Nov 19

Nov 19 Writing Habits Under Hibernation

Illustration by Divya Abe

A friend of mine once told me that for every seven years of work, the famed New York graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister takes a one-year sabbatical. Two things immediately came to mind: 1. Lucky him. 2. That’ll never be me.

In the age of COVID-19 and Victoria’s prolonged lockdown, I seem to have been proven wrong about the second point.

I don’t think it’s fair for people to put pressure on themselves to do anything amazing with the ‘extra time’ we Victorians have on our hands (many people have less), but as a text-book shy, sensitive, keeps-to-herself type of writer, the lockdown has given me what I crave on a daily basis: a perfect environment at home to think, reflect and focus on refining my craft. Since graduating from AWARD School earlier this year, I’ve been doing exactly that.

Right at the start of AWARD School, national and N.S.W. co-head Jack Nunn (creative director, Special Group, Sydney) told us that the course would be a marathon and a sprint. Clearly that appealed to my inner creative Olympian, as my current schedule is filled with a medley of short- and long-distance writing sprints.

One Minute

After a few false starts, I’ve challenged myself to do the daily One Minute Brief from the Bank of Creativity in the U.K. every day for 100 days. If you’re not familiar with the Twitter contest, the rules are simple: One brief. One minute. One idea. The ideas that come out of this regime are terrible, and that’s kind of the point. I remember national and N.S.W. AWARD School co-head Mandie van der Merwe (Executive Creative Director, M&C Saatchi, Sydney) telling our cohort something to the effect of: ‘The more you can put yourself out there as a creative, the further you will go’. I think what she was getting at was that you can’t be afraid of failure.

It was drilled into us countless times over the course that, for young people in the industry, a great quantity of ideas is better than striving for ideas of any great quality.

Ultimately, quality is what counts, but early on you need to fail fast to quickly find the right idea. This is basic stuff to be sure, but I’m still coming to grips with that part of me that expects the first line to be good, that kicks myself for not spitting out a great headline on the spot, or, you know, not even having a decent idea after hours, days, of brainstorming. Talk to me in one hundred days and maybe I’ll have grown out of that.

One Month

With the other 23 hours, 59 minutes of the day spare, my friend Andrés (check out his work here) and I have been throwing ourselves into the 2020-21 Young Glory Competition, which sets out a new brief every month, for eight months. I write this as we turn towards the pointy end of the October deadline, for a brief set on curbing vaping among teens, in particular as COVID-19 puts vaperistas at a greater risk of hurting themselves and others. I relish in the opportunity to do something good for the world. It’s also a fun brief. The mobile and digital briefs were my favourites during AWARD School, and this one for Young Glory is heavily focussed on the mobile-native Gen Z audiences who inhabit Instagram and TikTok.

At the ripe old age of 27, TikTok feels a bit like a pubescent riot.

But hey, Sarah Cooper’s 40 and in my biased opinion as an out-of-date millennial, she’s pretty much the best act on there.

One Summer

Every creative has a bit of a Ken Cosgrove thing going on: a pipe dream other than advertising briefs. Mine is songwriting. My 2020 started with a flight home from Queensland, where I looked down over the blazing destruction of the bushfires from my window seat in a stunned silence. This naïve idea came into my head to write a song about the significance of that tragedy.

Poetry was my strength in school and uni, and, although I don’t always pay it much attention, most major moments in my life are accompanied by this overwhelming instinct to express their meanings in verse.

Like most of the wide-eyed ideas that wash over me during the course of the summer holidays, I promptly forgot about the bush fire song. But, the prolonged Victorian lockdown has progressed my lyricist dreams further than they typically venture in any given year. My partner and I share this mad hope to whip up a country song to sing at his family’s Christmas (if we can get together this Christmas) as a gift for his Dad – cute, I know. There’s no one to embarrass except ourselves, and I’m having more fun than I did basically a million years ago when we were still allowed to go to the pub.

How Much Time Have You Got?

Besides all of the above, there are also the projects that don’t really have a deadline at all. One of the best things I got out of AWARD School was a handful of new friends. I’m always grateful for new pals (as somebody who often prefers my own company to big crowds, I maintain a tiny social network) but I think the ones made during the pandemic are going to stand out for some time to come. Myself and a couple of other graduates from the 2020 class, Bill and Lewis, have been getting together pretty much every week since the course ended to try and cook up a few proactive campaign ideas for our own amusement. We’re gearing up to release a couple of those into the wild before Christmas, so watch this space.

Follow me on Twitter: @jessieroselocke