Copy Write.

Before finishing university, i had a thought. " If i could get paid to write, even if the writing isn't creative or fun or about me, i'd be happy with that ". Two years on, I've got it. Even though at times, i'm racking my brains or clawing at my eyes with frustration at the sheer dullness of what i have to write about ( Prams, Conference Organisers, Garbage disposal companies ), I'm so glad that i get to do what i do. I get paid to write.

I never thought i'd make the foray into copy writing. I didn't even know what the hell it was until about three weeks ago, when my supervisor at work told me what it was. This could be the start of something, I thought to myself. Creative people the world over hope for one thing and that's to be paid to do what they love doing creatively. They also hope that they can be paid to write, paint, sing or film what they believe is worthy of creating. Tall order though, unless you're Dan Brown or J.K Rowling. Even though five hundred words on garbage disposal companies really demands it out of me, i'm so glad that i'm feeding myself through my writing. The thing about commercial writing for companies is, is that you still get to be a bit creative which is the blessing of it all. I don't get to write about my ideas, my thoughts or my opinions and be paid for that, but in a way i get to as well. I get to write about things through my own perspective. I get to present my own spin on things. Even if they are the dullest things around. I mean sure, it depends on what your employer wants you to do at the end of the day but I'm lucky my copy writing boss gives me a pretty generous amount of creative license.

The money isn't big but the best part is, is that i get to call myself a ( copy ) writer. In the world, people define you by what you get paid for. It sounds crap, but it's true. I write and i get paid for it. I think i get to call myself a writer now. But don't think that i feel like my work here is done. I don't consider myself a truly accomplished writer until i get paid to write what i want to write about. Who knows if that day will ever come? In the mean time, the challenges of copy writing await me. And in between the lines, there is creativity to be had in the most dullest of subjects. One thing you realise once you get out of your institution, is that the real world is boring. The real world and commercialism, in particular isn't exciting or colorful or artistic. It's all tones and shades of grey and teal. It's Arial fonts and stock images. There's nothing creative about where the money's at. We all want and hope that we get to work somewhere ' cool ' but i've realised that that square of the market is 1) Unprofitable because what's cool is not for the majority of people and 2) Those jobs don't pay very much. You have to go where the profit is at if you want to make money from your work. Sometimes this means having to do stuff you don't necessarily like or agree with. Some people call it 'selling out'. I call it, getting real.