remembering back to when I first began really writing. It started off with poetry when I was in elementary school and for the better part of my high school years. But towards the end of high school is when I first discovered that I was incredibly long-winded (thus not really good at the art of the short story) and decided that I was going to tackle writing novels. I didn’t need a schedule then.

I would just write for hours and hours on end. The words just wouldn’t stop flowing. It seemed like at that point of my life I had all the time in the world to write and there was no need to make a schedule just to find the time to pen (or type in some cases) the different stories I wanted to write.

I suppose I was naïve to think that it would always be like that. Where my drive and passion to write would just magically create this time to still write for hours at a time without ever noticing how fast the time has flown by.

I guess I am apprehensive about having to schedule my writing time because I’m afraid that that would somehow mean that I wouldn’t be seen as the natural writer that I feel I am. But I know that I’ve read many articles where even some of the greatest writers (in which I aspire to reach their level of productivity) have well thought out comprehensive schedules to amass all of that productivity.

It’s odd that I am a person who loves making lists and schedules for everything but when it comes down to my writing I just want it to be as natural as it can be. However, the natural go with the flow method doesn’t seem to be working out as well as I would like. Although if I can become as productive in putting out novel after novel like Joyce Carol Oates, James Patterson, or Sue Grafton, then I suppose having to schedule my writing would have been well worth the change.

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 Superficial World We Live In

May 4, 2012 jcladyluv

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

~Confucius

Can you imagine living without money? I mean without one penny to your name? No roof over your head. No food aside from what people willingly give you or you can find in the garbage. I’m talking about back to the living off the land days where you’re picking berries and boiling dead animals for food (that is if no one gives you any). Better yet can you imagine living this way and being completely happy about it?

Well I came across a story on the internet about a 51 year old man named Daniel Suelo who claims that not only is he broke, but happily, deliberately, and blessedly broke. I clicked on it because just the thought of it sounded completely insane to me but in reading it I can see the validity of his choice.

Having said that, I can not say that I would make a conscious choice to just give up what little money I do have to my name and go roughing it in the wilderness somewhere (if you know me at all, you know I’m not the outdoor type—not even a little bit). However, I understand his position.

The world, especially in recent generations, is so overly consumed with things and what they can possess and acquire. It’s so bad sometimes that you start to wonder just what lengths people would go to, and how many people they would walk over, just to get their hands on something incredibly superficial. People concern themselves so much with the latest ipad (or whatever new piece of technology is out), or how many cars they have, or having the flashiest car, or the biggest home.

But yet we have a huge problem with children in this country and others literally starving to death, schools that don’t have adequate materials to teach our children to the best of their abilities, teenage girls who think it’s cute and fun to have a baby at the ripe age of sixteen or seventeen (sometimes younger than that). It makes me wonder where our priorities are and does this Daniel Suelo have the right idea (or at least the right intentions).

I may not have some prestigious career (at least not until I make the NY Times Bestseller’s List) and I may not be raking in money hand over fist like a lot of people but I guess when I really think about it, my blessings are worth far more than material possessions. I think there is really something to the saying that the more money that we have, the more problems we see because I think it makes people focus even more so on possessing things they don’t even need.

Maybe we do need to get back to the basics and see the blessings in the simple things, the most treasured things that some people would die to have. There are children in other countries who can’t even get an education and we take ours for granted. There are families starving and homeless yet the majority of this country just focuses on how much bigger house they can get for their money, or how fancier their car can be, or eating the most expensive kinds of food, instead of being grateful that they even have a house and a car, and food to eat.

Now I’m not in any way saying that we should just chuck it all and purposely live in the state of poverty because God only knows that I couldn’t go that simple. However, maybe we should take a look at what it is we truly have and are blessed with before complaining about things that we don’t truly need. Maybe the world would be a lot less superficial if we just remembered how good we had it even when we only had the basics. Sometimes less really is more.

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”