On being creative

Ode to the Copywriter

Read content
Gather ideas
Do research
Add to content
Hate how it reads and sounds
Rework content
Read brilliant new copy! It's utter crap...

Rework content
Rework again
Stare at copy for 5 minutes, 10 minutes
Stare at copy again for 5 minutes, 10 minutes
Rinse and repeat
Go for a 15-minute walk to clear your head but all you can think about is the copy

Wonder how on earth you can ethically bill for that last hour. Could you just put, "Stared blankly at page, hoping for inspiration. Stared earnestly at page, yearning for inspiration. Stared disgustedly at page, praying for inspiration. Went for walk. Nothing."???????

Go to bed and wake up at 3 in the morning. Inspiration! Write some great copy. It's good and you think about hitting SEND to send it off. But the expertise and intense training you paid $1000s for tell you to go to sleep on it.

Morning comes, That great copy is okay. Well there is 1 great part, brilliant even, an idea that you had while you were on your walk... but the rest....
And so it all repeats...

Until, in the end, it's ALL brilliant. You give your client the brilliant copy that sits on the site doing exactly what it is meant to do, hour after hour without EVER having to pay its copywriter again.