Written Wednesday Part 1:

Utilising The W’s…

Guess Who’s Back?

Greetings and salutations! OG ‘Mirrorheads’ how are things? You all good? Newcomers, even if you’re here to troll I wish you an enjoyable read! Enough with the pleasantries let’s go!

Written Wednesdays

I thought it was time to run a few themes and see what people like the most. Win or bin type thing! Mirror Monday was just a few days ago and now we’re here with Written Wednesday.

https://writtenmirror.com/mirror-mondays-1/ 

https://writtenmirror.com/final-lessons-from-uk-black-history-month/

Today is About…

The W’s! What does it mean?

No one knows what it means, it’s provocative, gets the people going…

Walk with me; I’ll bring you up to speed!

Wins

At it’s most basic; sure it’s about the Wins. Not just the big ones either. Waking up in the morning, having running water to handle your business, fresh/clean clothes to wear and food to eat. Guess what that’s a win! I know that’s too generic and you already tell yourselves this. I’m with you but do you ever really think about each of them and that these small wins can be a part of a greater win at the end of a day/week/month/year?

W’s over L’s

We all fail at something somewhere but how many times do we count the wins? We often neglect them do we not? Speaking for myself at least, I had the horrible habit my first few years of entering screenwriting competitions of not counting awards or being placed unless, I was the absolute best overall. Maddening I know and it’s partly why I just summarize my awards as 25+.

I placed a lot and often made the official selection etc. but I was literally only counting Grand Prizes and saying ‘Eff Dat’ to Honourable Mentions and the like! It makes me laugh now that I was choosing to count W’s as L’s just because I didn’t like counting W’s if they weren’t indisputable it was an L in my book. Weird? I’ll take that L. Oh crap, done it again…

Wisdom

A slightly underappreciated W I find is wisdom. It’s not purely knowledge based either; sometimes wisdom is in trusting your gut when you don’t necessarily have the knowledge. I was listening to an old Denzel Washington speech; there are many (I know) and I often mix and match so I won’t attach a link in case it’s wrong.

Anyhow I digress, he said part of how he got to where he has was by trusting his gut. There were times he could have put himself in compromising positions just so he could pay his bills at a time when the money was most vital. Yet (paraphrasing) his wisdom would never allow him to do anything he wasn’t comfortable with. Without knowing where or how that type of money would come from or if it even would again he would trust himself to make the right call. He turned down a role worth $0.6M (The equivalent now would probably be around $5M) in a ‘horror’ movie as a questionable character (to put it lightly) AKA ‘The Ni**a They Couldn’t Kill’ according to Denzel.  Wait found it! Poor quality by the way but be grateful…

Wait…

That isn’t one of the W’s. I’m really sorry, I got distracted and ended up watching Fences(2016) again! Denzel got robbed of an Oscar. He probably congratulated Casey Afflect like, “My man…”

While we’re on the subject of waiting, Denzel didn’t have to wait long for his pragmatism to pay off. As you have probably seen in the video 6 months later came Cry to Freedom…

Denzel didn’t know with any certainty what was coming next but, he did know he didn’t want what he was being offered then. It was unknown to him if that kind of money would make its way back to him but, it turned out he knew deep down that better was out there. I don’t know if that makes sense, if not, kindly consider it an unknown known…

Work

I don’t mean work in a traditional sense either. I mean working on you! How many of us are really putting our full weight behind improving ourselves? Most of us have really big dreams (admirable) but, are we putting in the big work to get there? For me that often means watching a broad spectrum of programming to make sure my writing is informed and also that in a pitch should the opportunity come I can speak confidently about my work. I’m not living in a bubble far removed from reality. Hopefully Denzel and I can collaborate on ‘The Ni**a They Couldn’t Fool!’ some day. I joke but at the same time Denzel ‘holla if you feel me’ Pac voice!

Writing is My Work

Doing the work is how you prepare to make your dream a reality. I went from writing quotes for twitter to understanding that this was content that needed to be shared in book form and thus The Thought BookSeries was born.  The many years of researching topics for film and television is what lead to my own style as a screenwriter who would later go on to win awards. Unless you’re the luckiest being on earth, you need to put in the work to get the results you require. Embrace the work!

https://writtenmirror.com/product/the-thought-book-2-1st-ed/

Wellness

I’m not advocating burning yourself out. This is probably something I need to do myself, and this is taking your wellness seriously. I am the patron saint of long hours and short breaks. My work, life and exercise balance is not an isosceles triangle just yet, but it potentially can be. Being close to achieving something often tempts us to overdo the work third of the triangle, whilst carelessly neglecting the life and exercise components. Be mindful of this, if you have holiday use it from time to time, when the weather is nice try to get squeeze in a little more time to enjoy it.

True story I went swimming yesterday and boy did I come away feeling brand new! That was a two for one, life and exercise. I needed to clear my mind but I also needed to test out my shoulders and legs in the water. Aquaman status pending! Also if Creed 3 happens, I want to be the son of Clubber Lang, my prediction? PAIN!!! Once again just joking.

Another part of wellness is letting go of worry. Don’t let it overwhelm you, easier said than done I know. However, at the same time you need your wits about you. Fight your woes don’t feed your worries…

Written Wednesday

So what is the consensus? Are you feeling the Written Wednesday vibe? If so please leave a comment below. See you on either or both next Monday & Wednesday! Be safe…

All Other Business…

Before I forget, the UK Blog awards are back again. I didn’t get the result I wanted the last time but, none the less my hat is in the ring for this year. The website for voting is down, however, when it is working again I’ll be asking for your kind support once again. Voting is free and I’d appreciate your backing once more. Please share it with your friends, family, co-workers and the like.

About Jay Mullings

Multiple Award-winning Screenwriter, Author, Blogger, Film Director and Founder of Written Mirror Ltd. Jay is an ambitious but humble creative who wants to connect with audiences all over the world. Born in London but raised in Jamaica, Jay carries his experiences of both cultures and lends it to his work with his unique but authoritative voice which, he admits not seeing represented enough growing up.

Enquiries…

I can be reached for serious comment and article contributions via email jay@writtenmirror.com if it’s a formal request. There will be no tweeting from me for the rest of the year @writtenmirror so please don’t contact me via twitter if it is urgent. Instagram @writtenmirror if need be.  For any public speaking opportunities kindly use the above mentioned communication methods.