No, I haven’t abandoned my Toronto Copywriter blog in favour of Twitter. If you’ve skimmed my website before, you know my thoughts and ramblings about being a copywriter in Toronto can’t be tamed by 140 characters.

I’ve just been, well, busy.

For the last six years, following five years working for an ad agency, I’ve been a full-time freelance copywriter in Toronto, kept busy by a few big international clients. I also work with clients, ad agencies and web design firms in Toronto, across Canada and globally.

Well, at the beginning of May, I ended up losing my biggest client after they lost 90% of their business and had to cut staff and contractors.

As one door closes…

I started a new contract at McAfee, the anti-virus company that’s owned by Intel. I’m working in a contract role as a writer on the Content Design team and so far I’m loving every second of it.

While those guys (and other freelance projects) keep me fairly busy, I promise to post more often, especially now that I’ve seen my Toronto Copywriter search results drop on Google.

Happy holidays to all my clients - past, present and future. I’ll be working like a dog over the next few weeks but I should have some downtime at the end of the month. I’ll be back with a big update then. Stay tuned.

About two weeks ago, I wrote about how I’d never repeat the mistake of ‘08 and move houses right after having a kid.

Funny how things change in a matter of weeks.

The wife and I found a house that we absolutely fell in love with (clearly it’s the one in the photo above) so we’re on the move again. Hopefully, this will be our final house because I’m really not interested in all the stress and hassle that comes with packing and unpacking.

It’s especially difficult because my office is located right inside my house. For those just tuning in, this copywriter in Toronto doesn’t actually write copy in Toronto. Instead, I work out of my house, located just north of the city. That means that I won’t just be moving houses, I’ll also be moving offices. And working in a sea of cardboard boxes for a few months is the opposite of a zen experience.

However, just because I’m moving houses, it doesn’t mean I won’t have time to move your business forward. If you need some help with any type of copywriting project, ring me. Even though I’m moving, my number isn’t changing.

I haven’t posted in a few months, nor have I taken on any large projects recently (to those who’ve contact me in the last month or so, I apologize). The photo above is the reason why but here’s the backstory.

In the summer of 2008, I made the mistake of taking on an incredibly large copywriting project for a Toronto advertising agency. It was a series of healthcare brochures for a Canadian pharmacy chain and it involved a good 60 hours of work. I had also just finished a 100+ page copy deck for OLG and I was juggling other projects so I barely had a minute to breathe. Under normal circumstances, a job like that is a cakewalk for me. But in the summer of 2008, my wife and I made the genius decision to move houses a month after having our first child. And the healthcare copywriting project coincided with both.

Needless to say, July & August of 2008 were beyond hectic. As I wrote about health issues like hypertension and stress, I was definitely able to relate. Though the project was a huge success, I vowed to never again take on too much during life-changing events and milestones.

Fast forward two years later to today. We just welcomed our second son, Brayden, and I’m happy to say that we’re still in the same house.

Now that the little guy has arrived, I’m once again open for business. If you’re looking for a copywriter in Toronto for an upcoming project, give me a shout. I’d love to help. And if you’re not in Toronto, don’t let that deter you. I’ve got clients in Costa Rica, Turkey and the United States so no matter where you work, if we do business together, you’ll feel like I’m right down the hall.

I’ve been busy working. And playing with my new iPad. And not necessarily in that order.

I couldn’t wait for the Canadian launch so I hopped over to the Walden Galleria and grabbed one a few weeks ago. It really is as magical as Steve Jobs claims and I’m not just saying that because I’m a diehard Apple fan.

I’ve actually turned the iPad into a pretty cool portfolio of my work. I’ve thrown print ads, scanned brochures, and screenshots of websites I’ve worked on onto the device so it really is more than just a toy.

In my next Toronto Copywriter post, I’ll share some feedback on how my new iPortfolio is working out as I meet with potential clients to showcase what I can do for them.

So I’ve added a small section to the homepage of my website in order to help clients that are looking for a copywriter in Toronto sort out whether I’m good to go for the week.

After receiving a few emails over the last few weeks from agencies in Toronto asking whether I was available for a few days of contract copywriting work in the days ahead, I thought it would be a good idea to streamline the whole process and let everyone know what my availability is right off the bat.

My availability falls into three categories mostly because I have three types of clients:

1) Non-agencies that like to brief me and send me on my way because they don’t want to see my face
2) Agencies that like to brief me and send me on my way because they don’t want to see my face
3) Agencies that like to brief me and stare at me all day long because I’m so handsome

My availability for each of the categories varies week by week so I’m slapping it onto my Toronto Copywriter homepage for everyone to see. I’ll be updating the page every Friday for the week ahead (or sooner should my availability for any of the categories change).

Just a quick note to let everyone know that this Toronto copywriter is with Coco. Sorry Jay.

Yup, I’m five days late or so with my wishes of happiness for you and yours. But that should be expected from a copywriter who blogs about once every two months while promising over and over again to post more regularly.

I can’t blame Twitter. I’m not on it. I could never keep up.

And it’s not Facebook’s fault. I’m not really addicted.

It’s just pure laziness. After working 10-hour days, banging out creative concepts and copywriting for all sorts of clients around the world, the last thing I want to do is blog.

But I really should. Not because I have anything important to say that people actually want to hear. No, it’s because being a neglectful blogger has caused my Google search rankings to drop dramatically. I used to be in the third position on the first page and now I don’t even come up until page 3 when searching for Toronto Copywriter. Clients still find me. And hire me. Just look at my lack of blogging as proof. Still, I’d rather be on top.

That brings me to my New Year’s Resolutions. I am really, really, really going to try to blog more often. And climb to #1 in Google searches. And join a gym.

While I began my career as a Toronto copywriter at an ad agency, immediately crushing a number of TV commercials and radio spots in my first six months or so, my focus these days tends to be more digital (which I love, by the way).

But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate clever TV spots. Here’s one from Toyota out of Australia.