A little piece of magic right before your very eyes
It's all so, so easy. Really ? Ask Katie.
I was so, so happy not too long ago to see professional copywriter Katie Thompson publish a piece about what goes into writing copy.
In that short article Katie demystified the process and at the same time she gave an insight into just a small fraction of what goes into writing a piece of highly effective copy. Well done Katie.
Creatives are in some ways their own biggest enemies. That’s because we make things look so easy when they’re not.
It looks like we simply hold a loaded pen above a blank A4 piece of paper and the words just magically drip out of the end of the pen. Easy peasy, anyone can do that huh ?
And if it’s so easy then it’s not work, and if it’s not work then why should I pay anything at all for it, let alone a proverbial arm and a leg.
The actual monetary value of that single sheet of paper and a few drops of ink is next to nothing. So it’s money for old rope, isn’t it ?
Unless you too are a writer, or graphic designer even, you have no idea about the years of slog and dedication it takes to do something well AND at the same time make it look easy.
I’ve seen the same thing as a teacher and as a performer singer songwriter. People only see the magic. They tend not to see the years of hard slog and study, the sacrifices, the dedication to something which produces results.
As a writer you have to know what works and what doesn’t. It is both an art and a science. And it is a very talented individual who can bring the two together to produce a highly effective end result. What people see is all the shine and none of the shit. That is human nature I’m afraid.
It was the same when I had my own piano bar. All most folk could see was an attractive bar, beautifully decorated and exquisitely furnished, full of expensive bottles of alcohol.
The impression given was that I was loaded and had an easy rich life. What they chose not to see was the 100 to 150 hours a week working my butt off, the lack of sleep, the stress, the sheer exhaustion of getting everything just so, the worry about cash flow and unpaid bills, wages and taxes, supplies, cleaning, painting and decorating, etc etc etc. And on and on it goes, but because all they could see was the good stuff, they had no qualms about leaving without paying their bill. After all, what difference is the cost of a few drinks when this guy is so loaded ?
It seems to me that as a rule we do not appreciate all the hard work that goes into doing anything at all really. And so I do believe it is incumbent upon us to educate people as to what goes into producing that fantastic experience, just like Katie did. It is a bloody hard slog, at times with insufficient or even no reward, and all too often total lack of gratitude, that is what it is like.
All creative people like myself, Katie Thompson and a whole host of other creatives ask is that you think a little on that, and learn to appreciate what it is we do and how hard we have worked over many years to produce that little piece of magic right before your very eyes. Easy it is not. We just make it look that way.
