During an interview for a project involving my alma mater, Concordia University, the topic of how AI is impacting the livelihoods and prospects of creative professionals came up.

Naturally, this is a subject near and dear to my heart and those of all content creators. Can technology eventually supplant us as the go-to resource for generating creative output? Will text-based AI ever become sophisticated enough to churn out better quality online content?

Joe Pulizzi, the founder of Content Marketing Institute, famously planted his flag in controversial territory on this issue when he said:

“In 10 years the majority of content…

Exceptional copywriting can mean the difference between a brand that sells and a brand that consumers never notice.

And, while anyone can write — as in formulating coherent sentences — writing well is a real, and often elusive, art.

As the demand for new content continues to grow, copywriting that connects with an audience and consistently generates leads is worth its weight in gold.

The best copywriting uses persuasive, engaging language to speak to consumers in human terms. It doesn’t use smoke and mirrors, misdirection, buzzword overkill, or other annoying (and, frankly, pointless) marketing tricks.

But copywriting is a lot…

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life.”

— Walt Disney

The decline in a collective appetite for reading, especially in the United States, is not a new phenomenon.

As per the New Yorker’s Caleb Crain, the U.S. Department of Labor’s American Time Use Survey revealed that between 2003 and 2016, the time that the average American devoted to daily reading for personal interest sank from 0.36 hours to 0.29 hours.

This decrease comes in spite of the fact…

When you love writing more than anything else, it’s all you think about. Or, at least, that’s how my brain works. From the moment I wake up in the morning to the moment I fall asleep at night, I’m either writing (which I’m lucky enough to do for a living in a marketing capacity) or stirring a rich stew of story ideas, sometimes at a simmer and others at a vigorous boil.

In short, writing is part of my DNA.

But, even though I’d be writing for the majority of my seven-hour workdays, I wasn’t able to get my hands…

In January of 2019, I found myself holding down a job that I loved. Not only did I work with people that pushed me to new heights creatively and professionally, but I also got paid a decent salary to become a better writer every single day.

Blogging, social media posts, eBooks, even a goddamn children’s book (one that explained tech concepts too complex for a children’s book audience, but hey, it was for a tradeshow full of adults who feared technological change, so baby steps right?), it was a great place to learn by failing. Learn by doing.

That practice…

I had the pleasure of taking in a screening of the new 4k restoration of Spike Lee’s 1989 masterpiece, “Do The Right Thing,” late last night. Though I had seen it many times before, this viewing yielded my most visceral emotional reaction to the film yet.

A lot of that had to do with the news cycle I was monitoring and tweeting about as I sat in the theatre beforehand, waiting for latecomers to trickle in and the projection to start. …

In a recent appearance on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast, Howie Mandel stated that a big part of his success in show business has to do with “being comfortable with discomfort.” It’s so obvious, sure, but that verbalization of a simple truth really struck a chord with me.

In fact, I’ll take Mandel’s statement a step further (well, maybe it’s just a slight repositioning, but hey, I want to feel like I’m contributing too) and put this out there:

You need to be comfortable with failure if you want to become a better writer. …