Competitive Swimming and Copywriting

Once upon a time, I used to be a competitive swimmer.

 

The philosophy was simple.

 

Swim as fast as you can to the other side, and whoever gets there first wins. 

 

It used to be the same with copywriting. If it had words in it, you wrote it.

 

The Copywriting Niche

 

Way back when in the dark ages of the internet when Google was still in nappies and press release proofs were still faxed over for approval I turned my first love and writing hobby into a paid side hustle. 

 

The interwebs were a weird place back then, in dog and technology years it was well over a million years ago.

 

Work came in from who you knew rather than who could find you on the internet. It was a little while until platforms like Elance and Odesk came along, to my neck of the woods anyway.

 

The crooks and the cowboys had nowhere to hang out just yet and we freelancers were mostly left in peace.

 

My biggest headache at the time was trying to get my head around how to work MS Word.

 

In those days, a writer wrote about everything and anything. There was none of this niche business. From medical to mechanical and tractors to tarantulas – I wrote about it all. 

 

Roll forward to the modern world. There are heaps of places for the crooks and cowboys to hang out now.

 

Believe me, I have found some of them. They don’t call it a baptism of fire for nothing!

 

So what is the point here? 

 

The point is, I don’t reaaaaalllly want to niche. (Read that in a bit of a whiny voice.)

 

I know it is the new shiny thing and I am probably showing my age but I don’t want to just write about one single thing.

 

For me, that is the same as saying I must only read books in one single genre.

 

Or only ever have one friend. 

 

As a prolific consumer of the written word, and someone who really likes having lots of different people, it all sounds rather like a punishment.

 

But I can see the benefit of it. 

 

Specialist Copywriting

 

Things like medical writing require a specific knowledge set. So obvs that’s not my jam. 

 

But I love to learn new things, that is one of the best parts of being a writer, you get to learn so much about stuff you never knew about before. 

 

Take me to your quiz night, I will slay the competition with my knowledge of the inner workings of a Norweigan toaster. 

 

But somewhere along the way, I have niched. 

 

There are subjects I won’t write about.

 

They are not aligned with my personal values and I see it as my social responsibility not to support certain industries. 

 

I am sure it is frowned upon to declare this, I mean, nobody else does it. Luckily, I have never been very good at being like everyone else.

 

I love writing. Just as much as I love reading. I love words and the idiosyncrasies and ridiculousness of languages. I love how words can make us feel and transport us to all kinds of realms.

 

I love sitting down with somebody new and listening to their journey about how they started and what they do now. 

 

Going away to put it all together in words, slow brewing it, polishing the words and presenting it all with a lump in my throat, hoping they see and feel all of the magic I see too.

 

I still swim these days although not competitively. I just aim to make it to the finish line so I can get out and stuff my face with carbs. I mean, isn’t that the best part of exercise, all the eating?

 

What do I think about when I am swimming? What I am going to write about next.

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Competitive Swimming and Copywriting

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