“If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most
sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write
every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and
glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your
head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries
and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like
perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a
wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I
wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with
hysteria, and out of it make fine stories — science fiction or
otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the
next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”
Ray Bradbury, August 22, 1920 — June 6, 2012
Showing posts with label I am a writer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I am a writer. Show all posts
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
What work looks like
Work at the moment looks like a mushed up piece of avocado, splattered across the kitchen counter that is my day.
Freelance work smears itself across the normal working day ( for example, I just spent 3 hours working on an article that has nothing to do with my day job)
Other days I can't get a split second to myself and I am pulled into inane meetings where I wish I was working on all the other things I need to do (which have nothing to do with the day job), and then I get off the train and plonk myself down at my dining table and turn on my mac to do more work until midnight or so.
While I detest my day-job, it has not gone unnoticed by me that I probably won't be able to find another job where I am left so much to my own devices that I can carry on with whatever the fuck I want, until something has to be produced and I have to make it look like I have put a large amount of effort into it. (Scramble to do some research, talk a lot about annoying suppliers and difficult internal stakeholders, describe the art of getting the "story right".... etc etc.)
Am I micro-managed here at the moment? No.
Will I be when I move jobs and countries? Probably, yes.
So my point is, I really need to find a solution where I can combine working on things I like
Or else I am going to have to (pretend to) work a full time job and then come home and moonlight instead of just getting a job that I do like which can tick some satisfaction boxes.
I hope this is feasible.
Other people do it, right? Jobs they like?
Freelance work smears itself across the normal working day ( for example, I just spent 3 hours working on an article that has nothing to do with my day job)
Other days I can't get a split second to myself and I am pulled into inane meetings where I wish I was working on all the other things I need to do (which have nothing to do with the day job), and then I get off the train and plonk myself down at my dining table and turn on my mac to do more work until midnight or so.
While I detest my day-job, it has not gone unnoticed by me that I probably won't be able to find another job where I am left so much to my own devices that I can carry on with whatever the fuck I want, until something has to be produced and I have to make it look like I have put a large amount of effort into it. (Scramble to do some research, talk a lot about annoying suppliers and difficult internal stakeholders, describe the art of getting the "story right".... etc etc.)
Am I micro-managed here at the moment? No.
Will I be when I move jobs and countries? Probably, yes.
So my point is, I really need to find a solution where I can combine working on things I like
Or else I am going to have to (pretend to) work a full time job and then come home and moonlight instead of just getting a job that I do like which can tick some satisfaction boxes.
I hope this is feasible.
Other people do it, right? Jobs they like?
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Block head
I get paid to write today but I can't write.
Insert your choice of overwhelming dose of self doubt here.
"This sounds like everything I've ever written."
"This sounds like everything else, everybody else has ever written."
"Those words/sentences/tenses/phrases don't make sense/don't go together/can't go together/don't explain what you're thinking."
"You're making a mockery of this person's work/career/intentions/life goals."
"This piece is about as inspiring and truthful as a script for a tampon commercial."
"This sounds like everything I've ever written."
"This sounds like everything else, everybody else has ever written."
"Those words/sentences/tenses/phrases don't make sense/don't go together/can't go together/don't explain what you're thinking."
"You're making a mockery of this person's work/career/intentions/life goals."
"This piece is about as inspiring and truthful as a script for a tampon commercial."
Thursday, April 19, 2012
The psychology of going without Milk
You know you've been in The Netherlands too long when you look in the office fridge for milk, find out there is none, and start going through the 5 stages of grief.
1. Shock and Denial - "What do you mean the interns forgot to buy milk? That can't be true!"
2. Pain and Guilt - "Maybe I should have said something earlier?"
3. Anger and Bargaining - "You mean, I'll have to go get Milk?! That's not MY job! If I give you 2 EU, will you go down to the store and get some milk?"
4. Depression, Reflection, Loneliness - " *sob* But I don't want black coffee. I remember what milky coffee used to taste like. It's not the same without you, milk."
5. Acceptance - "I'll be ok. Maybe there'll be milk in the fridge tomorrow?"
1. Shock and Denial - "What do you mean the interns forgot to buy milk? That can't be true!"
2. Pain and Guilt - "Maybe I should have said something earlier?"
3. Anger and Bargaining - "You mean, I'll have to go get Milk?! That's not MY job! If I give you 2 EU, will you go down to the store and get some milk?"
4. Depression, Reflection, Loneliness - " *sob* But I don't want black coffee. I remember what milky coffee used to taste like. It's not the same without you, milk."
5. Acceptance - "I'll be ok. Maybe there'll be milk in the fridge tomorrow?"
Freelance office
Two observations:
1. There's no milk in the fridge. Where are the interns, and why aren't they doing their job and filling the fridges with milk??? How can I write if I can't drink my standard coffee with milk?
Is it too much to ask to have some freaking milk around???
(Huff, hair flick, pout)
2. Two colleagues are talking about robots having feelings and how in this day and age it should be possible. Totally normal. Totally serious. Totally ok with me.
1. There's no milk in the fridge. Where are the interns, and why aren't they doing their job and filling the fridges with milk??? How can I write if I can't drink my standard coffee with milk?
Is it too much to ask to have some freaking milk around???
(Huff, hair flick, pout)
2. Two colleagues are talking about robots having feelings and how in this day and age it should be possible. Totally normal. Totally serious. Totally ok with me.
Freelance fun day
Finally, the only day in my life where I feel like my life might have any sort of purpose or meaning is here.
Freelance day. It only happens once every 2 weeks.
The ideal lifestyle.
I get up at 9 and get ready to cycle to the office. I start at 10 at the office which is in central Amsterdam.
I grab a coffee, get briefed by my editor and then get left alone to write about the arts all day.
Sublime.
Freelance day. It only happens once every 2 weeks.
The ideal lifestyle.
I get up at 9 and get ready to cycle to the office. I start at 10 at the office which is in central Amsterdam.
I grab a coffee, get briefed by my editor and then get left alone to write about the arts all day.
Sublime.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
David Ogilvy: A "Lousy copywriter"
David Ogilvy liked rum!
Just like me!
Read below pearls of wisdom from the original and legendary Ad man, from a favourite blog of mine called Letters of note
British-born David Ogilvy was one of the original, and greatest, "ad men." In 1948, he started what would eventually be known as Ogilvy & Mather, the Manhattan-based advertising agency that has since been responsible for some of the world's most iconic ad campaigns, and in 1963 he even wrote Confessions of an Advertising Man, the best-selling book that is still to this day considered essential reading for all who enter the industry. Time magazine called him "the most sought-after wizard in today's advertising industry" in the early-'60s; his name, and that of his agency, have been mentioned more than once in Mad Men for good reason.
With all that in mind, being able to learn of his routine when producing the very ads that made his name is an invaluable opportunity. The fascinating letter below, written by Ogilvy in 1955 to a Mr. Ray Calt, offers exactly that.
(Source: The Unpublished David Ogilvy: A Selection of His Writings from the Files of His Partners; Image: David Ogilvy, courtesy of Ads of the World.)
April 19, 1955
Dear Mr. Calt:
On March 22nd you wrote to me asking for some notes on my work habits as a copywriter. They are appalling, as you are about to see:
1. I have never written an advertisement in the office. Too many interruptions. I do all my writing at home.
2. I spend a long time studying the precedents. I look at every advertisement which has appeared for competing products during the past 20 years.
3. I am helpless without research material—and the more "motivational" the better.
4. I write out a definition of the problem and a statement of the purpose which I wish the campaign to achieve. Then I go no further until the statement and its principles have been accepted by the client.
5. Before actually writing the copy, I write down every concievable fact and selling idea. Then I get them organized and relate them to research and the copy platform.
6. Then I write the headline. As a matter of fact I try to write 20 alternative headlines for every advertisement. And I never select the final headline without asking the opinion of other people in the agency. In some cases I seek the help of the research department and get them to do a split-run on a battery of headlines.
7. At this point I can no longer postpone the actual copy. So I go home and sit down at my desk. I find myself entirely without ideas. I get bad-tempered. If my wife comes into the room I growl at her. (This has gotten worse since I gave up smoking.)
8. I am terrified of producing a lousy advertisement. This causes me to throw away the first 20 attempts.
9. If all else fails, I drink half a bottle of rum and play a Handel oratorio on the gramophone. This generally produces an uncontrollable gush of copy.
10. The next morning I get up early and edit the gush.
11. Then I take the train to New York and my secretary types a draft. (I cannot type, which is very inconvenient.)
12. I am a lousy copywriter, but I am a good editor. So I go to work editing my own draft. After four or five editings, it looks good enough to show to the client. If the client changes the copy, I get angry—because I took a lot of trouble writing it, and what I wrote I wrote on purpose.
Altogether it is a slow and laborious business. I understand that some copywriters have much greater facility.
Yours sincerely,
D.O.
Just like me!
Read below pearls of wisdom from the original and legendary Ad man, from a favourite blog of mine called Letters of note
British-born David Ogilvy was one of the original, and greatest, "ad men." In 1948, he started what would eventually be known as Ogilvy & Mather, the Manhattan-based advertising agency that has since been responsible for some of the world's most iconic ad campaigns, and in 1963 he even wrote Confessions of an Advertising Man, the best-selling book that is still to this day considered essential reading for all who enter the industry. Time magazine called him "the most sought-after wizard in today's advertising industry" in the early-'60s; his name, and that of his agency, have been mentioned more than once in Mad Men for good reason.
With all that in mind, being able to learn of his routine when producing the very ads that made his name is an invaluable opportunity. The fascinating letter below, written by Ogilvy in 1955 to a Mr. Ray Calt, offers exactly that.
(Source: The Unpublished David Ogilvy: A Selection of His Writings from the Files of His Partners; Image: David Ogilvy, courtesy of Ads of the World.)
April 19, 1955
Dear Mr. Calt:
On March 22nd you wrote to me asking for some notes on my work habits as a copywriter. They are appalling, as you are about to see:
1. I have never written an advertisement in the office. Too many interruptions. I do all my writing at home.
2. I spend a long time studying the precedents. I look at every advertisement which has appeared for competing products during the past 20 years.
3. I am helpless without research material—and the more "motivational" the better.
4. I write out a definition of the problem and a statement of the purpose which I wish the campaign to achieve. Then I go no further until the statement and its principles have been accepted by the client.
5. Before actually writing the copy, I write down every concievable fact and selling idea. Then I get them organized and relate them to research and the copy platform.
6. Then I write the headline. As a matter of fact I try to write 20 alternative headlines for every advertisement. And I never select the final headline without asking the opinion of other people in the agency. In some cases I seek the help of the research department and get them to do a split-run on a battery of headlines.
7. At this point I can no longer postpone the actual copy. So I go home and sit down at my desk. I find myself entirely without ideas. I get bad-tempered. If my wife comes into the room I growl at her. (This has gotten worse since I gave up smoking.)
8. I am terrified of producing a lousy advertisement. This causes me to throw away the first 20 attempts.
9. If all else fails, I drink half a bottle of rum and play a Handel oratorio on the gramophone. This generally produces an uncontrollable gush of copy.
10. The next morning I get up early and edit the gush.
11. Then I take the train to New York and my secretary types a draft. (I cannot type, which is very inconvenient.)
12. I am a lousy copywriter, but I am a good editor. So I go to work editing my own draft. After four or five editings, it looks good enough to show to the client. If the client changes the copy, I get angry—because I took a lot of trouble writing it, and what I wrote I wrote on purpose.
Altogether it is a slow and laborious business. I understand that some copywriters have much greater facility.
Yours sincerely,
D.O.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
FUCK THIS
I am pretty sure I never uttered the words, "When I grow up, I want to become the person that writes meaningless drivel that tries to convince people to buy logistics services."
Monday, January 23, 2012
Ick. IKEA.
Inside a large maze of fake rooms
Kids are lost, wailing "Mummy?"
Everything needs instructions
A lively buzz fueled by meatballs
- written by me as a poetical wrap of my first single IKEA experience.
I went to IKEA today to buy a new bed since I am moving house at the end of the week and the bed frame I have now belongs to the house.
I felt so strange buying a bed. I am so furniture adverse for the consequences of moving and owning such hefty items.
I walked into IKEA and broke out in a cold sweat seeing young families, young couples, heavily pregnant women contemplating cots, and young men thinking about home office systems.
People that have settled down.
Then I chose a bed with storage options underneath it and I was frazzled for about an hour. Then we went and had Swedish meatballs and fries in the cafeteria and I calmed down a little bit.
Everything here is so uncertain. I have concerns about my visa being out of date when I turn 30 in 5 months time because of the salary conditions that come with it.
All I want is just one more year.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Contrasts
Why do I always feel like I am either floundering around aimlessly or a rat in a cage?!
What's wrong with this picture -
- Praying that I get made redundant so I can leave the company ( and collect benefits ) even though it's unlikely to happen
- Having no plan B for if I do get let go
- Having no plan B for if I don't get let go
-Not wanting to leave and not wanting to stay
F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK
What's wrong with this picture -
- Praying that I get made redundant so I can leave the company ( and collect benefits ) even though it's unlikely to happen
- Having no plan B for if I do get let go
- Having no plan B for if I don't get let go
-Not wanting to leave and not wanting to stay
F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK F#CK
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Spotted on Facebook today
"A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people."
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
You know you live in Europe when...
You know you live in Europe when you have to edit an interview that was originally conducted in french, then translated in english, and then write an article about it in computer software that is entirely in dutch.
Challenging but so worth it!
Now if only, it was full time, and it paid enough to let me be truly free....
Dreams coming true
I am doing my dream job, one day a week, FREELANCE.
I am a freelance writer and editor for an arty transmedia motion graphics channel called The Submarine Channel.
And I published my first article today and I am getting involved in amazing, creative projects where my opinion counts, my colleagues are kind and want to teach me things, and I love it.
I
LOVE
IT
!!!!!!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Bring it. Just bring it.
I wrote a short piece on one of my friends who is an artist, with his permission, and submitted it to a great arts and trends blog that has decent exposure in NYC and in Austalia.
I love his stuff and think he is exceptionally talented. And a super nice guy.
The blog, Lost in E Minor, picked up my piece and published it late on Sunday night (my time) about 8 hours after I wrote it. (Australian morning.)
Then they tweeted it. To over 10,000 followers.
I tweeted it. To about 150 followers.
Then I told my friend and he put it on his facebook page. ( His art page and his personal page, and he credited me in his foreword, which also drove traffic to my newly updated blog project.)
Then he tweeted it, and then the blog retweeted his tweet to the same 10,000 followers.
Then I put it on my facebook page.
Then his/our friends started to spread the link on facebook.
The friends of our friends picked it up on facebook and share it and one of them works for the Amsterdam city council marketing department, I amsterdam, who are by the way, a phenomenal brand in their own right, especially in the field of social media.
(As a marketer and a consumer and someone who lives in the city, I enjoy their campaigns, and reading their website for what's on (it's also very user friendly) and enjoy interacting with them on facebook and twitter and the like.)
I amsterdam put it on their facebook wall infront of their 25,000 fans.
Call it serendipity, call it synchronicity, call it the power of social media. Whatever you want to call it, I don't care.
The Universe is providing.
The Lost in E Minor blog then agreed to let me write for them regularly for the love, glory and exposure.
Then my phone rang. It was a creative production house called Yellow Submarine, in Amsterdam. They heard about me through someone and they asked me if I would be interested in freelance writing for their regular company newsletters, FOR MONEY.
Of course I am interested!!
Then I got an email saying that a short piece I wrote and submitted for Lomography Magazine is going to be published on July 24th.
O-M-G: It’s all happening.
I just got back from Australia about 2 weeks ago.
Before I left, I told my friend Amber that I was on the brink of something, something that felt good, something that felt real and something that felt right.
I think this is the something.
I am, in a word, floating.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
I am adding the United Nations to my resume today.
Coincidentally, so is the ex-ceo of the company I work for.
As the company has split into two seperate companies (as opposed to the old structure of the two branches), he announced he will be working for 6 months with the head of the United Nations.
I am frightened, surprised and pleased at the same time at my new appointment. Even though it's on an ad-hoc basis for a week at a time, it's still a really big deal.
This is an opportunity I have always wanted to do, and it makes complete sense for me to be doing it. It really rolls all the things that I've ever wanted to do into one huge opportunity.
When I was younger I wanted to be a journalist, and now, in a way, I am about to become one.
When I first concocted the idea of travelling, I was thinking that volunteering for AUSAID would be pretty cool.
I never ever thought I would ever be able to go of the front line of anything by myself, except for maybe, a concert.
I don't think I really know what I've got myself into, but I guess it's one of those time will tell situations.
I was told yesterday that the interview was just a formality, but I had the role from my internal application and they wanted me from my first round application.
Even if I don't go anywhere, it's nice to know that I was the first choice for the role.
Read more about the organisation I am volunteering for below:
WFP - Fighting hunger worldwide
www.wfp.org
The World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.
In emergencies, we get food to where it is needed, saving the lives of victims of war, civil conflict and natural disasters. After the cause of an emergency has passed, we use food to help communities rebuild their shattered lives.
WFP is part of the United Nations system and is voluntarily funded.
Born in 1961, WFP pursues a vision of the world in which every man, woman and child has access at all times to the food needed for an active and healthy life. We work towards that vision with our sister UN agencies in Rome -- the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) -- as well as other government, UN and NGO partners.
In 2011 we aim to reach more than 90 million people with food assistance in more than 70 countries. Around 10,000 people work for the organization, most of them in remote areas, directly serving the hungry poor.
WFP's five objectives:
The World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.
In emergencies, we get food to where it is needed, saving the lives of victims of war, civil conflict and natural disasters. After the cause of an emergency has passed, we use food to help communities rebuild their shattered lives.
WFP is part of the United Nations system and is voluntarily funded.
Born in 1961, WFP pursues a vision of the world in which every man, woman and child has access at all times to the food needed for an active and healthy life. We work towards that vision with our sister UN agencies in Rome -- the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) -- as well as other government, UN and NGO partners.
In 2011 we aim to reach more than 90 million people with food assistance in more than 70 countries. Around 10,000 people work for the organization, most of them in remote areas, directly serving the hungry poor.
WFP's five objectives:
- Save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies
- Prepare for emergencies
- Restore and rebuild lives after emergencies
- Reduce chronic hunger and undernutrition everywhere
- Strengthen the capacity of countries to reduce hunger
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Changing of the guard
What makes me an authority on the city I have lived in the for the last year and a half?
The internet does.
There are millions of people sharing their thoughts online about restaurants, bars, hotels and about every other service imagineable, be it on forums, blogs, online communities, micro blogging platforms, and they get heard.
Why shouldn't I?
I can write whatever the hell I want to, because I have access to a blogging platform, and I paid for hosting and a domain name.
Read the below: via The Pop Up city
The internet does.
There are millions of people sharing their thoughts online about restaurants, bars, hotels and about every other service imagineable, be it on forums, blogs, online communities, micro blogging platforms, and they get heard.
Why shouldn't I?
I can write whatever the hell I want to, because I have access to a blogging platform, and I paid for hosting and a domain name.
Read the below: via The Pop Up city
Trend 2: Bloggers Are The New City-Branders
Most bloggers with an international audience write a lot about what happens in their home town — the place were they live and know about all the good stuff happening there. Doing so, they are great ambassadors of their city (most of the times unconsciously), and do a great job when it comes to promoting local excellence among a large group of influentials around the world. With their work, bloggers like Nalden (culture/lifestyle, Amsterdam), the Amsterdam Ad Blog (creativity/advertising, Amsterdam), Wooster Collective (street art, New York City), The Sartorialist (fashion, New York City) and Rebel Art (street art, Berlin) have established loyal crowds on an international scale and gained a solid position next to official marketing campaigns when it comes to setting the image of a city.
Official city-marketing campaigns initiated and controlled by local governments mostly try to tell the same story since they all want to attract the same kind of people to their towns — ‘international knowledge workers’. Bloggers, on the other hand, have a huge worldwide online audience and report about specific themes, styles and subcultures that more specifically characterize the city. In Copenhagen both elements come together. While the Danish capital officially tries to brand itself as world’s bike capital, blogs such as Copenhagenize and Copenhagen Cycle Chic independently report about innovative and inspiring bike culture in the city.
In the years to come, city-marketing could increasingly develop itself into an open source activity, thanks to technological innovation. Predict the people of Amsterdam-based cultural innovation office Non-Fiction, “we think the future of the city will be shaped by all of us together, via the technologies and tools we’ll have”. Although initiated by the ‘I Amsterdam’ city-marketing people, this approach could already be a signal for a more autonomous and open approach to city-marketing. The campaign asks tourists to explain (in video or writing) how they would spend € 1,000 in the Dutch capital. The most creative submission was rewarded with € 1,000 pocket money. Also interesting are the home-made parody city-marketing videos, for instance the one made by the Canadian comedian Mike Polk for the city of Cleveland. His happy video about the sad side of Cleveland was a hype on the Internet and encouraged the urban authorities to organize a contest for a more “positive” approach to tourism videos. Obviously, they did not get the point: “they might have been positive but they were not funny”, was stated on GOOD. Why should it only be governments to decide which identity about the city will be spread?
This article belongs to the Top 10 Trends For 2011. Over the last year we have been writing articles about urban culture and innovations in cities on a daily basis. Reflecting on 2010 and looking into 2011 we have put together a list with ten of the most remarkable trends that we spotted. We would like to deepen them out a little in a series of articles published this week on The Pop-Up City.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
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