Happy Juneteenth and Happy Father’s Day!
This weekend gives us two different, important reasons to pause.
Juneteenth asks us to remember freedom. Real freedom. Delayed freedom. Hard-won freedom. Freedom that had to be announced, claimed, protected, and remembered.
Father’s Day asks us to honor fathers and father figures, the people whose love, guidance, example, absence, effort, humor, mistakes, and occasional terrible advice helped shape our lives long after childhood.
Different observances. Same thread: story.
Stories are how we remember what happened. They are how families hold on to love. They are how communities preserve truth. They are how we understand not only the events that shaped us, but the people we became because of them. And this week’s Start Writing Now webinar reminded me of that in a way I did not expect.
Start Writing Now Webinar
I created these webinars to encourage people to create on paper. One participant said afterward, “That was a lovely surprise. I did not know I had that story in me.”
Isak Dinesen is often quoted as saying, “Anyone who has had a childhood has enough material to write fiction for the rest of his life.” The goal for this week’s webinar was simple. I wanted to help writers, journalers, and creative souls of all kinds begin writing without overthinking, self-judgment, or the familiar decision that everything they write is terrible before they have written three words. A modest goal. Like world peace, but with notebooks.
I gave the group a prompt that seemed lighthearted enough:
You’re at a Chinese restaurant. You eagerly open your fortune cookie, but there’s nothing inside. No slip of paper. No fortune. If the tiny slip of paper had been there, what would you want it to say?
As always, we began by giving ourselves the Self-Acknowledgment Hug.
This simple practice helps create a sense of safety and connection with ourselves. It quiets the inner critic, that little committee in the head that apparently meets without invitation, and allows creativity, new perspective, and sometimes long-buried feelings to come forward.
After completing the hug, participants asked themselves for one word that described the fortune they would most want to receive and placed it in the center of a Word of the Day cluster. Then, with the image of an empty fortune cookie in mind, participants filled their clusters and began writing.
I was unprepared for the depth of the stories people wrote. They wrote from places of hope, longing, gratitude, forgiveness, and self-discovery. What began as an exercise became an opportunity to express, share, and receive what truly matters to each of us at a soul level.
The following pieces are shared with permission.
Raymond, who has attended several webinars, shared how the method allowed him to leave the world’s chaos and noise behind and enter his protagonist’s world.
Raymond’s Story
My feet are comfortable in my shoes? Oh Yes! Deep breaths I now take. Now deeper breaths I take again. Conquer the page. The blank page that lay before my eyes. Leave the World and its chaos behind me. Enter into a New World, an undiscovered World of entertainment that springs forth from my glorious subconscious mind. Ah! Now that feels good. This feels great! I feel better, much better. I have commanded myself to relax. This pleasure has allowed me to have answered the 4 magic Questions of Screenwriting about my main Character that has begun his journey to change his world that exist in the year of our Lord 4000 A.D. For him it is a fascinating time to be alive. Oh the pleasure! Oh what joy fills my mind. Deeper I escape from this World of chaos.
My main character is now achieving his destiny!
What I love about Raymond’s piece is the movement. He begins in the body, with his feet in his shoes and his breath deepening. Then the page stops being an enemy. The world quiets down. His protagonist appears. Destiny enters the room.
Not bad for a fortune cookie with nothing in it.
Then there was Toney, a new participant, who is interested in writing a biography to honor the memories and experiences of a loved one.
Toney’s Story
The search for finding Peace, Calm and Happiness is a journey that at some point in life we all ‘just’ might experience. It is important to keep in mind that our Faith in a higher force serves as a guide that elevates us to a point of personal Joy and comfort. When a Love ones health fails and they leave; It is important to remain positive and hold tight to the Loving memories. We Love hard, and we grieve hard. Joy comes from inside, even when we are alone!
Toney’s piece moved directly into love and grief. No delay. No decoration. She went straight to the core of what it means to be human: “We love hard, and we grieve hard.” That could be an entrance to a story, and it is also a truth many people spend years trying to say.’
The Method
If you are curious about what the process looks like during the webinar, Marie was gracious enough to send images of the raw work she completed.
Marie’s cluster from the fortune cookie prompt.
The illustration adds another layer. Before the story is polished, before the writer explains anything, we see the emotional weather of the piece. The disappointment is there. So is the hope. So is the effort to return to herself.
Marie’s Story
Today I was feeling lost, almost in tears, when I received an email that brought disappointment.
I’ve waited for months to receive a license I applied for, only to be told that it will not be issued because one of my supervisors screwed up the dates of my internship.
I have hope that brings joy to my soul; that things will turn out okay. Since I love myself and I’m enough, being a liar is not how I roll. Things will turn out okay.
Marie’s piece shows another kind of discovery. She begins with disappointment, frustration, and the feeling of being almost in tears. Then, through the writing, she finds her ground again, not by pretending everything is fine, but by acknowledging the truth of her present moment in writing. She finds her ground by returning to herself. She remembers that she loves herself. She remembers that she is enough. She remembers her own integrity.
That is the point.
The writing did not erase the problem. It changed her relationship to the problem.
Other stories included a fortune for healing the physical body and another that asked for more time to play and the freedom to create. Each one opened a different door.
If I had to name the overall mood of the webinar, I would call it delight in unexpected self-discovery. Each participant found thoughts, memories, hopes, and insights they did not know were waiting beneath the surface.
The discovery happened because the space was safe enough.
Safe enough inside the writer.
Safe enough inside the meeting.
That is one of the gifts of this work.
You do not have to force the story.
You create the right conditions.
Then the story comes forward.
So I invite you to attend the next webinar. You will find a safe place to quiet the inner critic, connect with other creative souls, and perhaps discover a story you did not know was inside you.
Here’s to your personal success,
Professor Marilyn Horowitz
Don’t Miss the Next Webinar
Start Writing Now!
Monday, June 29, 7:00 pm EST
Have you been carrying a story inside you for years but never written the first page?
Or have you started and stopped so many times that even your notebook looks tired?
In this welcoming, hands-on webinar, you will learn simple techniques to quiet the inner critic, let go of perfectionism, and enter a creative state where writing begins to flow more naturally.
As one first-time participant said:
“The biggest struggle is getting words from my heart to the paper… and suddenly, I could write.”
You will leave with practical tools to help you connect to your creativity, turn ideas into a story, and begin building a writing practice that feels possible.
Whether you are a brand-new writer or returning to a story you have been longing to tell, this webinar will help you take the next step.
Spaces are limited, so reserve Your Spot for June 29 now!
New On Substack!
Head on over to my Substack if you’d like to join the conversation. It’s a free community where I share thoughts on writing, creativity, personal growth, practical neuroscience, and the questions that keep us curious. I’d love to have you along for the journey. Check out the latest essay:
The last couple of weeks, I have had to deal with a lot of attempted attacks on my various personal accounts: emails, password alerts, warnings, and little digital intrusions arriving like a modern mosquito swarm, except with worse manners [READ MORE HERE]
Fathers give us many things, but the most valuable gifts are rarely material. They give us memories, experiences, encouragement, wisdom, and a steady presence when life becomes uncertain. Long after the gifts have been used or forgotten, those treasures remain.
A father’s true legacy is not measured by what he leaves behind, but by what he instills in the hearts of those he loves.
To all the fathers, grandfathers, stepfathers, and father figures who have guided, supported, and believed in us: thank you and happy Father’s Day.
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