Two Reasons Every Copywriter Should Take a Vacation
By Tom Chandler on Jul 16, 2007 in Personal, Writing
It’s not exactly “Copywriters Gone Wild,” but for the next two weeks, I’ll be posting from a remote camp on East Grand Lake, Maine.
It’s a long ways from my home in the mountains of Northern California, and since I travel about as well as most cats swim, my friends wonder why I bother. Fortunately, I can offer you one very, very good reason:
The Lovely & Talented Nancy (L&T Nancy) relaxing at East Grand Lake, ME.
It’s pretty here. It’s pretty where I live too, but too much of the same kind of pretty breeds a familiarity. And frankly, when you start getting a little crispy around the edges, different is good. Different is our friend.
And while it’s hard to put a value on quality time with my wife when we’re both largely shorn of our career responsibilities, I will say that time’s worth its weight in gold.
Reason #2: The Copy Conveyor Belt
You know the copywriters who can churn out copy, and do so for months on end? Well, I’m one of the other guys.
As lucky as I am to write for a living, I can’t ignore the stresses it generates. We’re supposed to be creative, or persuasive, or hard-hitting, or engaging — and we’ve got to do it all on a deadline.
After a while, that dulls the mind and deadens the fingers, and when the projects blend together and you start dreaming in short, punchy paragraphs, it’s time to get away.
I’ve gotten away.
Still, expect to see a post or two. I’ve blown the dust off a couple of back-burnered post ideas, and I plan to sneak them in around all the rampant recreation we’ve got planned.
Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
[tags]copywriting, vacation, [/tags]
Tom, Enjoy the time off. I agree with you 100% about needing the time off to de-stress from the rigors of writing. I’m taking Friday off — my son and I are going to a Harry Potter book party and in order to stay awake until after midnight, we’ll be needing naps. :-) Plus, I could use the break. I’m really looking forward to it!
Dianna Huff | Jul 16, 2007 | Reply
Excellent! Time away is good. For example, I’m learning all about patience — I’m connecting to the Internet via a 26.4 dial-up connection.
Tom Chandler | Jul 16, 2007 | Reply
And here I thought you were adhering to vacation “radio silence” while traversing the back woods of Upper Maine.
You’re just posting this to torture the rest of us copy drones.
Seriously gorgeous photo, Tom.
Roberta Rosenberg, The Copywriting Maven | Jul 16, 2007 | Reply
Ah, the repose of prose.
I feel the flourish of one paragraph leading to another and not a product in sight.
Love the nature in you, and outside you. Enjoy.
Lisa Gates | Jul 16, 2007 | Reply
Who doesn’t love vacation…or pretty things for that matter? Have fun!
Jennifer Melinas | Jul 17, 2007 | Reply
You’re right! You’re right! We all need a vacation! And to make it happen, you really need to fix it in stone, carve it onto your calendar, tell your clients you’ll be away, and then take off. I know, I know. Trouble is, I can’t decide when I should maybe possibly take my summer vacation…
Gloria Hildebrandt | Jul 17, 2007 | Reply
Thanks! Vacations can be tricky. There’s no better way for a freelancer to scare up some business than to schedule a vacation; as departure time approaches, clients you haven’t heard from in years come calling, last-minute projects in hand.
Still, I’m here now, and it’s glorious, which is odd given that I live where most people go to vacation. The absence of deadlines I guess.
Tom Chandler | Jul 17, 2007 | Reply
Nice photo Tom. I wish I could go to one of such places…some day maybe. Have a nice, invigorating vacation
Amrit Hallan - Content Blog | Jul 19, 2007 | Reply
Enjoy your vacation tom, and thanks for keeping writing. I follow your blog from Italy, where I happen to write copy too, and it’s good to see what happens with you in the us. Your blog is one of my main references. Just though you may like to know!
max
max | Jul 26, 2007 | Reply
Thanks everyone. The unbelievably slow dialup access has definitely cramped my online time. Just downloading messages and checking my RSS Reader consumes upwards of an hour — more than I want to spend online during my vacation.
I’m back in the office on Monday, so more to come…
Tom Chandler | Jul 27, 2007 | Reply