Sunday, March 30, 2008

A Writer in Hong Kong

I've been writing since I was six years old.

I always knew I would be a writer. I just needed a few things to get me started.

1. I needed some adventures that I could write about.
2. I needed some skills.

When I was 24 I walked across most of Morocco with everything I owned in a bag on my back. I hitched quite a lot too, actually. But either way, I was in this little town called Barga one night and I realized that if I was going to write for a living I had better find a job that would let me do so. And travel too.

I figured journalism or travel writing would be perfect for me.

I did that for a while, and then I decided I missed the creative element. So I went into advertising to be a copywriter.

Copywriting suited me just fine.

Either way, from Barga, I kept on travelling for the next eight years, having as many adventures as I could.

But I knew I needed to strengthen my craft.

Advertising agencies cut my teeth like you wouldn't believe.

My writing improved tenfold working with Ogilvy and Mather and Publicis here in Hong Kong. And in Vancouver, Diane at Creative Wonders and Rick at TBWA gave me the foundation of marketable flow. And I cannot forget Rem, who also helped me in Brisbane at McCann Erickson.

After years of living and breathing copywriting, I'm ready to write my novel.

It's not a commercial book. It's just a story that needs to be told. It's about my adventures of travelling around the world. And I am going to take the next month to get it down.

So here is my latest blog, and my latest pursuit: To get this book published.

I'll break it down like this:

1. Spend the month of April writing.
2. Find work (hopefully at an advertising agency) May 1st.
3. Keep this blog going as I document my journey into the publishing world.

I want it printed, distributed and on its way, hopefully within the year.

So. If you stumble across this blog looking around for a freelance English copywriter, you are not necessarily in the wrong place. I need to eat. So I need to work. So I'll be taking offers for jobs that start after April.

To keep my teeth sharp, I'm also planning to take over the top ranks for English copywriter on Google.

As my faithful readers will know, I have seized the #1 and #3 spots for "English copywriter" on Google. With this blog, I would like to get another spot on the first page, but we'll see how it goes. It takes a little SEO maneuvering, which has become something of a hobby of mine.

Anyway, here I am, in my little pad in Causeway Bay, writing away. I hope to make this guy exactly 100 chapters, so wish me luck.

And hopefully, one day, writers can stumble across this blog and learn the trials and tribulations of getting their work published, by learning from me, as I smash about from Square One.

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