Honing New Skills

While looking for part-time freelance work, I came to a weird yet late realization. I don't know how to copywrite.

I've applied to some copywriting jobs in the past and barely received any responses, except for this one company in the city (will not even get started on how hard it is for a communications/media grad to get a job in NYC, but I digress). The company stated in my response email that even though I had excellent credentials, I didn't have the skills and experience they were looking for. After witnessing the rise of new media and many talks with my mother, I acknowledge that trying to become an established writer, journalist, or author has proven difficult in this day and age. I'm aware that different writers have their own views on rejection letters, but this one is beginning to help me. I began analyzing my skills.

Thinking about my experience, mostly in college, I've done beat reporting, copyediting, proofreading, and got (I mean am getting) accustomed to AP Style. For a quick minute, I felt like an idiot and kept saying to myself, "How did I let this get past me? I should've known..." Soon I decided to stop beating myself up and just teach myself. So I can copyedit and not copywrite, it's not the end of the world. I can still learn and get some experience. I've been reading and taking notes from The Copywriter's Handbook by Robert Bly.

What a simple complexity.


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