If like me, you’re a copywriter who often works to a daily deadline. You’ll recognise the feeling of dread that a morning briefing document can bring. Knowing you must deliver something to spec and on time, can strike the fear of failure into the most hardened of freelancers.

Sometimes, it’s a real breeze. If it’s a regular client or something that hits right off the bat, the words can flow out like hot lyrical lava. You feel like a powerful, keyboard wielding, pyjama wearing professional. A wordy messiah who simply cannot be tamed. Usually, this feeling is pretty fleeting.

When things are *HIGH PRIORITY!*, writer’s block can descend quicker than a tequila hangover. The overwhelming urge to repeatedly scream f**k until lunchtime takes over.

Well, luckily, there’s a (semi) fail-safe five-step process (tried and tested by me, myself, and) for those days when procrastination won’t fly. That day rate needs to earn its dues after all.

If the following doesn’t work for you? Well, at least you’ll have wasted 7 minutes reading this blog. Thus adding to the mounting pressure you’re already under to deliver, causing your fight or flight instinct to kick in, meaning you’re absolutely going to nail this either way. You are welcome.

Shall we begin?

 

Step 1: Write stuff down

It may be old school; it may be un-environmentally friendly. But when time is against you, and you need to get stuck into something complicated or (even worse) new, there’s nothing that gets information in one’s head faster than a traditional pen to paper tête-á-tête. You’re going to be glued to your screen all day anyway. Your eyes, mind and soul will thank you for the gentle reprieve.

Rarely does anything relevant get scribbled down in this initial flourish of activity, but I find it a necessary catharsis that helps to get the ball rolling on something that is quite literally putting food on your table. To coin a phrase from one rather mouthy Hollywood heavyweight, it gets the people GOING. The people in this instance being you, your brain, and the twenty-three marketing execs waiting to track violently coloured amends all over your word-perfect masterpiece.

Usually, I’ll pick out sentences that jump out at me from the briefing doc or resources on offer, re-write them on the page and add a spicier adjective or superlative where I fancy.

This forms a very odd-looking, yet essential, basis of inspiration and reference for the real work that’s about to come.

 

Step 2: Set it out

Whether it’s a sales email, social post, whitepaper, landing page or infographic, chances are you’ll have written one before and by God you’re going to write a bloody good one again. Dig out a relevant, previous document and use it as a template.

Even if this first layout isn’t how the final format will (or should) be, having something on the screen that at least looks like it fits the bill is a great anxiety reducer. It gives you physical checkpoints of where copy should go and how much you need. Populate the page with notes, bullet points, your Dunelm Mill wish list, anything that makes you feel like words are being written. Trust me, it works.

If you don’t have many previous examples in your arsenal then beg, borrow, or steal from Google, friends, and contacts. Someone somewhere will have created something similar. All you need is a jump-off point. Your copy will start to take shape. Everything will fall neatly into place.

 

Step 3: Walk it off

By this point you’re probably halfway through your day and starting to feel the heat of the ‘just checking how you’re getting on’ Teams notifications. Ignore them. You’re going to deliver. Whether it’s five hours early or five seconds late, it’ll be there, and all of this will seem like a hazy, distant memory come wine-time. But you do need some fresh air to get this over the finish line, so take it.

Clear the proverbial cobwebs clouding your head and take a spin around the block. Or if you can’t, maybe scream into a pillow for a few minutes? (JK). Either way, taking some time and space away from your workstation is key to solving the final piece of the puzzle. Don’t think too hard about what you’re working on while you’re walking. Let it float around your head. Trust that somewhere in the background the hard drive in your brain is making that aeroplane sound – everything is downloading as it should. I think.

 

Step 4: Add some drama

Remember those shoddy snippets you jotted down with the humble pen and paper combo earlier? Head back to those and re-write them. Only this time make it snazzy. Cut sentences down so they’re shorter, sharper, more dramatic.

By the time you’re finished, the inspiration will be bubbling away and you’ll be ready to hit the “I’m a genius” part of the never-ending existential crisis that is being a copywriter.

 

Step 5: The dénouement

Type, write and get it done. Just do it. Bulldoze through any block or fear, hang on in there. Begin the all-important task of making it make sense. Even if what you’re typing sends rivets of crippling embarrassment through you and it’s absolute trash. Within thirty minutes it won’t be. You’ll be pressing send on V1 before it’s even a socially acceptable time to order a G&T.

And there you have it, your candid step-by-step guide to getting through a copy brief a day.

So, what are you waiting for? Go forth and smash that deadline like you were always going to.