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How
I came to be a writer.
When I was 14, I told my mother I wanted to be an
advertising writer. "Don’t be stupid,"
she said. "You won’t make money doing that."
She was wrong, of course, but unfortunately, I didn't
realize it at the time. So after earning a degree in psychology,
followed by eight quarters of post-graduate work in horticultural
science, followed by a short career as a waiter, I took
a job as Sales Promotion Manager for an international
specialty chemical company.
As destiny would have it, the position involved writing.
My job was to compose a weekly motivational newsletter
to the sales force and invent a torrent of promotions,
contests, and awards programs to keep them in a selling
frenzy.
Ultimately I parlayed that writing experience into a copywriter
slot at Fletcher Mayo/Associates, an advertising agency
in Atlanta specializing in agrimarketing. Our primary
client was the agricultural chemical division of Union
Carbide. Sadly, after four years of selling herbicides
and insecticides to farmers, Fletcher Mayo lost the account.
The agency folded in 1986. And I became a freelance copywriter.
Except for two and a half years as VP/Creative Director
at BBDO, I've been freelancing ever since. |
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