Writing a blog should be simplicity itself for a copywriter. After all, I write blogs as part of my everyday work that cover topics from hospitality to the medical sector, web design to kitchen design, tourism to fashion. Some of the subjects I’ve written about have been so obscure that I’ve had to look up simply what they meant. So why should there be any difficulty in writing about my own occupation?
The problem is that there’s only so much anyone can actually write about writing. Most of my clients’ blogs feature reviews of new products, up-to-date news about legislation or competition between rival systems, celebrity endorsements or significant events. But how does this translate to writing about writing?
Should I review the brand-new, improved alphabet that’s just been released onto the market? Discuss the likelihood of success for the government’s plan to cut adverbs by 5%? Take an in-depth look at whether the Latin or Chinese writing system will win the vicious battle for market supremacy? Or perhaps I could do a survey of celebrity writers to find out their favourite grammatical element.
There are obvious topics, of course, and I’ve used those. I’ve written blogs giving advice on how to write more effectively, and on how I research the more unusual subjects I write about. I’ve written about more general business topics, from getting the most out of networking to goal-setting. I’ve even written a brief history of the alphabet, and you never know – someday I might do an in-depth analysis of the letter E.
Or, then again, maybe I’ll just write a blog about how impossible it is to write a blog.
Does that mean I’ve just invented post-modern blogging?
Nick Blatchley
Copywriter and author, known as the Word Wizard, based in Hertfordshire. I’ve been writing since the age of four and writing for businesses since 2014: websites, blogs, books and social media, all in my clients’ own voices.
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