‘The simultaneous occurrence of events that appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.’
For a freelance copywriter who uses ‘words’ as one of his arsenal’s primary tools, choosing ‘synchronicity’ as the first one to write about might seem out of place. Even pretentious.
Yet, this word is spot on. Those who already know me understand that synchronicity is part of my life. I notice instances of it every day. This is why it is literally drawn on my skin, part of a tattoo on my left hand, right under the word ‘music’ – another one of the manifestations of human creativity.
Instances of its manifestation have always appeared in my personal and professional life. All the small anecdotes I have regarding this word or the action it represents would take me hundreds of pages to share.
So, I will share just one. The one that resulted in starting my own freelancing business: Creative Monologue.
The end of 2018 found me working in an advertising agency in Bucharest. Whenever I got a breather, I would watch videos on Vimeo or read anything that would appear on my screen, even remotely connected to storytelling or creative thinking.
It is then and there that I stumbled upon My Grandfather’s Memory Book, which was initially published by The New York Times Op-Docs. You can read the initial story here: nyti.ms/2D3qFDJ.
Colin Levy’s story regarding his grandfather’s passion was all too familiar. His grandfather’s life experience was a treasure trove of inspiration. In terms of the feelings brought up, his memories of his grandfather were incredibly similar to mine.
His grandfather loved to sketch. My grandfather loved to sculpt. His grandfather documented his world through drawing. My grandfather recorded his world through etches in wood or through albums filled with photos and clippings from wherever he visited.
Then, an Eureka moment happened. As I watched the animation and listened to Colin Levy speaking about his grandfather, a sentence got stuck in my head:
‘ My grandfather was a man who got this crazy idea in his head…and he ran with it!’
It struck a chord in me, but it remained filed away in my notes app, like many good ideas. Fast forward three tumultuous years.
The pandemic just hit; the ‘always on call’ agency mentality stifled my passion for writing. I just finished another meeting that left me void of inspiration, with too many good ideas shot down.
So, I just turned Rheo, one of my go-to apps, searching for inspiration and trying to unwind… And there it was again, the first video in the ‘Spark’ category: My Grandfather’s Memory Book.
So I remembered that crazy idea I wrote in my notes:
‘Start writing the right stories.’
If I left you asking yourself, what do synchronicity and copywriting have in common?
Well, I can give you an answer. My answer:
Those little cosmic coincidences we define by using the word synchronicity can become the ideas for excellent writing.
You just have to be crazy enough to get that idea in your head and see how you can materialize it.
It might just be easier than you think.
