Feeling trapped? Plan your escape at the next WOTD Webinar!

Happy Friday,

It was an exciting week.

My new book, The Word of the Day, is now available, and I hope you will consider ordering a copy as pre-sales determine success.

This week’s free webinar was highly successful; we had some talented new students. During class, I reviewed some of the Word of the Day tools: Gathering, The Self-Hug, and the Word of the Day clustering technique, and introduced one of my new tools, “Plan your Escape.” The place you need to “escape” from can run the gamut from a creativity or work issue to a relationship problem.

The way you use this tool:
1. Identify a situation in which you feel stuck or trapped.
2. Create a Word of the Day cluster around a word that describes the situation.
3. Admit that this is a fact and accept the reality without blaming yourself.
4. Define the best possible outcome.
5. Define what steps you’d take to reach that better outcome.
6. Make decisions and take action.
7. Acknowledge yourself for being brave enough to face an unpleasant truth and to do something about it.

This tool is excellent for removing drama from your life and is also equally excellent for adding drama and conflict to your stories! How does that work? For a personal situation, you would get your word of the day diagram ready and set a timer for two minutes. Then, you’d choose a word that describes the situation you seem stuck in.

For example, one of my students, a screenwriter, agreed to go to a self-help workshop with her partner, but she really didn’t want to go. Her Word of the Day was “workshop.”

She said that she felt like a child who was being forced to eat a vegetable they didn’t like. She thought this feeling was the problem.

“I should be grateful that my partner wants to improve our relationship.”
I asked, “Why? What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing,” she replied.
I said, “So you’re thinking, If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
She smiled, “Exactly.”

If my student were writing a screenplay and wanted to use this situation as the basis for a story, she could create conflict by having the workshop go terribly wrong and create a problem between the couple where there hadn’t been one before.
.
She made a note and sighed, “I wish I weren’t so angry.”

I nodded, “But you are. If you can accept how you feel without judging yourself, then your problem becomes your solution, which is to be honest. Calmly tell your partner that you have changed your mind and why. I know this can be scary, but success is determined by self-trust, and honesty is the basis for trust, whether it’s between you and another or you and yourself.

“I see your point. I’ll just be brave and tell them.”

To be honest about something you don’t like in yourself is hard and requires bravery. I think my student has a lot of courage!

Belle shared her thoughts about the class:

I woke up this morning, and my word of the day was “thankful.” I thought about the WOTD class the night before and how I received so much thought-provoking insight from you and the group. The theme was “the cart before the horse,” the horse first. We dove in with self-acceptance, trusting ourselves and being the little child who says, “I won’t eat that,” in defiance. Defiance is protecting ourselves from doing something or being someone we don’t want to be to fit in or appease others. Loving ourselves is accepting ourselves and receiving the good it can bring.

Trusting yourself is often building a relationship with the unknown. Things we did in the past often color our thoughts, motivations, and moods, but if you ask yourself, “What time is it?” you will realize that you are no longer living in the past. You are in the now and don’t have to live by someone else’s rules. Whatever you don’t want can be your strength in establishing what you do want. Self-acceptance is part of us; we must live and work with who we are. We often are helpful to ourselves and then doubt ourselves because of fear. You taught us a new tool- Plan your escape from your self-imposed prison by trusting and loving yourself. Use the mirror tool to look at yourself daily and know that a person is looking back at you who loves you and wants to protect you.

So you ask, “How does that help with writing?” I am a playwright, and I have characters that I am building within a scenario that I created. Their reactions, body language, dialogue, and backstory influence their development into believable and relatable characters that the audience can find interesting enough to stay until the third act to see what happens to them. The WOD exercise gives me the tools to know myself better and to create multidimensional characters for my plays.

My student Maya has a new Newsletter, and she said something great in the webinar. Here is her quote.

In the world, people judge themselves far too harshly – as long as a person’s actions are 1) respectful to their own health and 2) respectful to others, there are no rights and wrongs – it’s the definition of these two things people often confuse.

Another student, Jaclyn is having a live interview next Wednesday.

Register Now For The Next Word of the Day WebinarWednesday, January 31, 2024
7:00 pm EST
via Zoom

Feeling trapped?
Identifying a block or a problem is the first step in reaching a solution, but then what? Join me in the next FREE Word of the Day webinar, where you’ll discover how using the Word of the Day will help you create a workable, realistic plan to move you out of your “stuck” space and get moving towards success and happiness!

Register here, and together, we’ll devise your “escape plan!”

Here’s to your successful writing,

Professor Marilyn Horowitz

Reserve Your Copy
My book, Word of the Day: Transform Your Writing in 15 Minutes a Day, is a must-have for 2024. The Word of the Day is a great tool for everyone to use in all walks of life. Tell your friends and p re-order your copy today! And while you wait for the release, check out my blog at www.marilynhorowitz.com for tons of free tips about the Word of the Day Practice and information about upcoming webinars!

ContestsCreative World Awards. The final deadline is January 31. This contest awards a prize package worth over $30,000, and includes a short version of the script being produced by MIX. Click here.

Scriptapalooza Features and Shorts Contest. The late deadline is February 5.The grand prize winner will receive $10,000 cash and other prizes. Visit the site here.

Emerging Screenwriting Sci-Fi and Fantasy Competition. The early deadline is January 25. “This contest celebrates traditional and idiosyncratic sci-fi and fantasy narratives.” Winners receive a $1500 cash award, a career consultation, and more! To enter, click here.

Here’s to your successful writing,

Professor Marilyn Horowitz