I told a stranger I smashed my Copywriter mug
I admitted to a stranger yesterday that I smashed my copywriter mug in a fit of frustration. It took 4 attempts to obliterate it, but the ceramic shards scattered across the patio gave momentary satisfaction.
In case you’re wondering, yes I did make sure Luna (copywriting assistant lab) was well out of the way. I’m not completely mad.
It was a controlled ceramic smashing frenzy! But it felt significant.
I’ve always been honest - too honest probably - but to admit my red-mist moment to an absolute stranger was probably an overstretch!
Thank you to the fabulous Amy Kean for not being phased.
The last few months have been sticky.
Clients, working solo, chasing payment, rejection. I tell my teens it’s a good lesson in resilience and part of life’s rich tapestry (yada, yada), but we’re all human, sometimes we feel the knocks.
Mug-gate felt pivotal.
I’m taking a little step back from copywriting, to give me time to work out where, why, what and who comes next.
I thought a good use of that time would be to catch up on all the CopyCon talks at ProCopywriter’s latest annual Copy Conference in Brighton. I convinced myself it would be too intimidating sitting in a room full of copywriters (I haven’t always been a Copywriter, I used to be an Advertising Account Director and I assumed those copywriter types might sniff out my infiltration!) so I opted for the post-event Video Pack, to watch in the comfort of my copywriter’s cocoon.
Two things have come up:
I should have gone!!
and
How utterly fabulous, varied and enlightening the talks are!!
The aforementioned Amy Kean (goodshoutcommunity.com) talked about the necessity to hold onto '“weird” and NOT snuggle up to “normality”.
Hoorah! Sigh.
PERMISSION to be creative and NOT toe the line!
When I first started copywriting (7 yrs ago) I felt a fraud, I’d been an Account Handler in ad agencies for a decade (did I mention it?), then a freelancing marketing consultant and only fell into copywriting because clients asked me to. First website I wrote was my brother in law’s plumbing & heating site -3 times - first off as a plumber, then as he scaled up to install Solar PV, next he separated the two businesses, then combined them again to include more renewables (GSHP & ASHP).
I was then asked to write ads, newsletters, press releases and a website for a New Forest care home. I loved it. Interviewing residents, uncovering their stories, hearing them laugh, watching their joy as they read their stories in print.
94 year old Jack flying a Spitfire for Project Propeller will always be a highlight - his first time in the cockpit in 70 years!
I was launched into Copywriting and the referrals have kept coming since.
But I digress.
The point is I’d shifted from account handler who briefed in a script or direct marketing letter to the oh-so-sullen copywriter upstairs (creatives were confined to the top floor!), to being COPYWRITER myself. But whilst there was creative brilliance under those eaves (Dave came up with iconic ‘80s Daley Thompson Lucozade ad and My Mate, Marmite in the ‘90s) it was tricky accessing it!
Now I was writing copy clients approved.
It’s the ultimate sweet spot; giving the client what they want, fulfilling an objective, whilst flexing those creative muscles and delivering something unique.
The bottom line is, I’ve earned my right to be creative, there isn’t much I haven’t written about and I’ve been at it for 7 years.
From cyber security to pilates; and air quality sensor technology to plastic injection moulding.
I’ve never minded being different. We’ve always encouraged our kids to embrace theirs.
I never needed to get smashed to dance all night in my Uni days, one glass of cheap, tepid white and I was away, happy to throw some shapes ‘til the early hours, leading the stragglers into Chick King for the night’s round-up.
Happy to chat to everyone, drawn to the unusual, the quirky, the quiet.
51 and I’m still more comfortable in my skull top, jangly LOVE earrings (thanks Nat) and Doc Martens.
The point is, hearing Amy Kean articulate that it’s OK to be CREATIVE, Andrew Boulton give “creatives” PERMISSION to be IDLE and seek space (I get the best ideas when I’m moving) and Sarah Hyndman demonstrate the power of typefaces…. they’ve all been super-charged lightening bolts.
A reminder that this industry is utterly fabulous and exactly why clients tap into us for help!
To deliver something they can’t.
So, I’ll carry on listening to the CopyCon talks, ignoring the fact they’re mostly younger than me, chuffed to nuts that I’ve still got stuff to learn and places to go with it!
Thank you @CopyCon - next time I’m coming.
And the mug?
Well, yes I miss it.
But hey the dog’s OK and Christmas is coming…