Gosh! It has been ages since I have contributed to my own blog. Mainly because I have been writing so many posts for other people! But my impending move hasn’t helped.
I am attempting to move house at the moment. I say attempting because I have been trying to move for over a year. The first house that I tried to buy fell through and so I have been forced to endure the miserable, drawn out process all over again.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Mr Tickle this week.
Not because I have a strange fetish for Mr Men, although that would make for a very interesting article!
My fleeting obsession was the result of a strange coincidence. A few weeks ago I bumped into Mr Tickle on the South Bank In London. Well, it was a man in a suit but you know what I mean!
I can find myself having to write about literally anything. That means that I am often faced with having to tackle subjects about which I know little or nothing. But I am always up for the challenge!
Recently I have been writing about rodents. I don’t have any pet rodents and the only critters in my house are generally the unfortunate mice that my cat hunts down. But they are usually dead by the time they make it onto my living room floor! I am currently researching hamsters but I can’t stop thinking about my only experience of looking after one of these small animals. It was a complete disaster!
I want to achieve the best possible results for my clients but in order to be successful in that aim, I need information. All too often I am left staring at a brief which is a triumph of minimalism. I pray earnestly for the onset of clairvoyance but my prayers are never answered! I then ask a series of questions in order to elicit the information that I need and I may or may not get the answers. I write what I think is required and cross my fingers.
I spend a great deal of time writing about products and services in which I have no interest. This predicament goes with the territory and the work can certainly still be enjoyable. But there is nothing like being handed a writing project and then discovering something really exciting.
From time to time I stumble across products and ideas that make me sit up take notice. I love writing about them and sometimes I even buy them! I get paid to write about them and then hand the cash straight back again! Such is life.
No matter how much time I waste sitting in front of my screen searching away, the perfect item of clothing or piece of furniture can remain stubbornly elusive. I have a clear vision of what I am looking for only to be faced with the fact that nobody makes it or at least nobody that I have yet managed to find.
There are some product descriptions which are simply a joy to write.
I literally race to my keyboard when I am presented with products that I really believe in.
My copywriting life is even more joyous when the subject at a hand lends itself to creativity and a little humour.
There is nothing that gets my creative juices flowing more than, well, juice!
I think that I am suffering from a classic case of the holiday blues.
Actually that is a stupid expression because there was nothing blue about my recent holiday. It was more white (snow) with hints of vibrant yellow (too much limoncello). What I really meant to say was that I have been suffering from the post holiday blues. That sinking feeling you get when the fun is over and you realise that your workload hasn’t gone away. It has just grown exponentially. Mainly because you had the audacity to bugger off for a few days and your clients didn’t!
Making the mundane sound riveting can be quite a task.
So how do you transform the banal into headline grabbing news?
With great difficulty usually!
Continue reading Humour – Dangerous Territory for a Copywriter
Over the past week my workload has kept me up until midnight. I refuse to miss deadlines and will do whatever it takes to complete projects on time. But is working so many hours really a good idea?
I am reminded of my university days when I would regularly write essays at 4 am. I had to come to realise that I was producing my best work in the middle of the night. I have no idea why. Perhaps it was because there were no distractions. Even the loudest and most obnoxious students had fallen into bed by then.
As a writer I know all about the problems of being confined to my desk.
I spend hours and hours every day locked to my keyboard and staring at my computer screen.
Writing is fabulous work for the incurably lazy. Unfortunately I am not lazy so I need to inject some action into my working day and lack of exercise isn’t the only problem that I face.
COPYWISER 