Why writing? Reflections from a Kiwi copywriter

For the first blog post on my shiny new site, I thought I’d share the origin story of how I ended up copywriting for a career. To be perfectly honest, it’s not something I set out to do - and in fact it had never even occurred as an option to my childhood self who wanted to be a school principal, or my teenage self who was looking forward to a job as an outdoor recreation instructor. I wasn’t even the stereotypical dreamy student who secretly wrote poems and short stories in the hope of them being seen by somebody someday.

 

I was, however, the annoying child who corrected the teacher’s spelling, and who had to test the other kids on their spelling words because I had already memorised all of mine. My Mum was forever despairing of my nose being stuck in a book while setting the table. It all added up to a good grasp of the ins and outs of the English language - and when I started learning French, it turned out to be an affinity for language in general. Even now, the spelling and grammar technical aspect of writing is just as fun for me as the creativity that comes with words.

Climbing mountains is fun too, but the view from the top of this one left a lot to be desired.

 

At university, I chose linguistics as the minor to a French major, and found it all so fascinating: phonetics, the history and evolution of language, the science behind sentence structure, the vast differences in the syntax of languages that all managed to get the same ideas across in such varied ways. When I had to take classes outside of my French or linguistics loves, being able to write an essay that sounded good (sometimes despite questionable knowledge of the topic) saved my grades - and I realised that the ability to write well and stretch language to get ideas across was quite valuable. Little did I know!

 

After a cliché OE working in France for a summer and then travelling for a few months in Europe, I got my first adult job for a great company as a Receptionist/PA, with no real idea of where it would take me. I lucked out being taken on by a very successful start up which was growing quick smart, and willing to grow its employees at the same time. I soon moved into writing SEO copy for the many (travel-related) websites, blog posts and any other tasks which required words that sounded good and were spelt correctly. It quickly became apparent to me that this was a job that suited me down to the ground, and learnt more about the online space and copywriting in general as the position developed to become part of a talented and dedicated marketing team.

 

Freelance jobs in my spare time (and a few bits of writing for the love of it) have added to my experience and provided some great variety in the types of writing I have done - but what it really comes down to, no matter the topic, is crafting language to suit the message a client wants to get across. Words are powerful. They carry ideas, concepts, instructions, meaning and can make or break relationships, businesses and more. Finding the right words in the perfect order has become a passion of mine, and it’s amazing to be able to make it into a career.