Roaming Homebody @roaminghomebody - Tumblr Blog

Posts

The greatest regret I have is that, early in my career, I showed myself such cruelty for not having accomplished anything significant. I spent so much time trying to write, but was paralyzed by how behind I felt. Many years later I realized that if I had written only a couple of pages a day, I would’ve written 500 pages at the end of a year (and that’s not even working weekends). Any contribution you make on a daily basis is fantastic. I still happen to write almost everything at once, but I now cut myself slack on all of the thinking and procrastination time I use. I know that it’s all part of my creative process.

Matthew Weiner’s advice for struggling artists

#writing #creative #creative life #matthew weiner #mad men #motivation #perserverance

if it doesn’t come bursting out of you in spite of everything, don’t do it. unless it comes unasked out of your heart and your mind and your mouth and your gut, don’t do it. if you have to sit for hours staring at your computer screen or hunched over your typewriter searching for words, don’t do it. if you’re doing it for money or fame, don’t do it. if you’re doing it because you want women in your bed, don’t do it. if you have to sit there and rewrite it again and again, don’t do it. if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it, don’t do it. if you’re trying to write like somebody else, forget about it. if you have to wait for it to roar out of you, then wait patiently. if it never does roar out of you, do something else. if you first have to read it to your wife or your girlfriend or your boyfriend or your parents or to anybody at all, you’re not ready. don’t be like so many writers, don’t be like so many thousands of people who call themselves writers, don’t be dull and boring and pretentious, don’t be consumed with self- love. the libraries of the world have yawned themselves to sleep over your kind. don’t add to that. don’t do it. unless it comes out of your soul like a rocket, unless being still would drive you to madness or suicide or murder, don’t do it. unless the sun inside you is burning your gut, don’t do it. when it is truly time, and if you have been chosen, it will do it by itself and it will keep on doing it until you die or it dies in you. there is no other way. and there never was.

so you want to be a writer?

Charles Bukowski, 1920 - 1994

#writing #creative #motivation

helloyoucreatives

roaminghomebody

Nice use of the #bookface trend.

#bookface #advertising

“Dontcha put it in your mouth” gave me some strange first impressions of advertising.

#psa #public service ads #advertising #canada #commercial #90s commercials #80s commercials

austinkleon

Nicely Said: Writing for the Web with Style and Purpose

Sometimes I blurb a book…

Writing is a skill that will hugely benefit anyone’s career, and luckily, it’s a skill that anyone can learn. Nicely Said is a wonderful guide to writing clearly and concisely for the audience you’re trying to reach. Whether you’re a professional or just getting started, you’ll find a ton to steal from here.

…but I forget to blog about it! Some of my favorite parts, below.

“Everything you publish should serve a purpose.”

Consider how different this is than writing fiction:

As you work on a piece ask yourself: How does it support your goals? How does it align with your mission? Does it teach people something new?

When researching, get people to tell you their stories.

To get better answers, ask better questions:

Don’t ask “Would you search for ‘meaningful gift’ on Google?” Make it more neutral, like: “How would you define a keepsake?” or “When was the last time you gave someone a meaningful gift?”

Use Mad Libs.

Fenton and Lee suggest Mad Libs for writing a mission statement:

We make (plural noun) for (audience noun). We help (audience noun) (verb) (adverb). We want to (verb) (noun) to (verb) so they can (verb) (adverb).

And a bio:

I’m a [ ]. We’re a [ ] company. That means we [ ]. We help people [ ]. My day-to-day looks like [ ].

“Don’t get to the point; start with it.”

Enough said.

Edit writing live in your internet browser.

This is a trick I used a million times as an interactive copywriter:

Open the page in your browser. Right-click the text you want o edit. Choose Inspect Element in the pop-up menu. The text should be highlighted in the source code. Replace it with something new. Press the Return key to see what the page would look like with the new text. If you want to show a few variations before making the changes, take a screenshot of each one.

Learn the difference between voice and tone.

Your voice is your company’s public personality. It doesn’t change much from day to day. Like you own individual personality, it comes through in all of your content and influences how people perceive you. On the other hand, your tone changes to fit the situation. While your voice if more about you, your tone is about your readers and how they feel. Together, your voice and tone make up your writing style.

“Read your work aloud.”

Learn to love talking to yourself, because reading your work out loud will transform your writing. When you’re not sure if you’re striking the right tone, read your content aloud to see how it sounds. Peter Elbow, professor emeritus of English at the University of Massachussetts at Amherst, calls this “speaking onto the page.”

I also recommend reading aloud through a good microphone and a set of headphones — I find hearing my voice amplified estranges things and helps me hear the words.

Be a good date.

That’s how Vonnegut put it. Here’s how Lee and Fenton put it:

Put yourself in the reader’s shoes. When you sit down to write, think about the people on the other side of the screen. Who are they? What do they need to hear from you? Before you publish anything, [ask these questions]: Is it useful? Is it true?

Nicely Said is $5 off today at Amazon! Just clip the coupon before you check out.

BTW, do follow Kate and Nicole. They’re smart ladies.

Filed under: my reading year 2014

roaminghomebody

This book has been incredibly useful to me as I work on voice and tone guidelines for a client at work. Thanks Austin Kleon for recommending!

#writing #web writing #brand guidelines #brand voice #user experience #copywriting

adteachings-deactivated20220125

Lovely ambient idea from 2008.

Advertising Agency: Paim Comunicação, Porto Alegre, Brazil Creative Director: Fabio Bernardi Art Director: Fabio Piucco Copywriters: Marcio Blank, Rodrigo Rocha Photographer: GH Digital

Source: Ads of the World

#advertising #ambient advertising #ceiling #pizza #creative