Tag: YouTube

https://www.amazon.com/author/jccarpenter

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

https://www.write2bematters.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

Another Side Note: If any of you would like to buy me a coffee and donate to my creative endeavors then please feel free to https://ko-fi.com/authorjccarpenter

Everyone Is Not Going To Support You and That’s Okay

July 26, 2021July 26, 2021 jcladyluv

It is easy to get your feelings hurt and to feel a sense of betrayal when you are striving to do things that will propel your career and your life to the next level and the people closest to you don’t show any support. It stings even more so when the unsupportive one’s are family because family are the one’s that you would expect to always be in your corner. But the reality is that there’s no family and friends handbooks that says that you absolutely have to support your friends creative and business endeavors. It would be nice but it’s not something they are obligated to do.

It’s interesting how many people I hear say that they get more support for the things they do in their career from strangers or even from associates who are not quite your friends. Why is that? How is it that we can support total strangers but then turn to family and other loved ones and throw our hands up and just do nothing but wish them well.

I get more support from you guys here and from the people in the AuthorTube Community over on YouTube where I have a channel than I do from my own mother, my sister, or anyone else in my family. I’m not saying that I don’t have some close friends that are also in the creative field so they get it and they are extremely supportive but most friends don’t get it. I’m not going to lie and say that it’s not hurtful to know that I don’t even have the support of my mother and my sister and I suppose I should be used to it by now but I am human.

Having said all of that, and having acknowledged the hurts of a creative entrepreneur, I don’t have time to live in that hurt for too long. Regardless of whether my own family supports me or not I have too many things I’m trying to do and too many people that I hope to inspire to worry about that for too long.

I guess I’m just writing this post for those of you out there who may not be creative or pursuing careers in the creative industry but have family members or friends who are. Check to make sure that you support them. Make sure that you genuinely cheer them on and let them know that you believe in them. It goes a long way to hear words of encouragement and support form people who are actually supposed to be in your corner and have your back. Don’t discount their work and their passions by not acknowledging them. Their career matters every bit as much as yours.

Until next time… #BeMindful #BeGrateful #BeEncouraged

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

Another Side Note: If any of you would like to buy me a coffee and donate to my creative endeavors then please feel free to https://ko-fi.com/authorjccarpenter

Pushing the Boundaries

May 10, 2021 jcladyluv

So I did it! I did my first live stream this past weekend and I’m going to be honest, I did not hit it out of the park. I wasn’t necessarily planning to hit a home run here because if you know anything about me then you know I am terrified when it comes to doing something new, in particular something new that terrifies me in the first place. I’m never eager to fail at anything but I have been doing some growing these past few years, both spiritually and mentally, so I get that in order to succeed at anything there are going to be a few failures along the way because perfect is not a realistic goal. Could it have gone better? Yes! Do I regret doing it even though I feel I could’ve done much better? No! Just in the way that I felt terrified when I started my YouTube channel about being on camera to begin with but then gradually adapted to it and even liking it.

Sometimes doing things that we don’t necessarily want to do can end up being the best thing that we’ve ever done and if we just focused on the fact that it scares us then we would never much of anything. It’s scary to grow past the box that you have learned to maneuver yourself in. You get accustomed to things being just the way you like them and in a way that doesn’t require you to have to learn anything new or do something you’re not used to doing and in my case, someone who has extreme anxiety and OCD and a nearly paralyzing fear of change, it can feel pretty good to know what to expect out of every day. But then you never end up growing if it stays that way and to succeed in life with anything there has to be growth.

It’s something that I’m learning along this journey and something that definitely makes me feel uncomfortable. I suppose we all have two choices in the ladder of success. We can hold on to the rung that we’re on with the knowledge that as long as we hold on tight we won’t fall, we’ll stay right where we are. Or, we can have faith that if you just carefully move forward and grab one rung at a time, even knowing that there is a possibility of falling, that God will always be your safety net, thus remaining cautious yet still in motion.

We can’t hold on at the same level forever, not if we ever expect to get anywhere. Success lies in the ability to reach for the next rung of the ladder and having faith that you won’t fall and if you do that God will be there to catch you and get you back on track. We can’t live in our comfort zones forever, and I’m not sure we should really want to even if we could.

Until next time… #BeBold #BeCourageous #BeBrave

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Side note: I have a new Author Newsletter that I would love it if you signed up for http://www.tinyletter.com/Author_JCCarpenter

And if any of you would like to buy me a coffee and donate to my creative endeavors then please feel free to https://ko-fi.com/authorjccarpenter

Stepping Out of Fear’s Shadow

May 3, 2021 jcladyluv

I’m doing something that terrifies me this weekend and I am partly excited because it’s new and nervous as hell because I don’t know if I’m going to do well at it. As you guys know I have a YouTube channel in which I share my writing life (and sometimes other stuff going on in my life) with the world and whoever cares to watch. Live streams are big in the AuthorTube community (basically the writing community in YouTube) and just about everyone already does them and it’s not a big deal but I have yet to do one.

Frankly the idea of being live on camera without the ability to edit myself and cut out the parts where I mess up is just panic inducing. Now I’m just doing a one year YouTube anniversary celebration so there won’t be writing sprints this time because I just want to get my bearings in this new pool that I’m dipping my toe into but it’s scary.

Doing new things is always scary. I have a few other new things on the horizon and products that I’m getting ready to launch and there’s a fear there as well. When you put things out there, or put yourself out there, you want people to be receptive and you want people to like and even love what you’re putting out. I think of all of the things that I want to do with my company and my brand and everything that I am working on and towards are things that I hope and pray will inspire and motivate others and something that can help others to be their best creative and authentic selves. So if I put something out there I’ve put time and love into that creation and I want people out there to get something out of it.

All of this is to say that we all have fears and things that terrify us and that keep us from just jumping out there with the things that we want to create. We have to learn to not give into those fears and it’s not something that comes natural. It’s not a natural inclination for most people to just throw caution to wind and go for something without the thought of failing. It’s hard to not think about all of the things that could go wrong.

I have been working on training myself to only think about the things that can go right. That is what is keeping me in the forward moving direction. That is what I hope you will start to put into practice to keep yourself moving forward towards accomplishing your goals. I want all of us to move out of a constant state of fear and into a persistent state of expectation. You get what you expect out of life and I expect all good things, and I expect them in abundance.

Until next time… #BeBold #BeFearless #BeMotivated

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

It’s Almost Drafting Time!!!

October 26, 2020 jcladyluv

So who’s ready to draft an entirely new novel? Me!!! That’s who! I’m spending the vast majority of the week finishing up my outline for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and there’s still so much to get ready. I am so excited because writing on a new novel is my favorite part of writing (well outlining might actually be my favorite but anywho) and it feels like it’s been so long since I’ve worked on a brand new book.

Realistically, it’s only been about six months or so since I finished up my second mystery book but that’s a long time in a writer’s world. Now this book isn’t going to be a mystery, it’s more contemporary women’s fiction, and it deals with childhood trauma, healing, and forgiveness. I have described the story more in depth over on my YouTube channel and detailing some of my writing process so if you would like to check that out the link is also in the signature.

If any of you are also writers I hope that you are entering in the challenge of doing NaNoWriMo and I hope that you check out the channels on YouTube of so many other writers who are participating and who do live writing streams as well. It’s a wonderful writing community over there and I hope I see you there! Until next time… #BeProductive #BeMotivated #BeInspired

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

The Examples That We Set

August 24, 2020 jcladyluv

So in the message this past Sunday my Pastor was talking about making tough choices and being accepting and committed to whatever stage of life that you are in at the moment. He pointed out that you need to basically lean into that stage while you are in preparation for the stage that is coming next. He highlighted that there are essentially three stages of life: 1) The learning and development stage; 2) The teaching and being an example stage; and 3) The stage in which you leave a deposit. The stage I wanted to discuss in today’s post is the second one; teaching and being an example.

Now of course I would stay in the learning and development stage forever if I truly could, and in essence aren’t we always learning and developing (we should be anyway). However I believe that the stage I am in, reluctantly, is teaching and being an example, and I say reluctantly because the idea that I could be an example to anyone seems both impossible as well as terrifying. On the one hand yes I always want something that I say or do to be inspiring and motivating and encouraging but do I ever really think that little ole me can inspire others, not really. And yet, as I have started my YouTube channel I have surprisingly found out that I actually have inspired other people and provided some type of motivation for them and that is exactly what I wanted; isn’t it?

The truth is that you never know who’s watching you. You don’t know who might be looking at something that you’ve done or listened to something that you’ve said and gotten something really inspirational from it. Something that made them go out and be even more amazing than they already would’ve been anyway. It’s why I don’t take the words role model lightly and of course I want to be one to my daughter but the idea of maybe being one to other people is a bit daunting.

Don’t get me wrong, I want to be that person. I feel that is a level to the purpose that I am here to fulfill. It’s just scary, and I think that I’ve been a bit resistant. It is both the reason I wanted to do YouTube while also being the reason I was hesitant to do it, because I am forever telling myself that I don’t have anything that I can teach anyone and nothing that I do or say will matter to anyone. I can’t deny that when someone tells me that they got something from something that I wrote or something I said in one of my videos it feels good and satisfying.

I suppose you could say I haven’t really allowed myself to lean in to this teaching and being an example stage but I want to because while I doubt myself quite often, deep down I really do feel I have so much to offer others. Even if it’s in terms of my experiences and mistakes that I’ve made so that people can at the very least know what not to do. I suppose this would be the time in my life to use those struggles and hardships that I’ve had for the benefit of others so that maybe they can do something different, something better.

I thought about being a teacher when I was little (for a hot second) and the reason I didn’t pursue that goal was never because I didn’t want to be an inspiration in other people’s lives, it was more so because I didn’t think that I had the tools inside of me to actually BE an effective inspiration in other people’s lives. I see now that by just being me, by accepting the stage of life that I am in is a far greater tool than I ever realized. You may be resisting the title of “role model” but whether you realize it or not, someone is always looking at what you do. Lean into that stage. Take up the mantle and make sure that when that someone is looking at you, you’re proud of what they are seeing. Until next time… #BeInspiring #BeMotivating #BeEmpowering

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

Challenges Can Push Us to a Place of Growth

August 17, 2020 jcladyluv

So as most of you guys know, I am a creature of habit (not all of the habits are good and healthy, but I digress) and I don’t particularly welcome change. Oddly enough I am also the same person who welcomes a challenge (within reason of course—I don’t do these popular social media ones)) and likes to see how far I can be pushed. Being a part of the AuthorTube community on YouTube (and if you haven’t checked out my channel, feel free to do so after reading this) there are a lot of challenges and ways they make sure to get their fellow writers motivated to be more productive. It’s almost impossible to not demand productivity of yourself when you are a part of a writing community that is just so extremely productive and they keep finding vastly different ways to produce.

So a new challenge has come up in the AuthorTube community by an AuthorTuber named Kate Cavanaugh called the MilWordy challenge and the goal is to write a million words over the next year, starting September 1, 2020. This includes all words, both fiction and non-fiction (or creative non-fiction), as well as blog posts and newsletters, poetry, and editing. So as daunting as this sounds, I have actually decided to dive right into this and I’m going to be honest and say that I don’t think that I will actually get to a million words, however, for me that is not the point. Largely what I have found within this community is accountability and ways to hold myself to a certain standard that even I myself am not sure that I can achieve.

The whole point is to try. I mean if I achieve even half of this goal then that is more than likely far more words than I would’ve gotten had I not done the challenge. But also, what if I actually complete this goal? How many projects would I have finished then? How many books will be set to be published? How many new projects that I was supposed to have started by now could I not only start but actually get started on and maybe even complete? I want to push myself and this is a good way to do that.

Challenges are good for that. They make us, at the very least, attempt the things that we have programmed ourselves to think are impossible. Challenges make us raise our own standards and stop expecting the bare minimum of what we have to offer this world. Challenges, both the ones that are thrown at us and the one’s in which we impose on ourselves, are what help us to grow as people.

What or who has challenged you on your journey? Have you resisted that challenge or did you allow yourself to lean in? I hope that any of you writers out there that read this perhaps click on the link in this post to Kate’s video and check out the details of the challenge or if not make your own challenge to see just how much you can achieve if you push yourself to. Let’s see how far we can get if we just pushed a little past what we expected of ourselves! Until next time… #BeBold #BeCourageous #BeMotivated

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

A Proper Mental Health Break Day Can Help Keep the Burnout Away

July 20, 2020 jcladyluv

So I’m not known for knowing when to take a break. I typically push and push and push until I completely am exhausted of all creative, mental, and physical energy. I do this because I have moments when I get in such a bad funk or depression where nothing happens because I simply can’t and then I get frustrated with myself because I feel like I’m wasting so much time (as if it’s that easy to keep depression at bay). Last week was a little off for me because since this Pandemic started I’ve been on the go and more productive than I have been in recent months prior to it.

I’ve been writing more and doing more for my magazine, and even started a YouTube channel. I’ve got books that I’ve set in motion to be released before the end of the year (at least 4 of them) and there’s so much to do in preparation for this and that’s what I’ve been working towards. Even my weekends have been filled with writing related tasks (I used to have a no weekends thing so that’s big for me) and I have actually loved just how creatively inspired I’ve been and just on a constant need to be doing something to further the goal. Last week, however, I just didn’t feel like doing any of that. It wasn’t like my mind wasn’t still brimming with ideas and the need to keep pushing but it seemed the harder I tried to push through the more I felt like I just couldn’t do any of it. It wasn’t a depressed feeling because I know what that feels like.

I wasn’t sure what this was but then I attended the virtual writing retreat this weekend, Evergreen Writing Oasis, via YouTube and the first day of the event they talked about burnout (which is not the same as depression however one can feed into the other). I was beginning to feel burnout and that is not something that I can afford to have right now. In the event they spoke about ways to combat burnout, but also ways to maybe try and head the burnout off when you begin to recognize that’s what’s coming. This made me think of my own advice in one of my videos about filling the creative well and I had decided to go ahead and take the entire weekend and just enjoy the virtual writing retreat and just attend the panels, read, and watch TV.

I thought that would allow me to start this week off right and vibrant and refreshed and ready to hit the ground running. Yeah that’s not what happened because I’m still feeling a little blah and I still feel like I need to refill the well so to speak. So my initial thought was okay so this is going to be a week long thing and I’m just going to make this a mental health week and that may still be what it ends up being but for now I’m just going to play this by ear. So I did not make a schedule for this week (not yet anyway) and I have not yet written a to-do list (I plan on it though—I think) for the things that would need to be done this week. I have a novel outline to finish (for Camp NaNoWriMo) plus a novel and a motivational book to get prepped for release along with two poetry books but I don’t feel like I can produce my best work feeling like this.

All of this is to say that Mental Health breaks are very necessary and we (and by we I mean people in general) should not feel bad, or frustrated with ourselves for needing one. If we are not at our best mentally than how can we be the best version of ourselves that we need to be? I hope you guys don’t mind me working this out with you all and that I’m not rambling too much but I just felt like someone else out there needs to hear that it’s okay to take a break. It does not mean that you are lazy and it does not mean that you are unaware of the need to complete the task and accomplish the goal. It simply means that you are putting your mental health first for a few days, or however long you decide you need that mental break for. Don’t forget to take care of yourself. Until next time #BeMindful #BeAware #BeGoodtoYourself

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

It’s Time for Another Writing Event

June 29, 2020 jcladyluv

So this week’s post is going to be a more writerly post, because after all, I am a writer! So Camp NaNoWriMo is upon us and if you don’t yet know what that is, briefly, it is an abbreviated version of the National Novel Writing event that takes place in the month of November. It’s a bit of a warm up if you will, where you get to set your own goals as opposed to having to stick to the goal on the site. I find that these writing events that they have in April, July, and of course November are extremely helpful ways, on the occasions when I get thrown off track for whatever reason, to get myself back on the writing track and to reform the habit of writing on a daily basis. It forces you to dedicate some concentrated time to some area of your writing at least a little part of each day and it’s so good to have that focus.

I have so many projects that I am working on, all in different stages of completion, and a couple that I’m getting ready to start but planning and preparation are key. I am a planner by nature but it doesn’t always seem that way because while I have in the past attempted to delve into the planner world and have a planner for every single project that I am working on (which could get incredibly expensive), I tend to revert back to keeping things spread out on scraps of paper and several blank books spread out all over which I’ll admit doesn’t seem organized but I know where everything is when I need to get to it.

That said, I have bought a few more planners to try and hone my organizational skills a bit better because I hope that it will inevitably make me even more focused and since we’re in the midst of a pandemic what better time to enhance my organization skills and to increase my productivity all the more. I am finding that keeping things in specific planners for different projects and different areas of my business is actually turning out to be a much better system and I have managed not to revert back to the scraps of paper and random unfocused notebooks so I guess it is working.

So for Camp NaNoWriMo, which starts July 1^st (yep, that’s Wednesday) I have a brand new novel that I am working on and more specifically I am outlining for Camp. I have a YouTube channel that I will be chronicling the process of that journey on, among other things I discuss on my channel. I also, if you want a little broader description on what Camp NaNoWriMo is, have a video specifically on my Camp goals. So I’m wondering if any of you out there have a particular planning system or an organizational practice that helps you stay focused and on track? If any of you are writers, do you plan to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo or the big event in November? Let me know and until next time… #BeCreative #BeProductive #BeFocused

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPU35EkFSbuxgekCp4LfI5g

The Why Isn’t Always Our Business

June 22, 2020 jcladyluv

In figuring out what your purpose is, what God wants you to do with the time that HE has given you here on this earth, sometimes it’s hard to know the reasons why. Not necessarily why HE gave you the overall purpose, but in terms of the steps that HE guides you through along the way in order to reach the overall goal, you tend to wonder why this step.

I discovered the Author Tube Community on YouTube a little more than a year and a half ago but I wasn’t really sure it was something that I was going to entertain being a part of. I watched other people’s channels and I loved watching how they navigated their writing careers and how their writing routines made them more productive and of course the writing advice they had to give but it was never going to go past me just watching a few channels here and there. At least that’s what I thought anyway.

I kept feeling pulled to that Author Tube community and since I didn’t really have a solid group of writer friends to interact with (just one or two people spread out) it seemed like a good way to get that fix I needed for having a sense of writing camaraderie with others. Even then, I had no plans on actually making a channel and putting videos up there, even though I had been told countless times before I discovered this authortube that I should for other creative purposes. I just wanted to watch, comment here and there, gain some knowledge and perspectives other than my own, and that was that.

Now I know this is going to sound weird but I truly felt like God was telling me that I needed to start an AuthorTube channel of my own, that I needed to put in some real effort towards the inevitable goal to making this a part of my platform. I didn’t understand it. After all, doesn’t God know that I have stage fright and how uncomfortable I am in front of people, even if they’re not physically there in front of me? Doesn’t God know that I break out in a panic just being behind a camera and knowing that someone somewhere is going to see this? I kept wondering why God would want me to embarrass myself on camera like that (because I stumble on my words when I’m nervous) and how that could possibly lead me to my purpose.

Well if I can remind you all here, for those who have been reading my blog for a while, that one of my main goals that I plan to do in the future is to develop an anti-bullying program, that of course will encompass a series of children’s and middle grade books centered on the topic and will also involve public presentations and seminars. That means some way or another I was going to have to end up getting comfortable speaking in public right? Okay so back to starting up this YouTube channel that I was extremely resistant to doing. I kept being led to do it and it sounds silly because it’s a YouTube channel right so why would God have that specific plan for me.

As I was telling a friend of mine the other day, I’m not saying that it was specifically about the YouTube channel per say, but rather it was about getting past those fears of being on camera, those panicky emotions about having people see and hear me and dreading the results. I think it was about the fact that God was trying to figure out how HE was going to start moving me in the direction to possibly speak in public if I couldn’t even manage to get around speaking on camera, with no one actually in front of me, just the knowledge of the fact that people would see it. So I was finally obedient and I did it and I’ve been on there for a little over a month now and my channel is growing, slowly, but it is growing and oddly enough, while I thought no one would actually care what I had to say, there are people there that really like my channel. I’ve even recently been placed on a couple of different authortubers list highlighting smaller channels that people should watch and I was delighted.

In just such a short time I am really starting to feel my confidence growing in getting behind the camera and while the panic is still there at times, it’s not quite as debilitating as it was that very first time I sat down to film. It’s done so much for me and my growing ease at speaking on camera already and I am grateful. I am thankful that I stopped asking God why HE wanted me to do something and instead I just did it.

Sometimes we just have to stop asking a whole bunch of questions that we’re really not ever going to know that answers to until we actually complete what was asked of us. It’s not our business to always know the why of it all. If you are being guided by God to do something (make sure it’s really by God first) don’t put your energy into a million and one questions, just do it. He asks that we trust in his guidance and have faith that he would never steer us wrong so just trust that the one who has given you your purpose is the best one to show you the way. Until next time… #BeOpen #BeWilling #BeinFaith

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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