Beautiful letter/essay sent to BA from wonderful friend and writer, Bob Richardson, just felt it was so beautiful it deserved sharing. Betty Ann. You were right. Mike Hughes’ philosophy on writing and the reverence, or lack of it, for the words hit a nerve. Words have been a religion I’ve practiced since grade school. Always studying or challenging the reason a word or a better word is used. Mike was speaking of the masters of ad writing in the 60s. When I came to Luckie in ’71, I had come from a major league agency of very good writer group heads. I was learning from them. There was no word-mentor at Luckie, though Byron was a pretty good judge. So I studied Ed McCabe in the New York annuals --- how he thought and carved copy. I was fearful and hungry in what I thought was a tundra of ad country. We would find it was a good climate for all of us. Good, artistic copywriting takes the same toil and simonizing as exceptional literary writing. Or should. Deft, unusual turning of words and expressions that lure you to the next sentence of copy, as it lures you to turn a novel’s page after page. Alas, copywriting isn’t on the best sellers lists. That ache pushes me to write other things these days. A little late, but thoroughly enjoyable. Hey --- who reads ad copy anyway? I challenge that sad assertion. The right words lure. When I reach out to promote myself as a writer, explaining how I write (if anybody cares), I base my approach on something Mark Twain said ------ “The difference between a word and the right word is the difference between the lightning bug and lightning.” As I say, the right word makes all the difference in the communications adventure. There we are, lumbering through a thicket of paragraphs. Woosey from narcotic content. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, these words of uranium, these right words, stun us right out of our shoes. Wonder words. We won’t forget. Worth their weight in lightning. Words in the right moment and reason, from deep ink wells, paint love letters, good byes, Gettysburg addresses, war whispers, prayers, apologies, lifesaving hope, kid-scratched poems, sympathy, empathy, toasts and eulogies, notes and novels, scrawlings of the soul, warm, cold, but honest. Words that make the day, the deal, the difference. And by the way, two of my favorite words are …… my friend. Lub, Bob Richardson.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Dec 2013 18:25:46 +0000
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