The Tale of a Copywriter

How writing has changed my life? Every writer dreams of the day when someone will ask them this very question. It's a perfect excuse to write their own origin story of some kind. In the psychological world, the action of writing is an outlet for emotions and every 'dear diary' moment is a way to keep your memory on-point, while it helps you evaluate your accomplishments in life. With that fact, we can confidently assume that writing something down is widely known to help every individual in one way or another. Me? Well. Let me tell you one thing I’ve discovered a few months ago.

December 2018, 24-29. The week I stopped myself from writing. The week I tried to so-called give myself a break from writing and just live my life in peace. Long story short, it was hell. I felt so miserable. Even the news of Ryan Gosling got married didn't hit me this bad, neither did the horrific experience of watching the DC justice league live-action movie and feeling the devastation of my time being wasted, had nothing close to how I was feeling that week. I know it seems unlikely why one will put oneself into such a situation, what can I say? I have a curious soul. I put myself in experiments all the time, that’s how I know the color Orange has a special effect on me and belching Mariah Carey song for 5 days in a row will make you search for Gollum juice recipe in urgency.

That week, though it was a torture, it made me realize something. It made me comprehend that Writing has stopped changing my life for a long time. I was introduced to the art of writing at a very young age. However, I began embracing it for the sole purpose of remembering the lives I've lived in my head in my attempt to escape reality. The joy I felt writing what was in my head and the accomplishment I felt after the fact made me aspire to be a writer someday. I was introduced to Marvel about the same time and began exploring the art of storytelling in the most impactful way possible. After some time I learned about the structure and psychology of mass reaction through movies and tv shows. Imagination came very easy to me as a kid. Without realizing, as I grew older I was looking for ways to make every story I was creating become unique and interesting for my entertainment. I knew I wanted to be a creative writer, yet a part of me just wanted to see what else I can do. So I became exposed to the world of songwriting. I became very intrigued about how just a simple string of words possess a story within it. Just for the fun of it, I started trying very hard to write lyrics, that’s when I concluded that my nemesis in the art of writing is songwriting. It is the bane of my existence. That’s all I will say about that.

However, all those days trying to learn and write it wasn’t all a waste. As soon as I was taught about copywriting, I very quickly came into a realization that the ability to deliver punchlines that don’t rhyme is acceptable in the world of advertising. That forgiving concept of advertising had inspired me to fuse my observation skills of human behavior and my communication skills using words into something beneficial to me. I became a copywriter. I wrote the best I can for the targeted market, but at the end of the day when you are working in an agency, your target market is not the demographics for the product or services anymore. Your target market is the client themselves. Sometimes you win their hearts with amazing ideas, sometimes you don’t and write what they want instead. Being in the field for 5 years and counting, I found that the written words are always easily misunderstood by many in this world, especially by those who see no value in it. That is why writers like me are important. It may seem like a string of words to a person, but that string word is put there for a reason, it is put there to communicate a specific message to a targeted person. Simple words attract layman to read it and they purchase it because they understand what it does. Fancy words attract people with a fancy background and want things they buy sound elegant. Likewise, Elite people are attracted to words that sound prestigious and grand to uphold their class. Either way, I had a challenging career. Having the opportunity to set tones for each Oldtown White Coffee products, setting a direction for the birth of dimsum tv, messing about with words for Golden Screen Cinema’s merch launch promos, concept creating Hektar Group mall’s festive season deco and collaterals, writing quotes and copy that will match the style of 185 Pizza, discovering beautiful words for Mon Cheri Skincare, and tons more had made me a very happy writer.

March of 2019 was a crucial month for my writing career, as I parted my ways with the company I’ve worked for, because of a geographical issue. I took a chance and ventured into a world of unknown. Social Agency. Armed with just my ability to write my ideas and give a voice to brands, I took the challenge to keep up with the ever-changing world as a freelance content writer. However, becoming a lone wolf, made me realize how happy Chuck Norris must have felt in Expandables 2, he finally gets to work in a team and brainstorm ideas. I found myself constantly crave for that, to work in a team.

Back to the question, how writing has changed my life? Writing has helped me think of different point of views, and understand how different words bring impact to the different human beings of various backgrounds. Writing taught me how to communicate. Writing makes me observe and tell stories that appeal to people. Writing challenges me and relaxes me at the same time. Writing gave me an occupation, Writing gave me a future. Writing embrace me to be who I am today. So I shall say it again, writing has stopped changing my life for a long time, it eventually became my life.