If You’re a Professional Copywriter, There’s a Book You Should Read

By

Scott D. Parker

We talk a lot here about fiction writing, but there are a good number of folks who make a living with a day job that also involves writing. I’m one of those fortunate individuals. I’m a marketing/corporate writer for an oil and gas company so I get to write and create content all day long. That includes my lunch hour fiction-writing sessions.

The corporate environment in which I find myself Mondays through Fridays is a good one, the most creative one in which I’ve worked. Everyone feels zero issues with chiming in on items, even if it’s a writer like me commenting on a design element or one of the designers suggesting different words.

As with fiction, it’s always a good idea to hone one’s skills. Unlike fiction, however, there are a lot more books about corporate writing and copywriting and marketing writing. My boss mentioned one last week. It’s by Robert W. Bly and it’s called The Copywriter’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Copy That Sells. The other sub-heading is A Master Class in Persuasive Writing for the Digital Age. My boss’s comment was that he might need to get the physical book because, as he listened to the audiobook on his commute, he kept wanting to make notes or underline passages.

I hadn’t heard about the book, so I read the introduction online and scanned the table of contents. The next thing I did was order a copy. This is the 4th edition, from 2020, so it brings in the various digital components of the modern internet. Since I also have a commute, I went ahead and ordered the audio as well. That way, I can follow along while driving, the book in the seat next to me, a pencil marking my page so I can underline key passages (at red lights only!).

Now, I’m only up to Chapter 3 (Writing to Communicate) but the content in Chapter 1 (Introduction to Copywriting) was excellent. Chapter 2, however, the one entitled “Writing to Get Attention: The Headline and the Subject Line,” has already been put to good use. I had to write a series of emails for a customer event and, if you’re like me, if the subject line of an email doesn’t grab me, I’m more likely to delete it unread. Bly’s chapter really helped me hone those five email subject lines this week. It’s pretty nifty when something like this book can pay immediate dividends.

If you write marketing material for a living, I encourage you to check out Bly’s book. I bet it’ll help you. I’ll report back when I’ve finished the book, but I was too excited about how just a couple of chapters already helped me rethink certain aspects of my day job that I wanted to share.

Writing Resolutions: 2015

by
Scott D. Parker

So, have you broken your resolutions yet? I jest, but not by much. Odds are that, come 1 February, many folks who make resolutions in the drunken stupor at midnight of New Year’s Eve, will falter thirty-one days later.

I don’t usually do that. I make resolutions that are attainable and trackable. A few years ago, it was flossing. Everyone can and should floss, but how do you go from not being in the habit of flossing to doing it every day? Well, you make it a habit by making a streak. You start small: floss every day for the month of January. After 31 days, if you have achieved the streak, you celebrate. Then you do it again in February. You just keep doing it. I didn't break my flossing streak until after I had flossed over 1,000 straight days.

I had a very successful 2014. I completed one tale begun in late 2013, and then I started and completed four other stories. They should all be published here in 2015. My favorite achievement is the 30,000-word novella I conceived of and wrote in the month of November. I took December off, on purpose, because I have an audacious writing goal for 2015: Write fiction every day.

It should be doable, especially since I now write a lot on my iPod. Here’s the key to my success: no minimum word count. True, I’ll aim for at least 500 per day, a number I can usually reach in 15 minutes, but I won’t sweat it if I manage only 250, 200, or less. Now, I’d like to think that I can eke out more than 100, but I’m not making that rule. If I write a sentence, that counts. If I write 1,000 in a day, that doesn’t mean I don’t have to write the next day. Write fiction. Every day.

That’s one of my two professional resolutions for 2015. The other is to get my books published. Again, I’m aiming to publish more than one, but I’m keeping the goal at one book published this year. Since this’ll be my first ever book publication, it’ll be a major professional achievement. I do it once, it’ll be cause for opening a bottle of champagne. I’m hoping to open more than one bottle, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.

What are your resolutions, professional or personal, for 2015.

Finishing a Manuscript and Asking Why Not?

By

Scott D. Parker

On Tuesday afternoon, during one of my five-minute breaks at my day job, I put the final period on the first draft of my latest manuscript. On my iPod Touch. Again, as I’ve written about before, I still can’t believe how productive I can be writing a first draft on an iPod. I realized that I was close during my 5am writing session but wasn’t able to finish at home. But that was just as well since…between 40-50% of the first draft was written on my iPod. I went home and copied the new text into Scrivener and then printed it. There it is on the left.

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep on saying it: if you want to write, there are ways to write when you’re just about anywhere. I celebrated by going to rehearsal that night and then chilling later that evening with a glass of pinot grigio. As only writers can attest, there’s nothing like finishing a novel. This one clocked in at 59,000 so it’s officially a short novel. 

I'm not the only one, either. There's a post over at The Digital Reader about writing on smartphones. 

And the next day, in order to keep my writing streak alive (every day since 1 May), I started the next one. But it’s low-key because I have other things to do with my spare time. What, pray tell, are they? Astute readers will likely have drawn a conclusion to many of my side comments in my posts these past few weeks so it’s time to let the cat out of the bag. I am starting my own independent publishing company to publish my own ebooks starting in 2015.

Probably the first question you may have is why? My short answer is Why Not? My longer answer is more nuanced and I’ll write about it in the coming weeks.

You’ve been reading about my productivity in completing manuscripts since May 2013. In that time, I’ve written six manuscripts of varying length, eight if you count a couple of short stories. And you will have the chance to read them come 2015.  So stay tuned.

But back to the iPod (or smartphone or whatever device you carry around): Always Be Writing. You can do it. Modern technology makes it unbelievably simple. You only have to want to. And I do.

Do you?

Always Be Writing

by

Scott D. Parker

Back in the day, when mass market paperbacks were first invented, I imagine there were a lot of people who suddenly realized “Wow, I can take the book I’m reading and stick it in my back pocket and carry it around with me.” The portability of a paperback meant that avid readers could always read, in line at the grocery store, the post office, wherever. Same for the boys who fought in World War II. Paperbacks were light and took up relatively little space. It was a good thing.

Fast forward to today’s smartphone and iPods and tablets. For avid readers, being able to carry a literal library of reading material is one of the best things for readers who don’t mind reading on a screen. Now, with all the apps like Kindle, Nook, Kobo, etc., we readers never are without a book. Moreover, for those of us with ereaders at home, our progress is synced along the way. Throw in audiobooks and this is truly a golden age for readers.

I’ve been both kinds of person in my lifetime. I used to carry paperbacks in my pocket, I used to read on my Palm Pilot (!), and now I enjoy having my iPod Touch G5 with me all the time. It’s remarkable and nothing new.

What is new is on the writer’s side of things. If you’ve read some recent posts, you’ll know that I have a day job and on five-minute breaks at said job, I pull out my iPod and write a few paragraphs of my story. In fact, I tweeted this week a milestone in that type of writing:

997. The number of words I wrote today on my iPod Touch in seven 5-min. breaks at the day job. Yes, it can be done. #AlwaysBeWriting

I used the hashtag “AlwaysBeWriting.” I’m not a huge hash tagger and others have already used that tag and my subconscious just reminded me. Don’t care. But it made me think of my recent activities as I’m walking around this earth with this little computer in my pocket and I realized something remarkable: I was pulling the iPod out not to read something but to advance my current book.

Was I really? What did I do at Kroger last weekend? Hmm, I wrote a few sentences. What did I do last month when I took the boy to the dentist? Wrote. Standing around the kitchen waiting for the beef to be browned and the water to boil? Wrote. During a commercial break while watching “Face/Off” or “Project Runway?” Discuss which artist was the best and whom to send home. Gotcha, but you see my point.

For me, having this little device has enabled me to always have my active *first draft* manuscript with me. If I have two or five or ten minutes free during the day, I can choose to write and I often do.

Every little sentence gets you closer to The End, even if those sentences are written while waiting in line somewhere you’d never think you could write. That’s what I meant by the hashtag #AlwaysBeWriting.

Am I alone in this new realization? Are y’all always writing?

Writing with an iPod, Part II

by

Scott D. Parker

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about my new iPod Touch and the new apps that I now could use to help me craft ideas for my stories. I focused on the Index Card app for brainstorming ideas and scenes for stories. It’s a great app and I still use it.

Then I figured out something even more fundamental for writing: actual composing on the iPod. Yes, really.

So, when I’m here at my Mac, I use Scrivener to write fiction. I love this program for its simplicity, ease of use, and its programmability. But there is no iOS version of it. Yes, I always moved a copy of the updated file to Dropbox every time I close a writing session, but there’s no good way to write on *that* file on the fly. It’s only a copy.

What to do?

Well, there is a program and is available on the fly: Google Docs. A little over two weeks ago, it finally dawned on me what I can do: use Google Docs to always have a working copy of the book with me. Scrivener is still the primary, but Google Docs is the wonderful on-the-go solution. Here’s my current, efficient writing schedule for my work week.

I use Scrivener for my 5am writing session. When I am done, I compile the file and copy it to Dropbox. I also copy the current scene/chapter into a Google Docs file. It has *all* the scenes up to that point. There’s a 10,000-word-count limit to Google Docs and my scenes average just under 1,000 words so I have a series of Google Docs files of my book out there. There are three parts now. I’m on Part III.

Here’s where the magic happens. On my iPod Touch, I now carry a working copy of my book in Google Docs. I take a five-minute break every hour at the day job. In that break time, I walk the atrium, basically I do laps, usually around five or so. As soon as I start walking, I have the iPod in my hands, the current Google Docs file open to where I left off that morning. I walk and type *on the iPod* for five minutes. True, I can only get a hundred words or so in five minutes, but I take *seven* breaks per day. That’s about 600-700 new words in little five-minute snippets. The hardest part is when the five minutes are up and I have to return to work.

Let’s do the math. I can get around 600-800 words in the 5 o’clock hour. Then, in my breaks, I can get another 600-700 words written in the working file. That’s over a thousand words per day, which is a personal goal for me. But just under half of that count is written on a little bitty iPod screen with my thumbs.

To close out the day, I copy the material I wrote in Google Docs back into Scrivener and save that updated file. Boom. I’ve just moved the needle forward and moved that much closer to The End. As a bonus, I have my book saved in three places: the Mac (Scrivener), Dropbox (word file of Scrivener export), and Google Docs.

I get some funny looks from colleagues who can’t believe I’m writing on the iPod, but I am. I love this little thing. It’s making my writing days so much more productive.

Does anyone else do this kind of thing? What are the ways y’all write on the fly?

Guest Blog Jim Winter

Jim Winter's been around quite a while. He's published numerous short stories, mostly featuring PI Nick Kepler. He's opinionated. His blog is full of tales of politics, e-bookery, and Cincinnati. Last week, he release his first e-book, ROAD RULES, which you can find on Amazon, Barnes and Noble annnnd that ol' Smashwords thingamabob. He asked me if he could do a guest blog, and since I'm a nice dude, the school year's just starting, and Jim always has something interesting to say, I agreed.

Plus, I kinda felt bad for Jim. He's hails from Cleveland:



Unlikely Heroes

There are a lot of potential heroes in Road Rules. The traditional heroes. Lt. Estevez is the grizzled veteran cop on one last case. Terri Kennedy is a senior FBI agent trying to juggle a major case with her family life. Robert Jordan is a PI with a bit of a chip on his shoulder and a personal stake in the game. Then there’s the mismatched pair of feds – Vodrey and Scalzi – who show up in Savannah to bring this caper to a close, or try to.

None of these are really major protagonists. No, this story is not driven by the world-weary tarnished night, the dedicated agent of the law, or the latest take on the buddy cop duo. Instead, Road Rules focuses on – and is ultimately brought to a close by – a well-meaning idiot, a wimpy out-of-work insurance guy, and a woman trying to prove herself by retrieving a car she let thieves steal while she was in the john. Sounds more like Harold & Kumar than Elmore Leonard.

Or does it?

One of the things that makes a story work is shaking up our expectations. Our hapless trio isn’t trying to save the day. They just blunder into it. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they’re up against criminals whose greed exceeds their intelligence. Of all the antagonists, only Loman, Julian Franco’s right hand man, shows any sign of self-discipline. Hence, he is the only character to get his own short story (“In Collections”).

But how realistic is this?

Here in Cincinnati, we had a safe-cracking team that seemed to be unstoppable. The ringleader watched CSI and gleaned enough from the show to keep from leaving fingerprints and DNA evidence. So what brought them down? The leader kept most of the loot and paid a couple of his cohorts in cigarettes. That’s a winning gambit to ensure loyalty. Plus, he had a habit of waltzing into an East End bar – one I used to frequently deliver pizza to years earlier – and brag about the jobs he pulled. Trouble for him was two District Two patrolmen also frequented that bar. It was only a matter of time before the uniforms had an amusing tale to tell the detectives at work.

You see it time and time again. Some criminals are smart enough to get away with their misdeeds, but most generally call attention to themselves in their attempts to hide their crimes. I know of one guy dealing in prescription pills who beat up a man who caught him stealing money. Guess what happened to him. Can you say “parole”?

Or let’s look at Casey Anthony, a poster child for the criminally stupid at best. Her daughter was found by accident. Yes, Casey managed to get the entire state of Florida looking for her missing daughter only to have some guy reading meters find the body by accident.

Quentin Tarantino once talked about this. He said he didn’t just want to go through the motions where the bad guys slip around the corner and run for the getaway car. The whole premise of Resevoir Dogs, he said, was that the bad guys get the loot, slip around the corner, and get knocked over smacking into an old lady who just happened to be in the way. That’s reality.

It’s also pretty funny, and no one does that kind of humor as bloodily as Tarantino.

I’m not nearly as intense as Tarantino, though I’ve done my share of trading Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown quotes over the years. But Road Rules is based on the premise that much of what happens in crime is based on luck. Whether it’s good luck or bad all depends on what happens and to whom.

Stan, Mike, and Cinnamon turn their bad luck into good, at least for a time.

Workin' on some writin'

Just keep swimming.

When my novels first showed up on shelves, I got interviewed by a couple of local newspapers. One question they loved to ask was "You're a teacher, how do you have time to write?"

My standard answer was: I leave work around 3:30 and write until I hit 1,000 words. That's kind of a lie. I mean, it sounded good, it made me look good, and I always shot for 1000 words.

But it didn't always happen.

My real answer is I leave at 3:30 and write what I can. Some days it's 250 words. Some days it's 1,500. Today it was 640 and I stopped in the middle of a scene.

Listen, teaching is tough and mentally draining. Sometimes my brain just won't function enough to get me through a scene. Sometimes life gets in the way. I mean, it probably evens out 1,000 words a day in the long run, but it's never exactly 1,000 words.

But what I do love is when I'm teaching writing and something I say or a kid says or a colleague says in class something and it sets off that spark. When I have a moment of clarity about the piece I'm working on.

That happened the other day. I can't really remember what I was talking about in class, but a word I said sparked something. That afternoon, I got home and was really productive. The words flowed out of my fingers, I had a definite end point of the chapter in mind.

And the last sentence I wrote gave me chills.

And that's the fun of writing and teaching. You never know where the inspiration is going to come from.

And sometimes it doesn't come, but at least I get words down. At least I keep the forward motion.

It reminds me of that Dorrie from FINDING NEMO.

Just keep swimming.

Charles Dickens and His Wax Tablet

by
Scott D. Parker

Picture this: Charles Dickens has writer’s block. He can’t quite work out what new tragedy he can inflict upon Esther Summerson. He’s stuck. So he puts down his pen and moves his ink bottle off his desk. He stands up and, from a top shelf, pulls down a wax-covered writing tablet, the kind the Romans used. Sharpening the stylus, old Boz sits down and starts writing the next chapter of Bleak House on wax.

Think that’s how it happened? Yeah, I don’t think so, either. But I sometimes wonder, judging by the habits of modern writers and extrapolating backwards, if that’s how it might’ve gone.

What am I saying? Only this: in all the discourse about writing in this modern age, many folks choose to use older technology to get their writing complete. David McCullough famously uses a 1940s-era manual typewriter for all the books he’s written. Jonathan Franzen, in the cover story of Time last week, notes that he writes on an old laptop whose ethernet port has been superglued shut, thus never allowing that computer to access the internet. Even me, when I find myself writing during vacations, I take pen and paper rather than laptop.

Why?

McCullough has said that he likes the slowness of non-digital technology. It allows him to think through his prose and the structure of his books. I agree with him. When I break out the pen and ink, often my ideas gush through my brain and my hand can’t keep up. On those non-laptop vacations (that’s a rule I put in place, not imposed by any family member), I long for the keyboard and speed of my typing. Writing longhand is, often, too slow for me. Ironically, when I find myself stuck in a particular passage, instead of forging ahead on the laptop, I start writing longhand. The log jam breaks and I keep on moving, back on the laptop. Makes me want to study the nature of writer’s brains and see if there’s some thousand-year evolution of neurons and the imagination that has been forged and that we, in the digital age, are attempting to melt and reforge into something new.

As funny as it is to imagine Dickens writing on wax or papyrus or hieroglyphics, I can’t help but ask the obvious question: given a chance do you think Dickens (or any writer pre-twentieth century writer) would have used a laptop and a word processor?

I have my answer, but I’ll let y’all start…