Copywriting vs. Journalism

Back home in Phoenix, yes here in sunny Arizona, I’m currently writing copy at NextStudent. It’s a lot different from reporting and writing for magazines and newspapers. I needed a change after many years in journalism and turned to copywriting for the student loan funding company.

At NextStudent, I work with a team of highly qualified copywriters from different work backgrounds. Some were journalists and some did work in marketing or advertisting. Bringing us together to form the copywriting team at NextStudent was a great idea. There’s now a combined effort of different types of writing styles that blend well together. We’re all able to brainstorm and bring forth different ideas and ways of creating important copy to bring it to students and parents looking to fund a college education.

Speaking of college education, to me there’s nothing more important. In this day and age a college education helps in so many varied ways. It allows people to open their minds to new ideas, to learn new subjects, and to basically expand their horizons. It also helps people in the job market.

So my work here at NextStudent truly is different from previous writing and editing positions I had in New York. The deadlines are there, but different. The topic is different and geared toward a different audience: people looking to get to college, which is a good thing. And I get to work with others in a cool and oftentimes fun environment. I also don’t have to work until the wee hours of the morning, and that’s a huge plus.

Different Types of Writing

When I started my career in New York, I began as an editorial assistant at a trade magazine. I quickly moved onto the copy desk. I found out pretty quickly that trade magazines pay better than the consumer magazines, especially the fashion ones. Although I never worked at a fashion magazine, I heard all the stories through the grapevine and through friends.

Before landing my first real editorial job, I had a handful of interviews. A couple were at fashion magazines. From what I saw and heard, it’s extremely competitive. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with being competitive, but we’re talking cutthroat. Lots of fashion stuff going on and who wears what and how you look. Hey, that’s great for some people. I’m not knocking it; it just wasn’t for me.

It’s hard enough to live in New York if you don’t make tons of money, so working in trade magazines was a much better choice. I learned a lot and made more money. Not tons of money, but more than I would have made somewhere else.

Remember in the trades, you’re writing for a particular audience, say the CEOs, presidents, general managers of companies. So writing and editing are different from more mainstreams magazines.

After a while I took a job as a reporter for a local newspaper. After editing people’s work for so many years, it was much easier to write. Through my work as an editor, I learned to be a better writer and learned what not to do. I also learned how to put together a story, what’s necessary, research, all that. I wrote about everything: from politics and education to human interest stories and play reviews. I also did a stint as a restaurant reviewer. Problem was, the newspaper sent me mainly to these great restaurants. Way too much good food.

When I finally moved home to Arizona, I did some reporting and writing at some local newspapers and magazines. I like the human interest stories and preferred to stay away from anything political. Just not my thing.

Then I ended up as a copywriter at NextStudent. The company provides student loans for college students. I had never been a copywriter before, so it was a nice change. The audience is different; therefore, the writing style has to be different. It didn’t take me long to settle into my new position.

So, now, I have all different types of experiences as a writer and editor. From working on the copy desk at trade magazines in New York and reporting and writing about local news, to a reporting position in Arizona and as a copywriter at NextStudent, you can’t say my words haven’t gotten around, so to speak.

Laughter, and the Strange and Bizarre

Some people told me they got a real kick out of my last blog, “Loose Slips.” That’s just one of many funny things I witnessed while living in New York. Little tidbits of laughter in the Big Apple.

Hey, not that there aren’t funny things that happen in Phoenix. There are for sure. But there’s just something about New York City and crazy, wacky things that happen. I probably could never count them all, no less remember them.

Some things weren’t necessarily funny or funny at all; they were just plain bizarre, freaky or scary. YES, scary.

While working as an editor, me and many of my co-workers sometimes would complain of how we were being worked to death. We come to find out that weeks later, one of the reporters was found dead, at his desk! That scared the crap out of us all. Most likely there were other factors that contributed to the death of that reporter. But still … that’s pretty freaky.

I also witnessed a lot of crude behavior on the subway, people getting mugged, and a person actually was shot right outside my bedroom window. That’s when I said, “I really gotta go home to Arizona.” And, at the time, I lived in one of the nicest neighborhoods in New York City.

Yeah,  yeah, I know. These things happen anywhere, even in Phoenix, especially since it’s grown so much. But I witnessed way more things in NYC, and right up close, than I would have liked. You know, too much of a good thing…

But there were lots of fun times. Times I wouldn’t want to erase from memory. I just want to keep them there where they belong.

It’s Raining Again. What is This, New York?

I’m going off on a bit of a tangent today. Nowadays, as I mentioned somewhere, I am a copywriter at NextStudent, a student loan funding company. Typically, I can look out the window at my desk and see the sun shining. One of the many reasons I moved back home from New York to the Phoenix area is because of the lack of sun in the Big Apple.

Can’t tell you how many days of sun I missed when I lived in New York. There would be periods of three weeks in a row of rain, dreary and dark days, and the depression that followed. Not to mention the biting cold that went with it. Sure, there were some sunny days, but not as many as I would have liked. Those sunny days usually came with 90 degree temps and 200 percent humidity.

So, I move home, where the weather typically is beautiful, especially during the winter months. Yes, to me even 120 degrees is beautiful, but with low humidity. We get rain in Arizona, just not much of it. And once in a blue moon, we get hit, especially during monsoon season in the summer.

But today, what’s going on today and these past few weeks? It’s raining with that biting cold. It must be the New Yorkers on vacation. They brought that weather here and it won’t leave. I can’t stand it.

Many of us Arizonans like the rain. Most people here like it because we hardly ever get it. But me, I can’t stand the rain. After living in New York for too many years and living too many days of rain and bad weather, I’ve had enough.

I want the sun, I need the sun. If it’s below 80 degrees I’m cold and have to wear a jacket. Mind you, I’m not a sun worshiper, just someone who smiles more and is more productive when the sun shines.

The Big Move to New York

As a young, “green” and ambitious writer who moved from the surrounding Phoenix area to New York in the 80s, I encountered many different things. First of all, Phoenix was not such a “big town” back then, and moving to the Big Apple was a big deal.

Before I even got to New York, my parents had some reservations about the move. They feared me leaving and going it alone to the big bad city. But go alone I did. I had things to do, places to see, and fun to have.

Phoenix at the time was not the big city it is today. Back then, the way I saw things, it was boring in Arizona. I previously had been to New York on various occasions to visit with family and that is where I wanted to be, wanted to write and wanted to have experiences.

Having graduated from college, I decided to get out of my hum-drum home town and take off on a wild adventure. As my parents bit their fingernails and worried for my safety, I couldn’t be happier. New York, here I come. That’s all I knew and all I wanted.

I wanted to be a writer, a journalist, and New York was the place. There didn’t seem to be many writing opportunities in Phoenix at the time. And didn’t all the great writers start in New York? Weren’t all the big publishing houses in New York? The great newspapers, the best magazines? Everything seemed to be based in New York. So that’s where I had to be. Plus, I knew there were many exciting experiences of which I would get to be a part.

My friends were excited for me. Maybe some were envious. And I was doing this alone. Some of my friends also thought I was brave because of this. Maybe I was, and maybe I was young,  naive and even somewhat stupid. Time would tell.

Well, there were experiences, that’s for sure. Let’s put it this way, when I first got there it was like the farm girl goes to New York. Lots of things I saw…well, some I wish I never encountered, others are great memories. I had to learn not to be so naive, and that would come for sure.