I tell you people, it's not a walk in the park when it comes to writing ads. Writing ads that would please the people at one go. Writing that would be easy on everyone's ego. Writing that will wash away the pain inflicted on someone. Last time I wrote it did nothing of the above. I was actually sleepwalking on my notepad.From colleagues to canteen boys to networking pals to roadside romeo juliets to traffic honkers to city hawkers to client tantrums to family dramas(small and big included), everybody influences. Influences the way you feel about it. Take it or leave it, when you sit down to wash away your sins on a notepad with the aquatic splashes of the blue ink, it takes time to get into the groove. To write. Rewrite. Getting the thoughts in and letting it out of the window. To abuse your thoughts. For me getting into the groove takes three lines or sometimes three hours. But then when it comes to work, you don't see the face of time, don't you?
For me writing has been a progression. Parents used to scold when I first discovered the art of writing on the walls. Making it dirty was fun back then! Writing small little birthday cards and imaginary letters to friends by the time I was in school. Scribbling notes for best friends. Writing poems and stories for school magazines. Waiting impatiently for handwriting classes. By the time I was about leave school, i had quit making notes for my friends. In college, writing love letters for seniors took most of the time. Souveneirs thrown in between. Plus letters to home. I am already soaked in hostel sentiments by now! I moved on. Moved on gladly sensing writing getting the better of me as time made its strokes. By the time I moved out of my hometown to India's capital city, perspective of life and how it behaves changed for me. The easy life I was used to had to be replaced with a more fast paced one. Of running around for a seat in the colleges. Running around to find a shelter. By now my writing ran away to someplace else! Vanished but thankfully, never conquered by anything else!
As the college days were nearing a slow death, the writer in me sprang within me. Spring. Spring. I was bouncing, dancing with my pen giving me company. My dancefloor was my table. Location still the same - India's capital city. Capital of chaos. Capital of cars. Capital of the capital letters that made me a writer out of me. On a serious note, I decided copywriting was my calling. People found it funny and looked at me like you know what!
Years rolled on. The pen still holds strong and might. Mightier than thou. I am writing ads today. Occasional poems and proses for few and most loved. Writing almost anything under the sun. From food to farms, technology to tantrums, bliss to billions - writing just goes on for me. A heady cocktail of inspirations pouring in from all the corners. As time posed new challenges, i have strived to take my writing along the way. The best part of being an advertising writer is that you can start from anywhere. Take a leap out of anywhere.
As I am writing this, the thoughts of writing a new ad is pouring in like cats and dogs over me! Drenched in this cold wave, waiting to sip a hot cuppa and wide awake to strike, I take your leave.
Hold on! The words haven't stopped in yet.
