Today I found myself sitting on the floor, my notebook next to me, a bunch of index cards sprawled out all around.
I was working on a wooden first draft of a piece of sales copy.
However many times I attacked it, it wasn’t getting any better.
It practically screamed “amateur.”
And I imagined that if I ever wind up delivering this to the client, they will virtually crumple it up and throw it in my face.
In these kinds of moments, I remind myself of something I heard in an interview with Parris Lampropoulos.
Parris is one of the most successful copywriters working over the past few decades.
Even so, he doesn’t produce winning copy straight out the gate. Says Parris (I’m paraphrasing cause I can’t find the interview where I heard this):
“When I first sit down and write the bullets, I always think I’ve lost it. They’re terrible. Everybody will find out I’m a fraud. Then I rewrite the bullets once, and I think, maybe I will be able to get away with it. Third and fourth rewrite, they’re starting to look pretty damn good.”
So if somebody who’s as successful, proven, established, revered, and experienced as P-Lamp still gets feelings of doubt and sees his first draft as unfixable shit, then maybe you and I can also do the same.
As long as we also put in the work to, like Parris, rewrite the shit until it becomes surprisingly good.
Which is what I’m doing now.
Speaking of which, I gotta go.
If you need some help writing immaculate advertorials (not straight out the gate, but with a bit of polishing), then check out the following: