An Unexpected Ambition

2025-04-06

“Everybody can write”.

I heard this sentence in a professional setting a while back, and it’s stuck with me ever since. It sort of sucked the joy out of my day.

Now, if you’re reading that as a positive, “You can do it, just give it a go, " I salute you. That’s how I’d like to think of it.

Heck, most of us are taught to write at a young age!

But this comment wasn’t meant that way. It wasn’t about the technical act of typing a word.

It was about the idea that writing doesn’t really matter because anyone can execute it if they have an idea. The rather cynical view that there’s no talent in copywriting because, hey, we can use AI to do it now.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to call out the person too much.

They were, after all, making this point because they were highlighting the importance of the message. And I agree. You can’t necessarily execute an idea well if that idea is awful in the first place.

But perhaps, and let’s be honest, I kind of have to feel this way as a copywriter; the execution is also important.

After all, if everyone really could write, then what would be my purpose?

And if I am honest, the idea for this blog came from that little anger I felt sitting there smiling while I — and my profession — were under ‘attack’. My feisty little inner voice had a bit of “I’ll show you that there’s real wit and talent needed in writing”.

My wholly unoriginal battlecry was simply that “Not everyone can write well”. Yay!

And then I blinked, and it was four months later (perhaps six, but who’s counting, eh).

I hadn’t written a single word for my blog. OK, maybe a paragraph.

My battlecry was in shambles. After all, how can I argue that not everyone writes well if I wasn’t, well, writing in the first place.

But then, one day, while sipping some coffee and explaining to someone in exasperation how the reason there are no blog posts to read is because of how ‘tired’ I was after a long day, it hit me.

I had been writing all this time. Every day I write for my clients. I change words, edit sentences, play around with idioms, and create, craft and nurture my words.

So why was it so hard to write for just…me?

I had welcomed in the inner critic who said my writing wasn’t really all that special, so no one needs your blog. We don’t need yet another blog. (Perhaps I should start a podcast instead, there's a distinct lack of those, right?)

And suddenly, I wasn’t trying to prove that I could write well and that AI wouldn’t take my job. I was on a mission to show myself that I could write because it’s what brings me joy.

While I’m not the best wordsmith, I feel joy when I write, and I think others might see that joy.

Perhaps that is the point, the magic argument I was actually looking for.

Everybody can write, but not everyone will find joy in it.

And watching someone do things they don’t find fulfilling or joyful, well, it doesn’t really spark much joy in you now, does it?

But maybe this world needs those who feel joy when they write. Perhaps the joy adds some magic to words that logically thinking algorithms can’t always capture.

And most importantly, I don’t need to try and prove a point about writing to write and publish. I can just do it — like everyone else — because it brings me joy.