And the words just keep coming.
Good morning, afternoon, or evening (for whatever time you happen to be reading this!), I’m Austin Sabattis, the S3 Agency’s (former) copywriting intern. Besides my complete shock that it’s August, meaning school will soon be starting up again, I’m absolutely blown away at how fast the time went while interning at S3. It feels like yesterday I was shown my desk and handed my first brief. Since then I’ve not only grown as a copywriter, but developed a comfort with words and writing unlike ever before.
Temple’s advertising department has prepared me for the agency world in every way imaginable, which I am forever grateful for. Besides slight differences in routine procedures that one would have to learn at any new agency, I felt completely prepared to take on any writing task my creative director threw at me. I was confident in knowing what questions to ask (and when), as well as how to go about drafting copy for the assignments, what to do when I hit a wall, or anything really. Working with real clients who have real assignments was a little nerve racking at first; I found myself being more critical and meticulous about the quality of my work than ever before. After getting past the initial creative roadblock with each client, I instantly felt at ease and was able to write and let the ideas flow naturally. That ability, taught through countless hours of copywriting for school, made the difference between an enjoyable internship experience and a dreadfully foreign and confusing one.
Because I developed a sort of comfort with the clients I would regularly work with, I also established a new comfort level with my own writing abilities. Admit it or not, everyone struggles with wondering if they’re good enough; if they’re above the bar or just falling short of it. Writing has always come somewhat naturally to me, so expressing an idea (be it from within or an external one) has never been much of an issue. But as I study the words of advertisements surrounding me, I find myself questioning my writing abilities in general, eventually pulling my punches rather than being as audacious as I actually am. As I realized that my work was good enough, that ideas and lines I conjure up can be used, I felt a sort of placidity come over me. That comfort allowed my writing to unfold and expand in new and exciting ways, daring me to take risks and be bold in every word I write.
I went into this wanting to become a great writer. And I wanted to become a great writer so that I can write professionally, incessantly, for the rest of my life. Writing is, has been, and always will be what I am most passionate about; it has engulfed every inch of my world and is somehow still searching for more.
S3 has shown me that you’re as talented a writer as you allow yourself to be. That writing is more than composing compelling rhetoric or finding a series of words that bleed beautifully into one another. Writing is about taking an idea, a single fleeting notion, and allowing it to blossom into something much greater and more universal. Copywriting is a style of writing and thinking that can allow a single, rogue idea to spread like wildfire. S3 gave me the opportunity to write, grow ideas, and work with people who think as sideways as myself; that effortless comfort in one’s writing abilities can be attained, and they are invaluable. It’s the greatest gift I could have ever taken away from my internship. And I wouldn’t want for anything else.
