I wasn't sure how to start this blog, but sometimes admitting we don't know where to start is in itself a great jumping-off point.
Hi, and welcome to The Pen Haus. So named for my love of writing, especially writing by hand. Isn't there something just magical about the process of writing - or even better, receiving - a handwritten letter?
In this digital age where the course of our lives can change by a mere click of the Enter-button and our secrets are stored on the cloud, handwritten letters would go a long way to slow life down.
Or, at least, to ensure that much more care is taken before we press > Send.
We forget that with every word we type, or write by hand, we set into motion the very act of creation. We birth commitments and contracts and consequences.
The pen is indeed mightier than the sword. Writing is way more effective than military power and violence.
Writing is the very essence of our being - an endless arsenal of communication sourced from 26 alphabet letters - made physical. Hearts get broken, fortunes negotiated, fates sealed; all by words arranged on paper or digital characters aligned on-screen.
There's no mistaking the power of the written word.
2020 has been quite the year. And this is quite the understatement, right? I'm often tempted to jump on the bandwagon and commiserate how tough it's been. It's easy to view the last 6 months through the lens of struggle and loss. But in this world of duality, every polarity has its opposite.
Alongside the unrelenting pain and darkness shines an incredible light.
And in this light, new things are borne. New ways of thinking, better ways of relating, more compassionate ways of loving - these are the positive fruits of destruction, pandemics and revolution.
The soulful lesson of COVID-19 is that we are inextricably connected - to each other, to the world around us - and most importantly, to That which holds us together. We can no longer live as islands, believing that what befalls other islands doesn't have anything to do with us.
What happens to everyone and everything has everything to do with you - down to the finest minutia.
My recovery from addiction has taught me an incredible number of lessons, the overriding one being this: there is no life worth living except one aligned, or beholden, to a Higher Power. To God.
So what does this have to do with The Pen Haus? Or this blog? Or even writing, for that matter?
For me, it means everything.
To serve the world through writing, be it books or blogs I publish, or copywriting I do for clients, my responsibility - and not to be dramatic, but my duty - is to craft every word in a way that reveres the act of communication.
An article is more than just the benefits of your product, for example. A cold email is more than just an appeal for new clients, and a Facebook ad is more than just persuasive words to get someone to buy stuff. No, writing has to be about love, connection and kindness.
Be it business or personal, the only reason we write anything we write is so that we can stay connected, and be connected.
History is too full of examples of how we got this wrong.
The Pen Haus is about care. It's about aligning with something greater, that Higher Power, so that the connections created, nurtured and developed - through the articles, blog posts, Instagram posts, sales funnels, website copy written - beautify, empower and honour the individuals exchanging these words.
Life post-COVID, including (and especially, including) business post-COVID, has to be about how we connect and how we serve each other
Join me on this journey. Take care of what you say, how you say it - and also, what you write.
p.s. I probably wouldn't have written this blog post if it wasn't for a pact made not so long ago with one of the most special women I know, my dear friend, Marethe.
Funny, this thing - connection.
Love writing,
Iwan
The Pen Haus
Copywriting is the art of expressing the spirit of your business
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