Newsletter
Education, education, education... 01.09.09.
Growing Ambitions, an award-winning not-for-profit organisation, arranges for professionals to visit schools and talk to students about their careers, to inspire kids to think about careers they might not otherwise have considered - or maybe even known about. I came across them through my local Chamber of Commerce, and the concept struck a chord.
I've just signed up as a speaker with Growing Ambitions, partly because careers education at my school was pretty hopeless and it took me until I was in my 50s to discover what I really wanted to do (my first ambition, opera singing, was a non-starter); and partly because a lot of people don't even know that copywriting exists as a career, nor what a wide range of disciplines the word "copywriting" covers. They certainly don't know what's needed to become a copywriter*; nor that it can be, in its way, as creative as writing novels, poetry or short stories (with much more chance of getting published). (*What's needed? Wit, intelligence, lots of reading, a love of words, determination, the ability to work on your own, plus a wee bit of talent. And lots of humility...)
Some writers will tell you that writing copy comes close to writing poetry. For both you need to put across as much information/persuasion in as few words as possible. You have to be able to tug at the heart-strings, make people want to take action, change their thinking, in short order. And writing a very few words (e.g. a headline) can take much longer than writing lots - every word has to be perfect.
So I'm looking forward to my first requests to speak. Will I persuade floods of students to become copywriters? I doubt it. But I hope I can give kids who want to write an alternative to the depressing plop of rejection slips from novels that will never be published, or the cut-throat life of modern journalism. Whether they work through an agency or freelance (or both) there's plenty of work out there and a good living to be made. And so many niches: from snappy ad straplines to corporate reports, web content, direct mail packages, newsletters and blogs, sales letters, financial reports, video scripts - their talents will find a home.
I'll let you know how I get on with Growing Ambitions - watch this space! And if you want to find out more about them, go to http://www.growingambitions.org/index.php. I think it's a very worthwhile cause and I hope you'll feel inspired to join in.
What else is new?
As you may know, I've been working part-time (in theory 2 days a week, but through the summer more like 5) as a tour guide at Glamis Castle. It's been a busy summer, numbers holding up well with all the "staycationers" and groups of Italians and Spaniards escaping the heat, and 6 fewer guides than we had last summer.
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I handed in my resignation, with effect from the end of October, to concentrate on my writing business. I don't know about you, but I can't concentrate on writing at the end of a day when I've taken six groups of people round, in anything up to four languages, with screaming babies, dozens of questions at all levels from 4-year-olds asking where the dungeons are to 80-year-olds asking the provenance of a particluar piece of porcelain. I can't even concentrate on my knitting!
And it's all very well getting up early to get work done, but there only ever seems enough time to check my emails - not even to read all of them - before rushing out the door to walk the dogs on the way to work.
Something had to give and, after seven happy years, it's the guiding. I'll be carrying on writing the new exhibition (we're about half-way round), so Glamis hasn't seen the last of me. It may be finished next year or may take another couple of years, depending on the budget, but it's something I love doing, and it's very satisfying to see it all take shape.
And now I have to move my marketing up a gear. Enough taxiing, it's time to make the business really fly!
Best wishes for your business success, and if I can help in any way please get in touch...
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