Recently I have been reading a book about the late John Hughes.
He was the screenwriter and director for some of my favorite movies back in the 80’s and early 90’s. Everyone who knew him in the book I’m reading described him as eccentric, prone to emotional mood swings, brilliant, a genius, and someone who grew tired of hanging out with the liberals in Hollywood before he dropped out of the game altogether to be a recluse with his family until his death in 2009. He wrote tons of movie scripts (and many that were never even made into movies.)
He was a writing machine.
And, I have always loved his movies.
Especially Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club. and Home Alone. (The late brilliant copywriter Gene Schwartz said every copywriter should watch Home Alone at least 2 or 3 times, something to think about, my little droogie the next time you’re scrolling through Amazon Prime looking for a movie to watch…)
But you know what my favorite thing about him was?
The thing I did not realize until reading this book?
John Hughes was a speed writer.
Apparently, he would write entire scripts in 24-48 hours!
One story the direct Chris Columbus (guy who directed Home Alone) said was, John Hughes was a night owl. And he had Chris come over one evening only to get an idea and then disappear for the rest of the night while Chris slept on the couch. In the morning, John woke him up having wrote an entire first draft of a movie script.
Now that’s fast!
And, it’s one of the keys to his success:
Fast writing.
Way too many people in copywriting, email, etc spend far too much time writing. They are always trying to get things perfect. Always waiting to be “inspired.” And, always making writing far harder than it needs to be. Screw that sideways. Fast writing is good writing. It’s why my Enoch Wars novels never take me more than 14 days. It’s why some of my highest performing sales letters were banged out in days (sometimes hours) instead of weeks and months. And, it’s why I can easily churn out emails each day to sell my products while the mush cookies are still waiting around trying to get their swans in a row.
And you know what?
Fast writing is easy when you know what you’re doing.
Enter my “Email Players” newsletter.
The first thing you get when you subscribe is my “Email Players Playbook” — which shows you all kinds of ways to write emails, subject lines, content, etc. In fact, new subscriber Josh H. wrote just this weekend:
“Wow, your Email Player Playbook is really eye opening and I can see why this stuff works. I received it a week or two ago and have read it 3 times already. My mind has been filling with all sorts of ideas.”
^^ That’s what I’m talkin’ about.
What about you?
You want to bang out emails like this?
And, have so many ideas writing becomes fast?
Then, check ye out the newsletter here:
Ben Settle
P.S. I timed it, I wrote *this* email in less than 7 minutes.
See?
It works.
Now stop being a donkey and start writing…
