March 4, 2023
PANO Network Seminar
I will be holding my first Word of the Day seminar for the PANO network on Wednesday, March 8 at 1:00 pm EST. I’m excited to share how to use the Practice as a daily tool to create a firm foundation for greater self-acceptance. This allows for greater creativity and better time management. If you are interested in attending, you can register here.
Self-Acceptance
Self-acceptance is the number one element that we need to add to our creative toolbox. The mistake people make is to assume that self-acceptance is a state of being. Self-acceptance is something that you do and practice by maintaining personal integrity. Being true to yourself means supporting and encouraging yourself and doing what you know will lead you toward your goal.
Start Your Day Right
The Word of the Day practice is a daily ritual of creativity. Because you are creating, as soon as you wake up, you connect to yourself in a unique way.
WOTD Webinar
In this past Wednesday’s webinar, we used the Word of the Day technique to clarify and refine the experience that we want our viewers and readers to have when they encounter our material. Try sitting down before you begin writing, and brainstorm with a Word of the Day cluster focusing on the emotional effect you want to have on your audience in the scene you’re working on.
Preparation Makes You Write Better
You’ll find that you write better, and fresh ideas will come to you. What Does Writing “Better” Mean? What I mean by “better” is two-fold: First, you feel that surge of insight and freshness that we often call “inspired,” and second, because you’re now using both halves of your brain, the work will be well-structured and have more depth. “Better” means that your scene is complete and will need fewer revisions. Writing is like building a house. If you create a blueprint, your chances of a good home improve, but unlike designing concrete things, our imagination works in a non-linear way, and you could end up with a castle with no bathrooms! One of the benefits of practicing the Word of the Day is that helps you naturally organize your story in a sensible way, ensuring a level of temporal believability and common sense.
Words Into Images
In the webinar, I demonstrated how to convert words into an image. This translation process is a way to add a tremendous dimensionality to your writing. For example, the word I chose to describe the effect I wanted my writing to have was “mesmerize,” a conceptual word that doesn’t evoke feelings. When I converted it to an image, I imagined happy people riding a roller coaster, a far more evocative way of communicating the experience I wanted my audience to have.
A Double-Edged Sword
When writing a first draft, considering your outer audience first can shut you down unless you accept that YOU are your first audience, and the work should please you before you even consider rewriting! After the first draft, awareness of your outer audience can help you slice through your verbiage like butter.
The next Word of the Day Webinar is scheduled for March 15 at 7:00 pm EST. We meet via Zoom so let me know if you’d like to attend.
Email me at horowitz.marilyn@gmail.com and I’ll admit you to class.
Here’s to your writing success,
Professor Marilyn Horowitz
