Tag: writing

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Romanticized Notions of Being a Writer

January 12, 2012 jcladyluv

When I was a little girl and first dreamed of being a writer I just thought of all of the wonderful stories that I wanted to tell and all of them would have happy endings. When I was ten and started to write poetry to essentially pour my heart out on the page I realized that I had something other then fairy tale stories inside me and that there was a poet in there. When I realized how long winded I could be in my storytelling and that I had some really unique stories to tell in the form of novels I dreamed of being on the New York Times Best-Seller’s list.

No where in any of my romanticized dreams of becoming various versions of a writer did I factor in the business side of it all. In my daydream I had a wonderful agent who got me this wonderful five book deal with Random House and of course once the first five are done they option me for another five book deal. Of course because it’s Random House all of the marketing and getting my author name to known as a household name to book lovers everywhere is taken care of by their in house marketing team. Never did I plan on trying to do this myself or that it would be so incredibly hard to get an agent. Never did I factor in having to market myself.

Writing is for the creative and the imaginative but it is also indeed a business. You can only romanticize the idea of being a writer for so long before coming to terms with the fact that only about 25% of your time (if that) will be spent actually writing and the rest will be spent on the business of getting yourself out there. No one is going to know your name, your work, your talent, if you don’t put yourself out there and hustle for that recognition.

Of course when you are out there and everyone knows who you are and you make enough to outsource your marketing efforts, (which is definitely in my plan) then that is certainly a good option but you have to put in your fair share of work first. I am still a work in progress on this aspect but I know that if I don’t step my game up and market myself as if my life depended on it (because it actually does) then I won’t get where I want to be, where I need to be. My romanticized notions of being a writer are certainly gone now (at least until I get that five book deal) and now it’s time to get down to the business of really being a writer and a media mogul. Until tomorrow…Have you tapped into your business side yet?

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

What is There to Wait For?

January 10, 2012January 10, 2012 jcladyluv

“Waiting is a trap. There will always be reasons to wait. The truth is, there are only two things in life, reasons and results, and reasons simply don’t count.”

~Dr. Robert Anthony

When someone in the gym this morning asked why I didn’t wait for them to go start my running I simply said I’m not waiting for anyone this year. It got me to thinking about just how much time I have spent (or rather wasted) waiting around for something or someone. It seems like I was always the one that would wait for people to come along, or come around and who in turn wanted people to wait around for me.

I guess I must have had some sort of revelation when this year kicked into gear because my attitude became one of not wanting to wait around for anyone anymore, or for anything to just happen. Not even waiting around for the other shoe to drop as I typically do as well. How many minutes or hours do people spend just waiting? I am tired of waiting for other people, or even having people waiting for me to do something that they already know they need to do.

Now I am not speaking of every single aspect of your life but when it comes to doing something that you know has to get done, don’t sit around waiting, not even for that person that said they were going to be right there alongside you. I wish I could get back all of the time that I’ve wasted waiting around for something to happen, waiting for someone to get their act together, waiting for someone to give me great opportunities to exercise the talent that I possess, even waiting for inspiration to just strike (as I posted about yesterday).

The fact of the matter is that I can’t just sit and wait because there isn’t anymore time for that. Too much time has already gone by. Now it’s time to get my butt into high gear and get busy making what I want happen and not waiting around letting opportunities just fall through the cracks. Until tomorrow…Can you count how much time you’ve wasted just waiting around?

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

Looking for Inspirational Surroundings

January 9, 2012 jcladyluv

I am sitting in the corner of my room that is designated as ‘my office’ and looking at my empty bulletin board and I am not feeling inspired at the moment. I run into this problem at the beginning of every year. I want to put new and inspiring things up on my bulletin board but I don’t quite know what to put up there. I have some pictures up surrounding the bulletin board but I’m thinking about changing them. I am trying not to let the lack of inspiration in front of my desk stop me from being productive but it is easier said than done.

I had a battle with procrastination today and I think that procrastination may have won this one. I think that I am going to take a little time this evening to finally fill my bulletin board and the walls around my desk area full of inspiration and try again tomorrow to be my most productive self. I guess every day can’t always be a good writing day. Until tomorrow…What inspiration is surrounding you in your office?

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

Taking Care of You

January 6, 2012 jcladyluv

Ms. L reminded me of something tonight; that you can’t take care of everyone else if you don’t first make time to take care of yourself. I have a hard time doing that. I had a conversation earlier today with someone about not knowing what to do with myself during the time that my daughter is with her father. I mean I know how to make use of the time when she’s in school because after dropping her off and going to the gym everyone morning (which is probably the only thing that I really do to take care of me) I am only left with a small amount of time before having to get her from school. But when she goes away to her dad’s house and spends the night I am left with all of this time and I don’t know what to do with it.

I mean sure I write and do housework but I don’t really do anything that is solely just for the sake of having fun (or pampering myself). It’s almost like I forgot how to be me. I’m just a mom and a writer. I don’t really know how to be anyone else. It’s programmed in me and I suppose I have to search and find that something that is just for me, just for my benefit, so that I can feel like I’m being taken care of too (and if I have a little fun along the way that’s good too).

For anyone out there is feels so caught up in what they do for a living and being someone’s parent, find a way to take care of you this year. You deserve to feel pampered and you deserve to have fun (fun outside of the kids) too. It’s time to take care of you so that you can be able to better take care of the ones you love around you. Until tomorrow…Try putting yourself first every once and a while.

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

Having Faith in the Bigger Picture

January 5, 2012 jcladyluv

“No matter how steep the mountain – the Lord is going to climb it with you.”

~Helen Steiner Rice

I am not a stranger to struggle. I have been knocked down time and time again and even when I get back up sometimes I get knocked right back down within seconds, but I just keep on getting right back up. 2011 inparticular was a really bad year for me, quite possibly the worst I’ve had, but yet I find myself optimistic for the coming year of 2012. I heard someone earlier say that this year doesn’t feel any different than the last year but I disagree. For some reason, to me, this year feels like it will be the beginning of bigger and better things that are to come for me. Maybe it’s just the optimist in me. Maybe it’s just sheer faith in God and in the person that he created me to be.

Every time I go through something my mom constantly asks me how I can be so calm and nonchalant and not be worried about whatever it is. I tell her that I just have faith that God has got my back and that I’m not walking this journey alone as long as I am doing what he asks of me. In reality what I want to say is that I am worried (terrified really) when things start going wrong and that I am not really calm about it, deep inside I am panicking. However, I realize more and more that I have a lot more faith than even I thought I had. Of course I worry but I don’t think that I am nearly as terrified about things going wrong as I probably should be.

It’s because I have so much faith. Not only do I have an enormous amount of faith in God, but I have faith that he knows where I will end up (it is his plan after all) and just the trials and tribulations that I need to go through to get me there. Everything I come up against challenges me but it also strengthens me and obstacle by obstacle I realize that I am stronger than I ever thought I could be.

For anyone who knows me, they know that I am not the religious type, per say. I don’t go to church (although deep down I feel I probably should) but I am a very spiritual person. I don’t always get why certain struggles have to be placed on my shoulders and I admit that I get frustrated because I am that person who likes to know that everything is going be alright and hopefully that it will have a happy ending. However, because I can’t fully see what God’s plan for me is and I don’t know what will be the end result of his journey for me, I have no other choice but to walk the path that he has laid out with faith. God has already brought me through so much already, so I have to have faith that he will bring me through the rest.

My message today is for you to have faith. Even in times of struggle. Even if there is nothing that is going the way you want it to. Even if nothing that is happening to you makes sense. Even if you feel like you can’t get back up and you want to just quit. Even when you can no longer see the bigger picture for yourself. You have to have faith. We are human and we will worry but in the end you should know that God will never let you down. Until tomorrow…Have faith that you are stronger than your greatest obstacles!

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

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

No Excuses Allowed (Anymore)

January 4, 2012 jcladyluv

“Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.”

~Don Wilder

I was in the gym this morning and one of the guys in there (who hadn’t been there for about two weeks) strolled in to a barrage of questions from everyone else in the weight room. In our gym we look after one another and we definitely hold everyone accountable to what they say they want to accomplish by coming there. So this particular person constantly comes in the gym speaking about how he plans on being more consistent and then he will disappear for about a week. When he comes back in he talks about all of the things that threw him off of his plan to be consistent and the mistakes that he made in his diet that made him feel too guilty to come back to the gym on a regular basis. We tell him the same thing time after time. That it doesn’t matter the mistakes he made in his own plan, or that he got off track. What matters is that he corrects the mistakes and gets it together. In one ear and out the other our words go every time.

Today, for every excuse he gave me, I simply said to him “this is the year for no excuses”. He responded by saying “but I fell off, I messed up”. I told him that it doesn’t matter that you ‘fell off’ or that you made mistakes in your own plan, what will make those mistakes matter is if you give those mistakes power by never correcting them. He asked me “well haven’t you ever made mistakes in your diet and messed up and then felt guilty about it?” and I said ‘sure I mess up in my diet because I’m an emotional eater, and I’ve missed more than one or two days at the gym but I don’t feel guilty about it because I know that I am going to correct it and eventually I do’.

Now this conversation may just be in reference to going to the gym and maintaining a healthy regimen but the message applies to everyday life as well. We all make mistakes that we feel guilty about and we sometimes think that we can’t come back from whatever mistake it is but the reality is that we can and using those mistakes then becomes more of an excuse. Not one person walking this earth is perfect or goes without making one single mistake. Sometimes what makes the mistakes worse than what they really are is the fact that we keep repeating them and never do what needs to be done to correct them.

I think that sometimes we should celebrate the fact that we are imperfect beings because it will be those imperfections that strengthen our character and our determination to do the things that we were put here to do. Those imperfections allow us to realize that while we may fall down, we most certainly have the strength to get back up. So for the year of 2012, let’s try to take the attitude that we won’t make any excuses, nor will we accept any. If we make a mistake, don’t let that very mistake be a reason that we don’t correct our actions. So you fell down, so what. Sit up, get your bearings together, dust yourself off, and get back up again. It will only stay a mistake if you don’t do anything to correct it. Until tomorrow…Rejoice in your imperfections, they are apart of what makes you who you are!

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 Other Version of Me

January 3, 2012 jcladyluv

There is another side of me. I would refer to her as my other personality but then people would get the wrong idea and suddenly think that I am crazy and need to be committed (some days they might be right). Now while I do find myself communicating with my characters from one novel or another on a regular basis, I do not hear voices and speak to them and I don’t think that I have a twin version of myself that I talk to at night. But there is another version of myself that I am referring to when I speak about my other self. I am talking about the version of me that I feel that I should be by now, the version of me that I see myself becoming in the not so distant future.

That version of me is already living inManhattan,New Yorkand is on the New York Times Bestseller’s list for three out of her four published novels. She goes on at least eight book signing tours a year (and that would be a slow year). She speaks to elementary, middle, and high schools on the importance of not bullying their peers and emphasizing the impact that the bullying has on the victims. She also speaks at multiple writing seminars and networking events about nurturing the craft of writing. She has two thriving online magazines, one of which comes out in print on a quarterly basis; both of which are produced and published through her publishing company.

Her media empire would be continuously producing movies, television shows, and stage plays that promote self-confidence and self-esteem, empower women of all races, and emphasize the message of people being at peace with themselves and believing that they have the right to be (Write 2 Be) who they are; a Media empire that will eventually give Tyler Perry a run for his money. She will finally get out of her own way and start singing back up for her best friend Ms. L as she goes on her many tours and perhaps will even sing solo in small venues around town. She will be in the process of accumulating funding for her non-profit creativity camp for kids (Write 2 Be Creativity Camp) that will help promote and encourage the importance and development of the arts in children. Last but certainly not least, she will be making moves to begin opening up her local bookstore that will be like no other bookstore. Whew! This woman is busy!

It sounds like a lot, I know, but this is the version of me that I am striving to be and who I believe that I was meant to be. I know that it will take more than one year to get to that version of myself but 2012 is definitely going to be the year in which I begin to clear the path of all of the self-made obstacles that I have created over the years. It is going to be the year in which I am going to take clear and calculated steps that will further me in my efforts to becoming that person. The other version of myself (the one I want to be) is standing on the other side of a very long bridge and this year I am making my way over to her. What a journey I am sure it will be. I guess when I reach her I will let you know. What does your “other self” look like to you? Until tomorrow…Are you who you always thought you would be? If not, what’s stopping you?

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

My Writer Wish List

December 30, 2011 jcladyluv

I was thinking about all of the things that I would have loved to have gotten for Christmas. Not extravagant things, not a whole closet full of clothes (maybe just 1 new pair of jeans), not a lot of jewelry, and not expensive shoes (okay maybe just 1 inexpensive pair). The things that I would’ve liked for Christmas are all pertaining to my craft of writing. Well Christmas has come and gone and I still have my Writer Wish List without anything being crossed off so I guess that just adds another list of things that I need to strive for in the year 2012 to be able to obtain. Today I thought I would share my Writer Wish List with all of you, somewhat as a way to hold myself to the task of achieving some, if not all, of the items on the list.

A yearly subscription to the ‘Writer’s Digest’ Magazine and ‘The Writer’ Magazine so I won’t miss one single issue.
A New Laptop that doesn’t go as slow as molasses and would be able to hold some of the software that I would also like to get.
Six month’s supply of printing cartridges so I won’t run out of ink for at least that length of time.
A gift card to either a book store or an office supply store.
A set of pretty purple pens (that seems to be my favorite color to write with even though my personal favorite color is blue).
A year supply of coffee (the good stuff while we’re at it).
A stack of empty journals/notebooks with pretty covers.
The Scrivener software for writers as well the Adobe Creative Suite software.
An Agent
A new batch of customized business cards to pass out and bring in some new clients.

So that’s my Writer wish list for the New Year. So what are some of your most needed items on your Writer wish list? Until tomorrow…Hope you have all of your lists ready for 2012.

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 Says Writing is Not a Job?

December 29, 2011 jcladyluv

“Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.”
~Gloria Steinem

After finishing up my walk/run on the treadmill in the gym this morning I began talking to two fellow gym members and we were watching The Wendy Williams Show (no one bothers to turn the T.V. channel after the news goes off) and this morning the Braxton family were the guests today. Now despite saying that I would never watch that mess during the first season (because I hate most reality TV shows), I accidentally ended up watching it one night and I was immediately hooked and have been watching ever since. There’s so much about the Braxton family that I learned in watching their show and it is extremely entertaining to say the least.

Needless to say, one of the sisters, Towanda, is separated from her husband and she talked about that today on The Wendy Williams Show and that one of the main reasons that they are separated is because he doesn’t have a job. Now because I watch the show I know that her husband is a writer, albeit a struggling writer, but a writer nonetheless. He just self-published his first book and already has himself lined up for several media and book events so he is soon about to take off. However, because the fruits of his labor have not been seen yet, he is still seen as the man with no job.

I take great issue with this because that implies that writing is not a job. This sparked some mild debate with my two gym buddies because initially they felt as if I was attacking them. After making it clear that I was not directly referring to them, I expressed how I am constantly hearing that about writers. It’s as if you say you’re a writer and people then say oh, but what is your job. That is my job. I AM A WRITER! It takes time, discipline, determination, persistence, and sheer willpower to put in the work to write a book and then do everything else that it takes to get that book published and then make it successful. Writing is no small feat and I am getting really tired of people who dismiss it as simply a hobby or something that someone with an actual job does on the side.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are people with skilled jobs or even other major career paths who do in fact write on the side and I am not trying to take anything away from them. But you do have those people who are not better suited for a regular, skilled, 9 to 5, type of job because it would simply just take away from doing what it is that they were truly meant to do. I am one of those people. I have had regular jobs and I have once thought about taking up a particular skilled job that I could make a career out of but I just simply am not built that way. I was born to be a writer and while I do not currently have what other people would consider a job, I feel that everyday that I sit down to my computer and write on my blog, or write an article for some online publication, or send out my queries to national magazines for my articles, or send out queries to agents for representation, or work on my novels, or edit someone else’s novel, that I am doing my JOB.

I don’t make as much (right now) that I would like to be making and I do struggle at times without having that steady stream of bi-weekly income to come into my household but I don’t regret not going out there and seeking typical employment. I do what I love and I am home for my daughter when she gets home from school to help her with homework and for whatever else her needs are. I feel like people who just choose to write for a living with no additional methods of income get a really bad wrap. Out of work Actors don’t get told that they are no longer considered Actors because they are not currently making a steady stream of income, no they are still Actors, so what is so different about being a writer? I don’t knock anyone that does go to work in the morning and comes home and parents their children and then if they want to write, sit and write at night. I think that it is admirable and very tough to do, but everyone is not built that way. I know that I was never good at it and frankly it made me quite miserable and at times unbearable to deal with.

I suppose that I am writing to all of those writers out there who might at times be feeling guilty about making the choice to either quit their regular jobs or just not seek another one altogether to focus on their writing. If you feel that writing is your purpose and what you were meant to do, if you feel that you are truly doing God’s work, then go for it. You will struggle, you will get frustrated, you will be looked at funny, you will get rejected, but in the end, when your goal is accomplished and you get to where you always envisioned yourself being, then it will all be worth it. Until tomorrow…Be brave enough to do what’s in your heart and commit yourself to following through.

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”