writing | MARY GABLE

Elizabeth Gilbert: Writing Rules

February 8, 2013 § Leave a comment

This week on the new book industry site Bookish, Elizabeth Gilbert explains why it’s awesome to be a writer. I couldn’t agree with her more.

I can honestly say it’s the best life there is, because you get to live within the realm of your own mind, and that is a profoundly rare human privilege…You don’t have to wear a nametag, and–unless you are exceptionally clumsy–you rarely run the risk of cutting off your hand in the machinery. Writing, I tell you, has everything to recommend it over real work.

Roth’s Complaint: Elizabeth Gilbert Takes On Philip Roth – Bookish.

10 Ways to Write Good Copy | Copyblogger

February 1, 2013 § Leave a comment

This post is mis-titled. Copyblogger’s not telling us how to write good copy. In fact, choose the wrong strategy from this list, and your copy is almost guaranteed to be bad.

What this post gets right, though, is that there’s no one best way to approach marketing copy. It all depends on who you’re talking to, and how you want them to feel about your product. These are ten strategies that work—when the conditions are right.

“Rejection copy,” for example, should be used with caution.

Which techniques work for you?

10 Ways to Write ~~Good~~ Copy | Copyblogger.

You build it, I’ll write about it

January 9, 2013 § Leave a comment

If you’d asked me a year ago what I thought I’d be writing about today, HVAC installation and facilities maintenance wouldn’t have been at the top of my list. But construction copywriting isn’t half bad. Ever wanted to give it a try? Check out my tips for getting started writing about construction.

Malcolm Gladwell, on writing

December 31, 2012 § 1 Comment

So, Malcolm Gladwell might be a secret spokesman for Big Tobacco. He knows how to tell a story. He was and remains a huge reason I’m doing what I do today. I don’t care how much he makes per speaking engagement—when his next book comes out in 2013, you bet I’ll be buying it—and taking notes.

Gladwell spoke on writing at Yale earlier this year. Here he is:

Gladwell called his entry into journalism “accidental,” having failed to find a job in advertising, but his journalistic interests stem from a passion for “telling stories.” Though his work has garnered widespread acclaim, he said he does not consider himself an original thinker. He does not “generate ideas” for his work, he said, but instead draws ideas from academic papers and finds ways to “make those ideas come alive.”

“I’m not doing the original work,” Gladwell said. “There’s that bird on the back of the elephant that picks off the ticks — I am the bird.”