NEVER WAIT TO BE DISCOVERED ! PROMOTE YOURSELF NOWWW!

I can't help the caps or exclamation points in my posts, but I feel it is very much necessary. Anywaysss, I'm going to make this fairly quick and this tip I'm about to give does not apply to just one specific career or anything this is IN GENERAL.

So, a lot of people, even myself in the past thought it was such a great idea to just be good at whatever you want to do in life and some agent or big named person will come into our lives and hand you the big contracts and advance money to transform your life. Now, that idea of course sounds GOOD, but let me tell you something, that's as far as that goes.

Why are you waiting to BE DISCOVERED?

Thanks for your cooperation Homer Simpson. :)


Don't be lazy! Just put yourself out there NOW and act as though you've ALREADY BEEN DISCOVERED. If you are a rapper, singer, or song artist, don't just keep everything in a notebook. How will you be discovered if no one can even hear any lyrics to a song? Get into that studio, make some music, make flyers, mixtapes, ask to perform at local events such as clubs and spoken word. Band with other local artists and collaborate on a song or two. PUBLISH EVERYWHEREEEEEE!!! EVERYWHERE!!! Tell EVERYONEEEEEE!!! And most importantly, GIVE BACK!

Dancers...

Quite a similar piece of advice. Perform, showcase your moves in clubs, join dance groups, do workshops for people who want to learn, PUBLISH VIDEOS OF YOUR DANCING EVERYWHEREEEEEE!!! Ask for people to share or like comment etc. Compete in competitions especially auditions for tv shows or even theater. GIVE BACK!

As a writer, I blog, I post every short story via social media, send read online and download links to EVERYONE in my friends list, have a partnership account with Google Play so Android users can download them there (working on ibooks, Nook, Kindle, etc so bear with me). Created a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook Pages Account, this blog, and linked them ALL together to showcase my work. I create the books covers and clip art to ALL of my work and everyday, I make it my business to promote myself because I know, YOU CAN'T WAIT TO GET DISCOVERED...there's luck for some people, but don't count on LUCK for YOU. SO ACT NOW!

This same exact formula applies for any career you are seeking. If you do this, I believe SOMEONE will take notice and it will only HELP YOU get closer to your goal. You have to start doing the work NOW. Get yourself out there and WORK. Not to mention, people believe that if they just go to school and NOT practice their craft outside of school that will give them an upper hand. WRONG! In my opinion of course, but WRONG! You want to master your skills, you have to be willing to do the work even when school is NOT in session OKAY?! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?! ... Good :) Now go to work and get off of your behind.

Follow me on Twitter @rjohnsonbooks for some great tips
Instagram @rafaeljohnsonbooks for some great photos
Facebook @/rafaelwjohnson or Rafael Johnson for some great status updates
AND SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG TO STAY CONNECTED AND UPDATED!

YOU ARE A WRITER! BELIEVE IN THYSELF!

SOOO.....!

A couple days ago, I logged onto my school's website to see my grades. I noticed the two classes I took this semester with my mentor, Creative Writing: Short Story and Scriptwriting, had, "INC" in the grade section. My heart stopped.

INCOMPLETE?! INCOMPLETE?!

I thought it was impossible. The last time I had seen him it was the last day of the semester and he mentioned that my work was complete and to wait for my grades. SO, that brings the question, WHY DO I HAVE "INC" IN MY GRADE SECTION???

I emailed him. Confused, frustrated, and a bit nervous asking, "how come I have 'INC' for two of the classes I take with you?" Now..here's the part that had me really worried about how well I've done all semester. (Mind you, he's been reading my work and have given nothing but very positive and motivating feedback so you see why I was confused). This is what he said:

"I think it would be best if you could come in on Tuesday. We can talk about it then."

0.0 UMMM, OKAYYYY. So my head exploded. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?! I mean I know what it means literally, but what does that mean about my grades? No smiley face or nothing to show that everything is okay and that I did well? No hint to how well I've done after a semester of receiving nothing but compliments from you?! 

I    WAS    SCARED!

I emailed back and we scheduled a time to meet. When the time came, I was sure to be mentally prepared for some bad news. "You got an 'F'." Okay fine. I seen many of those through middle and school. It wouldn't be a surprise, but a great disappointment knowing that I actually put my all into this first semester going back to school after a couple years...or so. After signing in, I walked up the stairs S   L   O    W. I did not want to see him. When I got to the doorway my heart was in my throat. My palms were moist. My bottom lip was being bitten. I reached my destination -- WITH A FIRM HANDSHAKE AND APPLAUSE FROM HIM. He said,

"You have done a great job with you're work. A very great job. I gave you 'A's for both of my classes and can say YOU   ARE   A    WRITER. Have a seat."

WHAT and WHOA . 

I got 'A's and my mentor, who had experience with writing just told me that, I  AM  A  WRITER. The tears immediately began to fill my eyes, but I held them on my thick eyelashes that look as though I wear eyeliner...people say....IN WHICH I DON'T ! But wow! I   AM   A   WRITER! 

We sat and he printed some of my work in which had comments and big fat 'A's on the front pages. I couldn't stop smiling. We talked about the upcoming semester and, here's some good news...One of my stories he wants me to work on over the summer to have prepared for Fall semester :) !! It's titled, "Opt Out," which is a dystopian short screenplay I wrote. I've decided to write it as a book after I finish editing EVANESCENCE: FADING FROM DECEPTION. 

What's so meaningful about all this? That around this time, I was losing hope and belief that I will be able to contest against published authors. Reading their work had me question my own. AM I GOOD ENOUGH? GOSH, THEIR IDEAS ARE AMAZING MINE SUCK! I LOVE TO WRITE, BUT THEY ARE MUCH BETTER THAN ME! I AM NOT A WRITER.......I am not a writer.

THAT    IS     WRONG !!

No matter what it is that you write, you write it because it makes you happy. Never compare your work to others. You will doubt yourself and that voice should be used to motivate yourself to improve and work on your craft. If you love to write, then in my opinion, despite what I hear everyone says, then YOU  ARE   A   WRITERRR. No one can tell you that. You will have those times when you want to give up. Or you don't think an idea is good enough. BUT THAT'S ALL A PART OF THE JOURNEY! That's how you improve in your writing and get better. You will receive compliments and you will receive CRITICISM BUT WELCOME IT WITH AN OPEN MIND! READ ALOT as well.

For me, it turned into worrying about my grades to whether or not I am any good at writing at all. I am happy about those grades, but I glad he called me in because all it took was for me to hear JUST ONCE, "YOU ARE A WRITER." 

All you have to do is put your love AND TRUST in your work, SIT DOWN, AND WRITE. And I will tell you the same thing he told me, because that is what you are.

YOU ARE A WRITER! :) NOW WRITE!

The Question, "What is it about?"

Think the hardest question to answer when people ask about my writing is, "What is it about?" That's hard to answer because what you're asking for is a statement about the story. But I wrote the story, because I could not describe it in a statement thus my reason for writing it AS A STORY. Not only that, but everything I write has a deeper meaning. Giving only a statement can disrupt that meaning and create a type of bias for the reader before a word is even read. They will take what they can from it in either two ways: They can read it just for the sheer pleasure of being entertained, or, they can be "intelligent readers," and look for the meaning of the story since it is something to be EXPERIENCED, not TOLD. Writing is showing, not telling. 

As much as I want to tell people, "well, if you like to read, then you should read it. If not, then I can only hope I ENTERTAIN you since that's what you want." But I don't. (not trying to sound mean when I said that I just don't want to destroy the meaning and allegories in my work by answering a question that really says, "What's so good about your story that I would read it?") But instead, the world today isn't filled with those kind of readers. They exist, yes, but those kind of readers are like an endangered species that is facing extinction.(and most of those readers, are in fact, writers).

I understand that we have to tell people what the story consists of and sadly, some would decide, "It's not for me," without even knowing what's the message behind the story. The readers I love are the ones who don't ask for a summary or a theme or whatever. They just say, "Let me read it." But, it's cool. So I live with the fact that everyone has their own motives for reading. I just want people to understand that you'd be surprised of how many books you think are "boring," yet applies to you directly. Writing is an art. Keep in mind that not everything written is just words on a page strictly for enjoyment. Sometimes, the writer is simply saying, "This needs to be addressed."

A Recent Screw-up

Yesterday, for my Creative Writing: Fiction class, we were to post our drafts online of the assignment, "Point Of View." The objective of the assignment was to focus on third-person perspective and build a plot with characters that are so compelling, it could not have been told from any other perspective. The comments that I had received from my classmates of my draft titled, "Nearview," was very much appreciated and positive. The one thing that they did point out, however, was that some of the dialogue and turn of events had happened so fast in which I should have elaborated more. (Condensing can really work against you).

Now, when I was first writing my story, I was in love. Maybe that sounds a bit bias, but we all are to our work because we cherish it. But anyway, while I was writing the story, my mind was racing and fingers were punching keys like, "Click! Click! Click! Click! SPACE! Click! Click! Click! Click! SPACE! DELETE! DELETE!" That once I clocked how many pages I had so far, my heart skipped a beat. (Did I just rhyme?)

I had remembered that our instructor had posted to aim for five pages if it were double-spaced. MIND YOU! I was only quarter of the way done with FOUR PAGES SINGLE-SPACED!

I PANICKED! Big Time! I'm like, "how am I suppose to make this five pages double-spaced, when I'm already at four pages singled-spaced, needing ANOTHER four pages at least to get the story across?" So...what I did, after calming down and pacing back in forth in my study room over a million times then making a large 20oz coffee--yes...20 ounces, I started to condense the story a bit....more than a bit. Like....ALOT.

When everything was condensed, I was still over the requirement. I sighed and deleted a few dialogue pieces here. Descriptions there. It...was.....PAINFUL. I posted my draft online and waited for the comments to roll in. Apart from being surprised from the amount of feedback, I noticed that no one at all was upset about the length of my story. They all wanted MORE. So I started to think, well, maybe if I just wrote the whole thing the first time, being that it was a FIRST DRAFT and not the FINAL DRAFT, maybe it would not have mattered if it was even ten pages.

In a nutshell, I should have done it to its completion how I planned so that the story didn't seem rushed. I'm going to edit and add everything back to the story that I had previously removed since we can re-post. (Thank God I save EVERY DRAFT). I made it known that length was my fear. That because of the five page requirement, I took ALOT out of my story that I thought the story could still survive without. 

EEEEHHHHH!!! WRONG! 

I could have waited until I was TOLD to condense it....if I would have been told that is and in which I probably won't be. The happy ending? I get to write the story to my liking and not disrupt the art behind it while my teacher, Mrs. Keren, gets to read a story that's longer than expected, but hopefully worth her time! :D