Consider a lucrative career in copywriting!

I am amazed and more than a little ashamed to say this, but this blog contains the most actual pure writing I have created in many years. When I look back on everything I have written as a copywriter for two major North Texas companies, most of it is selling copy. I have written headlines, price points, very short and factual body copy, catalog numbers, prices and footlines. That's pretty much the extent of it.

Yes, there were some exceptions. There were rare opportunities to write creative editorials and other longer pieces. Sometimes they allowed us to branch out and get more wordy and fun with our advertising copy. I kept those for my portfolio. The rest, except for some pieces I've kept as examples of my work, is gone. It's all buried at the bottom of landfills throughout the country. I expect that 10,000 years from now, some of my work will be excavated and eventually displayed behind glass cases in a museum.

"Dad, what does the writing on that say?"

"Any size men's shorts 9.99."

"But what does it mean?"

"The greatest minds of our age can't figure it out, son."

For most of my career, the unrelenting mantra was "cut the copy" or "nobody reads the copy" or "reduce the copy and make that (price point, logo, headline) as big as possible." Invariably, the copy got cut. And it was OK. I learned early on not to fall in love with my copy. While very few people know much about layout or design or photography, everyone without exception considers themselves to be a writer, even if they couldn't tell the difference between a vowel and a verb. You develop a thick skin and learn not to worry about it. As a friend of mine once said, "We're not curing cancer here."

Most successful copywriters learn not to take themselves or their work too seriously. You find fun and satisfaction in your writing where and when you can. You find it in a tight creative headline or a single line of body copy that is clever, perfectly crafted and short enough not to be noticed by the copy cutters. I found the most fun I had while copywriting was when I had the rare opportunity to write something slightly absurd.

When I wrote the headline for this Radio Shack ad, I laughed and laughed. At the time, I thought I was so clever. Today, not so much.

When I was in college, I thought I was going to be a journalist. I never wanted to be one of those inane reporters who asked questions like "So, how do you feel now that your family has been hideously murdered?" I would have enjoyed writing human interest stories, though. I loved the idea of promoting people's personal stories and not tearing people down. I think that describes me and about a million other people, all pushing and shoving each other for those jobs so few and far between.

When I graduated college, the economy was similar to the way it is now. I sent out resume after resume and could not find a job as a journalist. So one day my mother-in-law-to-be suggested that I apply with Radio Shack's advertising department in Fort Worth. I worked at various Radio Shack stores while making my way through college. Much to my surprise they flew me from Ohio to Texas and offered me a job as a copywriter. I didn't even understand at the time what I was applying for. But I grabbed it and the $9,500 a year salary.

I never started out to be a copywriter. I stumbled into it, found I was good at it, and made it a career. And I can honestly blame it all on my mother-in-law.

I don't know that I will ever be a copywriter again. We'll have to see where life takes me. Maybe it's time to write a book instead, about working in the corporate world and all of the many characters I have met along the way.

I think I'll call it "The Office."