This
week's answer:
Wish
Upon an Affirmation
Ernie, thanks for the
question. I gave it considerable thought and have
come to the inevitable conclusion that I wish you'd stop
wishing. I know that may seem a bit on the
facetious (I haven't heard that word in a long
time) side, even flippant, and possibly even a little
abrupt and cruel. But I don't mean to be any of
those adjectives (I'd much rather be a verb or a cool
dangling participle.)
I really do wish you'd stop
wishing. Why? Because wishing, as poetic and
lovely-sounding as the word is (I mean, we all enjoy
wishing upon a star. Although... these days we
have to be careful that we're wishing on an actual star
and not a satellite falling to the Earth. Then
we'd be living the concept of "be careful what you
wish for because it might just fall on you."
Or something close to that.), it's not a...
POWERFUL
(Sorry. I hope
that didn't knock you off your chair.)
word, is it? Much
more emphatic is the word, "desire." Do you
notice that the second syllable is a word and that word is
"sire," which is what a king is called. The
root of "desire" connotes an imperious
quality. Sires, or kings do not merely wish.
They command. They declare. They affirm.
We all know the word, "affirmations" and
affirmations do not work unless there is a strong,
deliberate, focused intention behind them.
Poor
affirmation: I wish I could get rich some
day.
Powerful
affirmation: I commit to being rich and fully enjoy
my prosperity.
So, back to the sentence
and concept of wishing that producers take you
seriously. The first adjustment, as noted above, is to
move beyond wishing and into declaring. (I think
Southerners were way ahead of us with affirmations and still
are because they're always saying, "Well, I
declare." Because "I affirm" just
didn't quite sound right.) Then, if you want producers
to take your scripts seriously, somebody's going to have to
take them (your scripts, that is) seriously before they do. And do you know
who that someone is? (he said leadingly.)
Well, I declare. You're right. It's you.
Or, if you're talking about yourself, then that someone is
"me." But, Ernie, I think you already knew
that and might have just forgotten.
I say that because I
noticed where you're from: ME.
DcH
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