Time for some introspection and reflection …

Every so often I take stock of where I am in my life, take a look at what I’m up to and think about whether or not it’s still working for me. I check in with myself to see how I’m doing. I assume that I’ve pretty much been on the right track because this has never resulted in my changing course dramatically. But, from time to time, I have taken some detours along the way as a result of these explorations.

I’m only mentioning it because, in her most recent Sunday Paper, Maria Shriver wrote about the importance of knowing our “why” — understanding why we do what we do, what brings meaning to our lives.

Despite it being a long weekend in Canada, I was chained to my computer the whole time, working on a

What if …

Have you ever wondered what you’d be doing if you’d chosen a different path? I never have in the past, but I do think about it occasionally now.

For me it was easy. I was about 12 years old when I decided I wanted to work in advertising. Originally I wanted to be an art director and I did go to art school after high school. My mother wasn’t surprised because she used to say I was always doodling, that I didn’t have a notebook or school book that didn’t have sketches in it.

When I graduated from art school my first interview was

Still miss her after 10 years …

Last Sunday was Mother’s Day and, even after all this time, it’s tough — not that I only think of my mom once a year. Truthfully, I miss her everyday. I can’t tell you how many times a week I reach for the phone to call her.

It’s still an automatic reflex whenever I’m unsure about a recipe, or I’ve got news to share, or I’ve seen a movie I know she’d have loved, or some silly antic of hers pops out of my memory bank and into my consciousness.

She was a hoot. Feisty, funny, up for just about anything that didn’t involve elevators or heights.

In the summer of 2000 I became one of three founding

Jack of all trades …

A couple of weeks ago I had a meeting with a prospective client.  As soon as we all sat down around their boardroom table the senior client in the room asked me to tell them about myself.  As I took them through my various jobs and experiences I realized something:

I always talk about how lucky I am to have worked for the global ad agencies I worked for, on the blue chip accounts I worked on, all the smart and talented people I was exposed to — the ‘bigness’ of everything.

But what I tend to overlook are the small agencies where I also worked.  Where I cut my teeth.  Where I had no real defined job.  Where each and every member of the staff, all four or five or eight or ten of us, had a myriad of jobs we had to do.

We didn’t have the luxury of broadcast producers or multiple layers of account

The perfect spot …

The other day Michelle (The Green Study), a blogger I follow, wrote about her quest to find the perfect place to write; and then asked us, her fellow bloggers, to share how we “create space and time to work.”

When I reviewed my rather long-winded (sorry, Michelle) comment I thought, to myself, “This isn’t a comment, it’s a blog post.” So I decided to keep Michelle’s idea going by sharing what works best for me; and hopefully you’ll be inspired to do the same.  Here goes:

I am one of the lucky ones. A career as an ad agency writer/creative director has

Blog tour: The writing process

Pete Armetta is a writer whose work I love. I love his thoughts and I love how he expresses them, whether it’s through poetry, short stories, essays or fiction. Yes, he is that versatile, that able, that talented. I ‘met’ him here, on WordPress; and from the very first moment I read one of his posts I became a fan. And a follower.

Here’s your chance to do the same.

A couple of nights ago he invited me to participate in The Writing Process blog tour. He’d been invited by a friend and fellow blogger. Read what he shared, with just one click.

Some info I knew, some I didn’t. But none of it surprised me. Because along with being a terrific writer, he is committed and passionate and determined.

The Writing Process:

1. What are you working on?

A bit of background, first. My mother used to tell me as far back as when I was 11 or 12 years old, I routinely re-wrote (and re-thought) ads I saw in magazines. So I suppose it wasn’t ‘news’ when I told my parents, at age 15, I wanted to work in advertising.

And it is what I ended up doing. First as a copywriter, then as a creative director — for the Montreal and Toronto offices of some of the world’s biggest

Don’t take it personally …

I’ve been surrounded by creative people all my life, and I am one, myself.  And I’ve never known one, including me, who isn’t sensitive and easily hurt.  Guess it comes with the territory.  We do lay our souls bare for everyone to see, after all.  And stomp all over.  Who wouldn’t be insecure?  So needless to say, today’s Daily Post resonated with me:

“Tell us about the harshest, most difficult to hear — but accurate — criticism you’ve ever gotten.  Does it still apply?”

Of course this could be taken any one of a number of ways.  The way you dress, the colour of your hair, your weight, your cooking skills, your breath, your driving, whatever.  But seeing as how we’re all here to share our creativity — be it writing or photography or art or baking or crafting — I thought I’d talk about how it feels when people criticize our work.

Having worked in the advertising industry as a writer/creative director for more years than I care to think about, I am VERY familiar with criticism.  While it sometimes feels like you’ve been slapped in the face, I have

Day 276. Gimme Five!!

Yesterday’s WordPress Daily Prompt really caught my eye.  The theme?  “Success”.  “Tell us about a time where everything you’d hoped would happen actually did.” Well, I thought to myself.  This one has my name on it.  

One of my earliest memories of myself is when I was about four years old.  I’d been a flower girl at my great uncle’s wedding.  My dress was ankle-length, pale pink tulle and it had tiny pink silk roses randomly tacked on the skirt every here and there.  A true fairy princess gown.  Needless to say I wanted to wear it every day.  I even wanted to sleep in it.

I loved looking at the wedding photos.  My favourite, obviously, was one of me, walking down the aisle.  It was in black and white.  I am probably the originator of  the hand-tinted photo craze.  Because much to my mother’s dismay she walked in on me one morning, colouring over the photograph.

“What are you doing, Fransi?” she yelled.  “My dress is pink”, was my answer.  Really, could you argue with that logic?

From that day, I always had crayons or pencils or pastels or a paint brush in my hand.  I went through reams and reams of paper.  My mother used to tell me, even as I got older and went to school, every text book and every note pad and work book

Day 226. A Mystery

Yesterday I spent some time talking about advertising.  It made me think a lot about the industry.  And the people who are attracted to it.  As I said, it’s very stressful, and not just occasionally.  It’s pretty much the norm.

The hours are long.  There’s no such thing as overtime pay.  Budgets are tight, and getting tighter all the time.  There’s never enough people.  There’s never enough time.  The pressure is always on.   The days of 2-or-3-hour, 4-martini lunches are long, long gone.  Never to return.  If they ever really existed at all.

So what’s the draw?

Why do we want to work in the business, to begin with?  Why do we knowingly walk right into the fire?  Eyes wide open.  What keeps us there?

Are we masochists?  Martyrs?  Gluttons for punishment?  Into pain?  Stress junkies.  Out of our minds?

What’s with us, anyway?  What’s the common thread?  Do we all have a gene no one else has?  Or are we missing one, most

Day 114. A Misconception

I’ve been talking a lot about writing and ideas lately. It’s not surprising. They’re my stock in trade. But I’ve just realized that there’s a myth out there, that needs to be dispelled. So I’ve appointed myself the bearer of the news:

Contrary to what you may have been led to believe, ‘Creativity‘ is not the exclusive province of writers and artists and actors and directors and fashion designers and make up artists and hairdressers and lighting directors and singers and composers and interior designers and photographers and musicians and the like. Every human being has the ability and, as far as I’m concerned the responsibility, to think creatively. Without holding a paintbrush or a pen or a microphone or a camera or any other ‘tool’ those of us who are creative, use.

Here’s a good example of what I mean: One of the ad agencies I worked for, is BBDO. It is one of those huge, international (289 offices in 80 countries, 15,000 employees), full-service agencies that’s been around for eons. Since 1891, to be precise. I have worked for more than my fair share of the top agencies in the world, so I speak