My professional highlight of 2021? It’s got nothing to do with copywriting.
You may not know that as well as being a copywriter, I’m also a life writer. My big current project is a working-class memoir called Commonplace about growing up in a deindustrialised Northern town and being Irish in Britain. I’m a big fan of essay writing too, and I dabble in poetry from time to time. I’ve always written ‘for myself’; personally, I think not being able to stop yourself from writing (*waves*) is one of the hallmarks of a great commercial writer.
In March, I found out that an extract from Commonplace had been chosen as one of the final 12 for Spread the Word’s Life Writing Prize. I was honestly stunned – the Life Writing Prize anthology blows me away every year as a showcase for new talent and originality.
For me to be in there? Chosen from 939 entries? Holy-moly-macaroni.
Truthfully, I was also a little bit scared. “Life writing demands a fearlessness to begin at the truth,” said Catherine Cho, one of the LWP judges. I’m not fearless – quite the opposite, actually. The extract I submitted was superrrrrr personal; if I’d seriously thought I might make the anthology, I’d maybe have had some conversations with my family first…
As a copywriter, I spend a lot of time writing in other voices. Sometimes I need to sound clever; at other times authoritative; sometimes persuasive; sometimes all three (with a dash of humour) – gotta love those tone of voice guidelines.
Life writing is completely different. With memoir, you can’t try to make the story “hot”, says writing and all-round life guru Anne Lammott. It’s about being honest about what you’ve found, rather than telling the story you thought or wished you’d found. When I’m writing memoir, I often have Heather Havrilesky in my head, too: “Make this shorter and more vivid”, which is great advice for most types of copywriting too, actually.
Anyway, it’s perhaps a bit strange that one of my professional highlights from this year has precisely nothing to do with copywriting. But is that actually true?
Thinking about it, I realised that it was my decision to go freelance almost 5 years ago which allowed me to carve out more time for personal writing. Even with three kids under seven, that’s still true today.
Plus, copywriting is an incredibly creative career; you’re paying attention to everything around you – books, advertisements, dinner party anecdotes – and keeping your eyes peeled for pearls. You’re experimenting and getting feedback every day. It’s helped me build stamina and, even more crucially, confidence. Hence putting on my big girl pants and pressing ‘send’ on that submission back at the start of the year.
So thanks, copywriting – for helping me earn a crust and keeping me creatively satisfied.
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Want to read the writing I thought would see my aunties disown me? Here you go.