Guest blog by Hillary Jordan, author of
Mudbound.
Hillary can be found online at hillaryjordan.com
Before I was a novelist, I was
clever for a living. I was an advertising copywriter for twenty some-odd years,
first for various agencies and then, eventually, freelance. I'm in recovery now,
although I confess I still take on the occasional assignment when I need a quick
infusion of cash. In my long career, I conceived, wrote and produced TV and
radio commercials, print ads, billboards, web banners, table tents, door
hangers, and sundry for everything from Acura to Zoloft: cars, batteries,
chicken parts, dog food, sneakers, shampoo, Champagne, paper towels ("It's
quilted once, then quilted again!"), perfume, tortellini, vacuum cleaners, blue
jeans, tacos, antacids (one of my favorite spots for this product was a horror
spoof called "Children of the Corn Dog"), men's leisure wear, chocolates, home
theater systems, hair gel, beer, banks, sanitary napkins (the dreaded briefing
for that one took place on what I called "Tuesday Bloody Tuesday"), Texas
Tourism, an English cider, a Korean cosmetics line, a Russian oil company, and
various prescription drugs ("Side effects may include dry mouth, insomnia,
sleepiness, nausea and diarrhea"). And this is just the tip of a massive adberg.
