The Power Of Someone Else’s Words

Words have the power of making my heart well up with tears. Yes, I said my heart. Not my eyes. I know that sounds rather medically unsafe, but it’s the truth.

Words have an erratic power of moving me in ways that would make even Gregory House do a double take.

And I love House so much I would never question his intelligence otherwise.

(I also know he’s a fictional character, relax.)

Recently, I was looking for inspiration to write a sales letter as requested by client. Sure, it’s no biggy to many. Just a short introduction letter that I could’ve cut and pasted off a “template sales letter” from Google if I wanted to play cheat (and I was tempted to).

Naturally though, I didn’t. I genuinely wanted her new line of product to break into the market with a bang.

Thing is, I never saw the product. I never felt it. She described it to me and even sent me a picture. Here’s the problem of being a freelance writer who has to “rush out” work for people who are looking for a fast-paced journey to success – you don’t always get a feel of what you’re writing about.

So in order to fill up the gap, I turned to Google.

I then came across a link – “100 Greatest Sales Letters“. Download the PDF now, it screamed.

Weak moment; I obliged.

The first sales letter I read was a classic. “The letter that built Newsweek”, it read. I read the letter and my heart actually skipped a beat towards the end. It was composed oh so beautifully. And this, mind you, is a sales letter – one that we tend to not even give a second look, because it’s SALES, because we’re too busy to entertain things like this.

And then it hit me that Newsweek had ceased print publications.

Cue: tear.

The letter boggled my mind. It wasn’t a jargon-filled yawn-worthy essay. It was an honest appeal to a reader to just, simply, give the magazine a TRY.

I started thinking about it all. I had flashbacks of all the newsletters and magazines I worked with (and quit). I thought about all the blog posts and articles I wrote and published. I thought about all the corporate letters and plans I typed up for a quick buck.

And yet, nothing, nothing at all could’ve compared to the brilliance of this two page letter.

Am I really that good of a writer, I thought again (for the umpteenth time)? Could my words really tug on strings of someone’s heart? I don’t know. But what I do know, and I know now is how much believe, faith and confidence whoever it was wrote the letter had to have (the letter was signed off by a “S. Arthur Dembner”). And I know that’s exactly what I lack.

I lack the confidence in believing that my words are powerful. I lack the faith that my words can take me, and maybe if not me, then someone else, far. I should believe that my words can possibly make a difference in someone’s life, if not now, then someday.

And until then, I will persevere. I will STOP telling myself that I’m not good enough for this because maybe I wasn’t born with a golden pen in my hand but neither was I born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I have to fight through this. I have to win.

I will find my muse. I will find my voice. And even if I will never have an elevator’s pitch ready to blabber out to someone because I never find my niche, I know that I will be proud of myself the next time I tell someone, “I’m a writer”.

The journey started a long time ago. It can only get better now.

www.manishadhalani.com