You Write What you Are or Do You?

Remember Descartes? The 16th century philosopher who dropped a philosophical bomb with his “I think, therefore I am” and inspired quite a few of existential affirmatives over the following centuries. He did get it right, our existence is defined to a certain extent by what we do and how we do it.

The one for us reads like – I tweet, therefore I am or I FB therefore I am and they’re those whose worlds are their vritual lives. As a copywriter doing 3000 – 4000 or more words a day, can you replace think with write in the original Cartesian assertion and do it without blinking?

If you blinked then there may be more to you than just being passionate about words. This is not that bad a thing per se because the copywriting tribe is as such doubly disposed – familiar with the classic Killer and the Poet Ogilvian split?  Read more at: http://www.copyblogger.com/get-rich-copywriter/

May be I am, therefore I write could be more appropriate for writers.

Think, Be & Write
Our thoughts make our being – that’s what Descartes said in the 16th century and defined existence.
When we write, we think and become, not necessarily in that order. There’s a correlation in thinking, being and writing and if  you want you can go be whatever and write whatever. A faculty that comes in very handy when you writing a sales copy or content for websites, in other words –

When Writing to Sell
We can’t let go off either the marketer or the artist in us while creating persuasive copies for products or services. A writer having multiple ‘selfs’ must ‘be’ what he or she is writing. We write but before the keypad is punched or the pen finds the paper, we think and become. And who we are is what makes our copies and eventually the influence it exerts on its readers.

A writer’s thought-process and the self he/ she dons is very powerful and can actually transform a nonchalant copy into one that can trigger a buying revolution. So don’t push aside your thoughts even when you have to deliver 10 articles in a day. I know it gets very hard to keep the mind sharp as a saw after draining on 10 different topics but if you don’t stop and think, you’ll lose on all that made your copy readable, better-than-others and unique. Also a copy that is mechanically written is likely to have more errors than the one written with a cogent thought and personality behind.

What to Remember
A sales copy or online content written to engage readers is not Post-Modern poetry wherein any and every thought goes and may be kept in a Post-modernist museum. Content is a well crafted message that communicates information useful for the readers and is vital to their making buying decisions.

A writer who thinks like a user or becomes the user can hit bulls eye in his or her copy. I know it’s hard to be all of them at the same time but once you ace it, that creative drive won’t dwindle.

So what does your Cartesian statement read like – ‘I think & write, therefore I am’ or something else?

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Nosheen

I am a writer, reader, and a part time adventure and travel enthusiast. The other three things that vie for my mind share are dark chocolate, coffee, and photography. I am highly motivated by user perspectives and addressing the common human experience when I write.

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