Standing on the Sacred Ground of an Artistic Landmark

It was surreal and serene and incomprehensible and utterly delightful and a time-stands-still moment in my life that I shall never forget.

My milestone birthday trip to London and Paris with Rich was filled with countless memories and sheer moments of pleasure. I wasn’t prepared for a trip to a small island north of Paris to be one of those moments. In fact, I wasn’t even sure we would find the place. But Rich, more determined than I, as this was a sort of mission for him, charted the path and led the way as we continued our exploration of the Paris Metro and made our way up to the island of La Grande Jatte.

Go Ahead, Take a Stand

Up, down. Up, down.

Welcome to my work world, of late. No, we haven't started in-office exercising. You'll find no lunges going on here. Instead, I have one of those jazzy adjustable desktops (Varidesk) that allow you to sit or stand at your desk while you work. And I gotta say, two thumbs up.

The VARIDESK. No, not my desk. Please, who has a working desk that neat?

Early Adopters, Please Be Quiet, and Thank You

Maybe it's just me. Is it just me?

File this under "Things that Shouldn't Annoy Me but Sometimes Do":

People who use Uber and like to let you know they use Uber. 

Can Sloppy Writing Kill a Career?

Can poor writing hold someone back from getting ahead in their chosen career?

I recently read this blog post from HubSpot and found it intriguing and oddly satisfying. I don't know how scientific the research is, but this study of 100 LinkedIn profiles led writers/researchers at Grammarly to conclude that sloppy writers tend to have more stagnant, less successful careers, regardless of their actual skills and talents.

A Picture Paints.... well, you know...

It is not always words that motivate a copywriter (at least not this one). Sometimes, oftentimes, a picture inspires creativity and proves the cliche true: that it really does paint a thousand words. This image struck and mesmerized me recently as I was sitting at a red light in downtown NYC:

Reflections of a new icon: One World Trade Center

Seeing the reflection of this new icon, One World Trade Center, towering over and reflected in a building across the street, spoke volumes to me in a brief opportune moment. I quickly fumbled for my iPhone and hoped the traffic light would stay red for an extra few moments. Fortunately, it did – and I was able to get a pretty good shot leaning out my window. The building looks imposing as it towers over its neighbors, but it also strikes a patriotic chord and speaks instantly of resilience, the indomitable spirit of New Yorkers, and the transformative ability of the human spirit to rise again.

Pen vs Keypad: A Creative Showdown

I love LinkedIn.

Ok, that has nothing to do with the title of this blog, I know. But when you spend some time on LinkedIn and in the site's various groups, at least in the writer groups I engage in, you inevitably find thought-provoking, stimulating articles and conversations. Like this one, which David K. William posted in our mutual group, The Professional Business Writers – and written by Suchi Rudra, as posted on the Web Writer Spotlight:

http://webwriterspotlight.com/does-writing-by-hand-make-you-more-creative#.VRmjdymfcp4.linkedin

Writing by hand is laborious. In fact, I've found that the more I've grown to use the keypad to write, the more difficult it is to write by hand when I do... and sometimes, I even end up with writer's cramp.

But the question posed in this article is interesting: does writing by hand make you more creative? Does the labor have virtue for writers? In an age when kids are learning to type on iPads before they can even write their own name with a crayon, it's a valid consideration.

For me, this piece nicely gave words to my own previously unexpressed feelings about writing by hand. In her essay "Putting Pen to Paper, but Not Just Any Pen and Not Just Any Paper," which is quoted in this article, writer Mary Gordon advocates that:

“...I believe that the labor has virtue, because of its very physicality. For one thing it involves flesh, blood and the thingness of pen and paper, those anchors that remind us that, however thoroughly we lose ourselves in the vortex of our invention, we inhabit a corporeal world.”

It really is about the "thingness" (which I'm surprised to learn is actually a word, meaning: "the quality or state of objective existence or reality" - how have I missed this word for so many years?): that mystical, natural act of connecting physically from flesh and blood through hand to pen and paper.

Somehow, the process of writing by hand can facilitate a completely different flow of creative output for me, which is why it's a great exercise to use when facing writer's block. I have found it particularly useful when writing ad copy and generating ideas for headlines and ad concepts. Writing by hand helps me to visualize the ad layout and design better, which often stimulates even more ideas.

The labor has virtue indeed!

How Do You Know if Advertising Works?

"There is no better test of an advertisement than whether or not it actually sells the product! In fact, it is the only true way of determining if your advertisement works."
-- John Caples, Advertising Hall of Fame

Truer words have rarely been spoken in marketing circles.

Legendary ad man John Caples

John Caples was a legendary ad man (Mad Man) who is probably best known for writing one of the most famous advertising headlines ever when he was a young copywriter in 1926: 

"They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano but When I Started to Play!''

The copy that followed was long. Several hundred words long, designed to solicit students for a correspondence course at the U.S. School of Music. And the ad was an instant and classic success, inspiring many imitations over the years. 

The ad that changed an industry

Caples went on to become an expert in direct-response advertising. According to his obituary in the New York Times:

“Mr. Caples was credited with pioneering many aspects of advertising, including copy testing and extensive research. He debunked humorous advertising copy, saying that ‘only half the people in this country have a sense of humor, and clever ads seldom sell anything.’ He also advised copywriters to ‘use words you would expect to find in a fifth-grade reader’' because ‘the average American is approximately 13 years old mentally.’

Mr. Caples was elected to the American Advertising Federation's Hall of Fame in 1977 and passed away in 1990. But his pioneering thoughts and practices about advertising live on.

The One That Gets Me Every Time...

I imagine I’m not alone. As writers, surely we all have that one word that trips us up every time we attempt to write it. Ok, maybe there are even more than one.

For me, it’s the word “bureaucracy.” Fortunately, I don't need to use the word all that often - which is probably part of the problem. But for the life of me, it never looks like it’s spelled right – and consequently, I always have to spellcheck it or look it up in a dictionary.

(Wait – an actual dictionary? Yes, I do use online dictionaries – but I also still have and regularly consult my bound, hard-copy, “old-school” dictionary by my desk… but that could be a whole other conversation…) 

Anyway, in the word "bureaucracy," it’s that crazy “eau” combination... and then the second “u” in the word that throws me every time.

I remember one of my friends in sixth grade telling me how her father taught her to remember how to spell the word "friend." She always had trouble with the "i before e" thing, as many do. She used a simple mnemonic (now there's a word that can trip you up!) trick to remember the correct spelling: you must "fri" (fry) to the "end." For the life of me, that old memory trick has stayed with me to this day and I still think of it often when I write that word.

Now if I could only come up with a similar mind/memory trick for "bureaucracy."

What's your killer word - the one that gets you stuck every time you write it?