Some are born to write copy, they say. Others achieve it by dint of grinding effort and still others, poor devils, have it thrust upon them.
In my case it was all three. Although not in that order.
I have always had a fertile imagination, always told stories. My junior high detention records will corroborate this. Occasionally I wrote those stories down. But the idea of doing it for a living never crossed my mind.
I emerged from university with a graduate degree in musical theory and exactly one English class in seven years.
In hindsight it was the perfect preparation.
Since that time I’ve told stories freelance, agency-side, and client-side. I’ve told stories about everything from high-tech and specialty sporting equipment (mostly bicycles) to wheelchairs, haptic gaming technology, destination travel, nuclear power plants and gourmet catering.
One-person startups have hired me to tell their stories. As have the likes of Cisco Systems, Microsoft, HP, Oracle, Hyundai, Delta Airlines, Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric and, yes, more than a dozen bike companies.
So you want to know how I got to be a copywriter? Let me tell you a story.