• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Marilyn Horowitz

Marilyn Horowitz

Screenwriting Classes, Coaching, and Resources

212-600-1115
  • Home
  • About
  • Writing Services
  • Guidance
    • Writing Evaluation
    • Writing Guidance
    • Comprehensive Packages
    • Ongoing Coaching
  • Classes & Seminars
    • New York University Classes
    • Seminars
    • Free Video Tutorials
    • Movie Breakdowns
    • Online Stores
  • Books & Media
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Word of the Day
    • What is the Word of the Day?
    • Word of the Day Cheat Sheet
    • Free Word of the Day Webinar

How To Cure New Year’s Eve Blues

December 30, 2010 by Marilyn Horowitz

I despise New Years Eve because I always get a major case of the blues. I find myself taking stock of all the things I did wrong during the year that has just passed. Usually, I follow the great guru, Yogi Berra, who said, “When I strike out, I think about the next home run,” but on New Year’s Eve, a black depression sneaks in, a kind of coulda-woulda-shoulda obsessive listing of every snafu which I usually have to talk myself out of. First I list my sins, then I try to talk myself into finding a positive aspect or a lesson learned. In other words, I make lemons into lemonade. This doesn’t always work the first time, but if I am persistent, and drink some Champagne, I can usually talk myself out of being depressed. While this is a great exercise for us writers, we are not the important ones here, it’s our characters, so try it out and let me know.

New Year’s Eve
1. Select the worst thing that happened to your character.
2. Writing in the first person voice as if you were your main character, describe the event as it unfolded.
3. Set a timer for 5 minutes.
4. Writing as if you were your main character, describe what was the worst thing about the event.
5. Reset the timer for 5 minutes.
6. Writing as if you were your main character, describe a positive aspec of the same event, and then, what “you” learned from it.
7. Repeat the process for the villain or obstacle, using a similar type of event.


Good luck, and I hope that in 2011, all of your dreams come true and that you find new ones.

Happy New Year!

Primary Sidebar

Sign Up

for our Screenwriting Newsletter and Receive Our FREE Gift How To Write a Treatment.

Testimonials

Thank you. If it hadn’t been for you Marilyn, I don’t think I would have made the Woodstock film which… Read more “Nancy C.”

I’m very grateful to be able to learn from Marilyn, Her focus on the psychological and spiritual foundations necessary to… Read more ““…grateful to learn from Marilyn””

Marilyn’s techniques helped me stop overthinking and start writing! She gave me exercises to take the pressure off beginning a… Read more “The Word of the Day”

You are always a light. Thank you.

Desiree

“Working with Marilyn Horowitz has challenged every aspect of my creative process from conception to preparation, and most importantly, execution.… Read more “– Larry Lowry”

- Larry Lowry
Writer/Producer, Nickelodeon
View All Testimonials

Television Writing Evaluation & Guidance

Screenwriting Evaluation & Guidance

Classes & Seminars

Footer

Connect

Contact

CLASSES

Contact the office at 212-600-1115

MEDIA & SPEAKING INQUIRIES

Contact Marilyn Horowitz at 212-600-1115

PUBLISHING & FILM INQUIRIES

Contact Koehler Books at 757-289-6006

  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Home
  • About
  • Writing Services
  • Guidance
    • Writing Evaluation
    • Writing Guidance
    • Comprehensive Packages
    • Ongoing Coaching
  • Classes & Seminars
    • New York University Classes
    • Seminars
    • Free Video Tutorials
    • Movie Breakdowns
    • Online Stores
  • Books & Media
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Word of the Day
    • What is the Word of the Day?
    • Word of the Day Cheat Sheet
    • Free Word of the Day Webinar
Copyright © 2023 · Marilyn Horowitz. All rights reserved.