copywriting. jumbo style.
At my first job that didn’t involve cutting lemon wedges and pouring draught Beer for drunk, off-duty doormen, my father came to meet me one day for lunch. I heard my boss, Lisa, say to my dad, “Laura’s great. We’ve got to find a way to tap that talent.” Oh yes, I thought. Please. Please… keep reading…
There’s this woman Georgia in my dance class — by that, I mean my instructor Cebo’s dance class, which I take, not teach — who’s amazing. I often watch her and think, “Oh, so THAT’S how that move should look.” She’s super hard on herself. Always yelling out “Aahhhhhh!” when she messes up a move… keep reading…
When I was on the final panel at Unfair Advantage Live a woman asked a question I didn’t think she had to worry about. She asked, “How do you stay grounded when you get really successful?” We asked what she meant. “Well, when things start to happen for you in your business, what do you… keep reading…
At the company off-site, they had tubs of ice cream waiting for us first thing in the morning. Breakfast of cry-babies. This day was planned to manage all the upset about the big re-org. To help us lick our wounds…while licking ice cream sandwiches. There had been rumblings that a re-org (as in, re-organization or… keep reading…
OMG best thing ever A fellow copywriter/word nerd posted this Merriam Webster tool in a Facebook group, and all I can say is, what a perfect birthday gift. It lets you see what words were made official the year you were born. I thought that would make me feel old, but many of the words… keep reading…
I don’t want to get too heavy on you, so I’ll jump in at “ballsack.” I was in the middle of my dad’s eulogy, talking about a wackadoo who used to call his business number. Dad was a shrink, and because he advertised in the Yellow Pages under every possible heading (Anger Management, Jewish Psychoanalysis,… keep reading…
I had a housemate in college who’d leave messages on my answering machine like this: BEEEP! “Hey, just checking in, I was just wondering what you were planning to do with the spaghetti pot and some of the other stuff you left out on the counter. I’d clean them myself, it’s no big deal, but with… keep reading…
Chocoholic. Faux-hawk. Netiquette. Tanorexic. Jazzercise, glitterati, Brangelina. I love a good portmanteau. You know, that kind of word that’s a combo of two words and usually a twist on a longer one. Cassingle. Showmance. Mathlete. Sometimes it’s called a frankenword. It used to be called a “Sniglet” – coined in the 1980s by comedian Rich… keep reading…
“Did I ever tell you about my crush at Camp Well-Met? Her name was Laura Mills…” “We know.” “Have I ever told you about Grandpa refusing to take illegal kickbacks in his lumber business during World War Two?” “We know.” “Have I ever told you about my time-efficiency study for Eastern Airlines? It saved the… keep reading…
The easiest buck I ever made was in 1994. Before I tell you what the job was, let’s talk about easy money. I often see business coaches posing this question: “Do you feel guilty charging for work that feels easy?” They post it on Facebook and Twitter, offering to help people break through this so-called “money… keep reading…
