I tell my copywriting students they need to learn how to write under pressure.

Creativity on demand is nervous business. Copywriters also usually sit right next to the persons they are competing against for the best assignments and the almighty Quan. And every project in ad land seems to have one screwball who wants it on the air yesterday or isn’t feeling it now even though they were clearly feeling it last week.

I remember the first copywriting assignment where Panic Chimp screamed in my head. I had to come up with a title for a grocery store coupon book that featured pro-literacy content from the NFL.

After a week of working on nothing else I finally landed on a line. I think my creative director was more relieved than I was.

As I teacher, I watch my students go through the same process—flailing and choking in water a foot deep. Eventually they figure it out for themselves. Or drown. Both are valuable experiences, creatively speaking.

For this blog, my deadline is to write something every day. The competition is the rest of the Internet.

No pressure.