Every copywriting mistake I made (this week)

Copywriting Is by Andrew Boulton

I didn’t read the brief properly.

I didn’t read any of the briefs properly.

I got one brief mixed up with another and wrote 300 words that would’ve badly confused/annoyed either/both clients.

I accidentally opened an attachment to a brief and it made me sad.

I spelled neccessary wrong.

I spelled it wrong again.

I wrote 150 brilliant words, which was 120 more than the word count.

I took ages to reply to an email.

I never replied to a different email.

I closed my emails and hid my computer in a pillowcase.

I forgot where I hid my computer.

I accidentally put an exclamation mark after my own name in an email to the client.

I spent 41 minutes in a meeting about capital letters.

I spent 11 minutes choosing a font.

I spent 3 and a half minutes typing nothing but Chum is Fum (yes, fum).

I spend 128 minutes trying to find out if Albert Einstein had really said a thing everyone thought he’d said (he hadn’t).

I tried really hard not to talk to people.

I ended up talking to loads of people.

I argued for an idea I didn’t actually care about.

I was too tired from that argument to argue for one I did care about.

I thought a client’s name was either Tom or Tim. It was Glen.

I wrote in Excel.

I used the phrase ‘no worries if not’.

I used it multiple times.

Sometimes twice in the same email.

I wrote a 93-word sentence with not a single punctuation mark.

I wrote a four-word sentence with three commas.

I took the tone of voice guide too seriously.

I believed them when they said they’d ‘find the budget’.

I offered to write an email for someone.

I offered to write a CV for someone.

I offered to write a wedding invite for someone.

I spent way too much time at my desk.

I spent way too little time anywhere that wasn’t my desk.

I had amazing ideas for a story while working on a client brief.

I had no ideas for a story when I tried to write a story.

I wrote important things down on pieces of paper I would never see again.

I forgot to invoice anything to anyone.

I forgot to eat.

I forgot, for just a minute, how silly this all is.

I spelled neccessary wrong.

Andrew Boulton is the author of Copywriting Is: 30-or-so Thoughts on Thinking Like a Copywriter.