Tag: writing

Are You Waiting for the Muse To Strike?

jcladyluv

“It is by sitting down to write every morning that one becomes a writer.”

~Gerald Brenan~ 

There are a lot of notions and fantasies about being a writer.  The idea of waiting for the muse to suddenly walk into your atmosphere and only writing when inspired is a nice way to look at the life of a writer and a very nice fantasy.  It’s the way I looked at writing once upon a time, largely due to the fact that at one point in my life it seemed as if the muse never left me and I was always inspired in one way or another.  I never had a problem with only writing when inspiration struck because with me it always seemed to strike.  It was when the muse left and the inspiration was no longer an everyday occurrence that I started to wonder, “If the inspiration isn’t there and the muse is gone and I am not writing at a steady flow, can I still consider myself a writer?”  

There are still those writers’ who are always inspired and the muse seems to always be there for them and that is a wonderful thing.  But that alone is not the only thing makes a person a writer.  A person can still be a writer even if it means them having to appoint a designated time to write and put together a schedule of the projects that they need to work on.  Scheduling a time to write does not remove the artistic creativity in writing like so many people seem to think.  I mean if you think about it, that makes more sense doesn’t it?  A person who makes a living as a freelance writer can not simply wait to be inspired.  They have to make a plan of action and follow through with it or they don’t make a living.  

When I think of all of the time I have wasted waiting for some miraculous moment of inspiration to just jump up and hit me, I try not to think about the amount of novels I could’ve finished, or all of the magazines that I could’ve queried by now, or all of the many ideas I could have made come into fruition.  What makes a writer is someone who puts tenacity and determination behind their drive to write and sitting in that chair behind that desk in front of that computer even though the words might not come that day.  

Well if you are out there, sitting around and waiting for your muse and inspiration to suddenly strike like lightening, I am going to tell you that while you are waiting your ideas are going to waste.  Your characters are going to stop speaking to you, and the stories that they are trying to tell you are disappearing and losing ground.  While you are waiting, the ideas for those articles that you want to pitch to those prestigious magazines are being written by someone else who knew better then to wait.  The screenplays that you are dreaming about writing are already being written by some other writer and you will no doubt be seeing them on the big screen wishing you had woken up out of your sleep and put those ideas down on paper.  

It’s always nice when you can get inspired by something or someone and when you can find that perfect moment of uninterrupted inspiration.  But how many novels could you have written while you were waiting for that moment?  How many magazines could you have seen your articles placed in waiting for that one thing that inspires you to sit down and write?  Shouldn’t seeing your name in print be inspiration enough?  It is for me.  Until next time….make every moment count, even the uninspired ones!  

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

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

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

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

In the Land of Writer’s Block

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For a long time I thought that writer’s block was simply a person being unable to write anything at all and unable to come up with ideas for things to write about.  While that is an aspect of the term writer’s block.  I didn’t think of the alternative which was that a person would be able to write, just not producing anything worth publishing. 

For a few months now I have been able to come up with ideas, research projects, and even create details for my writing projects for when I get back to actually writing.  The problem was that I wasn’t feeling motivated to actually write.  It was simply a bad case of letting life’s road blocks get in my way and affect my inspiration. 

Even as I am writing this and trying to get back into the swing of things I still feel somewhat blocked.  I mean I am beginning to feel more motivated and inspired to write and I am actually able to produce some wonderful work worth sharing when I get ready but I still feel that in many ways I am not back to my old self, full of inspiration and letting the muse take me on it’s many journey’s.  I still feel somewhat blocked. 

I am not sure which one is worse, being blocked in a way of not being able to create anything whatsoever, or being blocked in the sense of I can produce work but have it not be worth showcasing or up to your own expected standard of work.  I guess I’ll have to get back to you on that one once I figure it out.  Well I’m off to trying to be more productive today.  Until next time, be blessed!!! 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://spokenlikeaqueen.wordpress.com/

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

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

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

Planting the Seeds of Motivation

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“A guy says, ‘I wish someone would come by and turn me on.’ What if they don’t show up?  The best motivation is self-motivation.” 

~Jim Rohn, US motivational speaker 

I haven’t written anything here in a while and it was a break from writing that I hadn’t expected to take.  Somehow I have been letting stress and worry, and a little bit of fear, get in the way of my love of writing and my motivation to progress within my writing career and continue moving steadily forward.  I stalled.  I sat at the computer and stared at blank pages with the pages taunting me with their white empty space.  I tried for a while and I just couldn’t get inspired and the words just wouldn’t come.  

Now the whole time I was unable to write was not completely wasted because I did do research on some projects that I have on my list to start working on but I still felt quite unproductive.  Finally I realized that my stress and fear was increasing and that I couldn’t continue to toss my writing aside in hopes that the stress and fear would go away sooner rather than later.  I started to actually research things like what to do for lack of motivation and how to get motivated again.  

Guess what?  There is not magical cure for writer’s block due to depression and that there is no one right answer of how to move past it.  One piece of the same advice from many different successful and accomplished writers that stuck with me was that even when you don’t feel like writing, make a schedule and write anyway.  So I wrote out a list for all of the projects that I want to work on and get done and then I mapped out the week and began to decide what projects to work on and on what days to work on them.  

Now I don’t know if this is going to work and how well of a job I am going to do at sticking to the schedule that I set out to do but I do know that this blog post that I am writing at this very moment was the first thing of my schedule to do today and as you see I have completed that task.  All I can do is take this one day at a time and hope that I do what I set out to do.  

I guess I just always thought that it would be like it was when I was a little younger, where the words just flowed out of me and I had to actually stop myself from writing because otherwise I would’ve never slept.  Inspiration and the motivation to write was never a problem.  I hadn’t planned on life getting in the way and throwing me off my path.  

Now I am learning that sometimes inspiration and motivation aren’t just going to show up and tap me on the shoulder and the words can’t always flow that easily.  No matter what I still have to write because honestly I can’t see myself being happy doing anything else.  I am planting my own seeds of motivation and now I am going to work on steadily moving forward because I can’t afford to take any more steps back.    

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://spokenlikeaqueen.wordpress.com/

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

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

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

No Matter How Hard It Gets

jcladyluv

“No one will ever see me quit, because I simply won’t. If I start something, I will finish it and do it well.”
~Steve Belmarsh 

I was thinking the other day about whether or not all of this time I have been trying to pursue my dreams of writing full time, owning my own publishing company, and magazine, I have just been kidding myself into thinking that I can really do this.  Maybe I’ve just been kidding myself that I am good enough to do this.  I mean I know I can write and that isn’t the problem.  It’s all of the other stuff that goes along with forging a successful writing career and becoming a successful entrepreneur, like being techno-savvy, and most importantly being able to put the money into it.  I think that I may have been kidding myself to think that sheer talent was all that it would take to turn my dreams into reality and that money was secondary because as much as I would like to think that money is not necessary when you have the talent and the drive, that is far from the truth.  

In the midst of this negative line of thinking that I try not to let get to me I was reminded of a song the other day from the movie The Five Heartbeats called “We Haven’t Finished Yet”.  In the first line of the song it talks about the fact that there are some people who run at the first sight of stormy weather and some people hold on and work it out.  I had to stop and think, “I’m not a quitter”, I don’t run just because something doesn’t work out the way I want it to, that just isn’t me at all.  The song made me think about how sometimes we just have to deal with things the way they are at the present moment and not get so caught up in the way that we wish that things could be.  True, things are not going the way I had hoped they would, but that just means I’m going to have to find other avenues to take towards making my dreams a reality.    

There are always going to be more days that I just want to throw my hands up and say forget it and just give up but I feel like if I give up now I’ll be missing out on my blessing that may be just around the corner.  The devil has really been working on my spirit and making me have all kinds of doubts about myself and my dreams and what contribution I can make to this world.  It’s funny how he seems to know just what buttons to push to make you start to go down the wrong path.  It’s even funnier just how strong you have to be to get back on the right one.  When I get to thinking that I can’t do this and I should just give up I’m going to remember the Five Heartbeats movie and think about that song and that “No matter how hard it gets” I’m not finished yet.  

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://spokenlikeaqueen.wordpress.com/

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

Writing in the Reality of the Moment

jcladyluv

“Reality isn’t the way you wish things to be, nor the way they appear to be, but the way they actually are.”

~Robert J. Ringer

I am a writer of many things.  Fiction of all types, poetry, articles that motivate and uplift, and articles that are meant to inform.  No one who writes, unless they particularly write nothing but children’s fairytales, is going to always produce things that are considered motivating and uplifting.  Some things that people write are just real.  It comes from a place of reality and living in the present moment and in the knowledge of knowing that, as much as we would like it to be true, every moment of people’s lives is not going to always be happy and uplifting and completely void of negative obstacles.  That’s just not the reality of things.  

So when someone tells me that an article that I wrote to be informative and educate people, who may or may not know certain aspects of a health related disease, is stemming from a place of darkness and negativity it makes me want to literally curse them out and throw something, preferably at them.  This particular person would like me to write of nothing but motivating and uplifting things and speak of absolutely nothing that might be negative.  That’s not real for me.  

For one I don’t consider the article that I wrote, “The Rise of Lung Cancer in Non-smoking women”, to be dark and negative.  It simply is meant to inform people on things they may not even know concerning the disease.  I was informed just by researching the subject.  Secondly, I don’t feel like I have to be placed in this box as a writer of only writing and producing motivational articles.  I like to write a little bit of everything but most importantly I like to keep whatever I write (except for fiction) very real. 

The funny thing to me is that someone making that type of comment to me appeared and came off as completely negative.  As if they were someone just trying to get me riled up and trying to plant seeds of doubt or self consciousness in my mind.  It’s almost as if they somehow thought that this would make me just all of a sudden change my style of writing and the things that I put out there for the world to see.  

Truthfully it did make me angry but it didn’t deter me from writing my way and on my terms.  I write from the heart, whatever way I happen to feel, whatever information I want to convey or educate people with.  While I do love when people like what it is that I have written, I write for me first and for the world second.  Now maybe that’s wrong in some people’s eyes but if I wrote to try and please everyone else then I may possibly be the one who is not pleased with what I am writing and then I am no longer writing for the sheer love of writing.  

My words to the world of writers today is to always stay true to who you are in your writing.  Everyone is not going to like what you have to say but the important thing is that you say it, however you want to say it.  Write for the moment you are living in and from the place you are coming from.  Don’t ever let anyone else dictate what your voice as a writer should be. 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://freemynd.wordpress.com/

http://spokenlikeaqueen.blogspot.com/ 

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

www.authorsden.com/jimmettacarpenter

 

Staying the Course

jcladyluv

“When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place.”

~ Unknown

 Often times in life while trying to strive toward our dreams and make them come true we tend to get off track and stray from the course.  We start to lose momentum and seem to forget what matters the most.  We lose focus and let other things and people become more important and change the direction in which we are going.    So when do we reprioritize our lists of goals and finally get focused enough to turn them into the reality that we want them to be?  

Apart of staying focused on moving forward with your future involves letting go of certain things from your past.  Sometimes we don’t realize that we tend to hold onto what hinders us the most because we like what feels familiar and comfortable.  In order to stay focused you have to be willing to put other things that are not conducive to you achieving your ultimate goal aside.  You have to come to the realization that whether we want them to or not people and circumstances do change and the people that we re-route our lives for may not be going in the same direction. 

How our life ends up depends on how driven we are to get what we want out of it.  However that involves knowing exactly what it is that you want and what it’s going to take to get there.  Being focused takes practice and action and the process begins in the mind.  Once you’ve set your goal than all that’s left is putting it in motion and if you act like you already have what you want you’ll feel as if you’ve already succeeded.  You have to have the confidence that you will attain your dreams because without that confidence you’ll start to let in the doubt.  

Being focused is a journey in which you have to keep learning and practicing along the way.  You’re directions and paths may change and you may even get sidetracked from time to time but you can’t get distracted when what you’ve always wanted could be right within your reach.  Its hard to just throw caution to the wind and toss out all of the things that are familiar to you but if you want to get the best out of your life than you have to take action every day because there’s no time to waste. Actions speak louder than words, and nothing in life ever just happens. 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://freemynd.wordpress.com/

http://spokenlikeaqueen.blogspot.com/ 

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

www.authorsden.com/jimmettacarpenter

Are You Just Another Busy Body?

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Procrastination is opportunity’s assassin. 

~Victor Kiam 

How serious are you about your art and exactly how much are you willing to sacrifice to invest something in it? 

More and more everyday I am reminded of just how short life really is and as a writer I get to thinking about how much time I waste on a daily basis doing things that are not going to help me get to where I need to be in life.  With the hours that I have spent watching television that was not necessary to watch I could’ve literally written quite a few novels by now.  The same goes for the hours that I have spent on the telephone with non-productive idle chit chat.  

It seems as though I am always busy yet somehow I still feel like I don’t get anything done, or at least not as much as I should.  While I am productive to an extent I certainly have begun to realize that my output could be so much more then what it is.  But I have come to a reality that just because someone is busy being busy doesn’t mean that they are being productive. 

One of the two key elements in trying to remain productive is time management and using the time that you have available in the most efficient way is a crucial component and affects just how productive you are or can be.  It’s really easy to let life’s little distractions turn into excuses as to why you’re not actually working towards what you want but those excuses don’t get you any closer to what it is that you are trying to accomplish.  You have to know your limits and be more realistic about your time.  While you do need to establish a routine to effectively balance the workload that you have you can not create a schedule that works if you don’t manage your time well thus knowing how much time to designate to any given task. 

You also have to know your distractions and how to avoid them.  For example my distraction is television.  I have come to understand that for me to produce the amount of work I feel I should be putting out I need to go somewhere where there is not a television so I have adjusted to going to the library or a coffee shop in order to get my writing done.  Everyone’s distractions are different but you need to recognize them and adjust them according to the time that you have available.  Productivity begins with you having an awareness of what works and what doesn’t. 

Another key element in productivity is prioritizing.  You have to know what you want most in order to know what to do first.  You also have to know your goals before you can productively meet them.  If it takes you making a list so that you can better visualize what it is that you need to do in order to meet those goals then it’s time to pick up your pen and get writing.  Most of us don’t have a problem coming up with things that we want to get done but when we try to keep everything in our head that’s when it can get overwhelming.  A little organization and prioritizing of your time can go a long way.  Once you have that list written out you can become more organized about how to achieve those goals and assessing their levels of priority which will make your output that much greater.  

Time is very precious and valuable and if you don’t use it well and do what needs to be done in the amount of time that you have then you are wasting time that you will not get back again.  Saying you are too busy is not going to get things accomplished because the truth of the matter is that if you were busy doing what needed to be done then you wouldn’t be scrounging around for the time to do it.  

Look at what it is that you are so busy doing and evaluate it.  What is it in your “busy” day that can be cut out?  How much of what you do can be eliminated from your schedule to allow for the necessary things.  Learn how to manage your time because if you don’t you’re just going to wake up one day wondering to yourself where did all the time go and how come I’m still not where I wanted to be.  It’s because you can’t be productive if you’re not prioritizing your time.  Time can not be re-created so I suggest that we procrastinators stop being busy just to be busy, and get busy producing greatness.

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

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

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://jayceedurant.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://freemynd.wordpress.com/

http://spokenlikeaqueen.blogspot.com/ 

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

www.authorsden.com/jimmettacarpenter

Are you feeling unproductive in your writing?

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5 Tips on how to stay productive

  1. Become realistic about your time–You can schedule all you want but unless your honest about the time that you have to give to any one particular task then you still won’t accomplish the things listed on your schedule to do. 
  2.  Do the most important thing first– When writing your to do lists make sure that you prioritize your list according to what is the most important task that you need to get done first. 
  3. Focus on what your task is instead of always trying to focus on too many things at once– Most of the time multi-tasking doesn’t help you.  It may work out better if you try to focus on one task to not only complete it better but also faster. 
  4. Create a Schedule– Some writer’s don’t believe in scheduling their writing time –as if it would mean that it is not truly the creative nature to schedule- but for those who are serious about your art you have to be consistent with it and make time for it.  Schedule it just as if it were an important business meeting that you can not miss. 
  5. Jealously guard your time– When it is your time to write then it is your time.  As selfish as it may sound sometimes in order to really get anything done you have to put yourself first and tell everyone else in your life that this is your time and that you need for them to respect that.