My (not so) secret dream
Oh, hi.
It’s me again, Amy Collins from Rude but Charming.
Oh, who am I kidding? I am rude but charming.
Seriously though, I asked a dear friend to describe me in two words and that’s what she came up with. Genius name for a newsletter, don’t you think?
Rude but Charming started incubating in my mind during the first Covid summer in 2020. It popped about for a year before I finally put my fingers to the QWERTY and committed to spilling my brain guts into this private channel of emails that is our current relationship status.
And that happened because my business coaches at the time told me to shit or get off the pot. But nicer.
I started writing personal essays in 2008 on a blog, which led to creating a food and wine blog called Pig&Vine. (I’m a former sommelier and know-it-all about wine.)
Around the same time, small magazines started paying me to write articles.
But I needed more money so I started writing for small businesses—blogs, newsletters, advertorials, web copy, bios, product descriptions, everything else—and I never knew it was called copywriting.
I even wrote a novel somewhere along the way.
Today, I run a copywriting & strategy biz that focuses on email campaigns for coaches, creatives, course creators, membership leaders, and very cool small businesses. My emails and expertise help them engage their audience and turn new subscribers into lifetime buyers.
I also do stand-up comedy, and tell stories, and write this newsletter, and another newsletter called What’s the Story that’s all about marketing and biz stuff.
You’ll hear more about what I make and how I help folks be better at email in a couple of days.
Rude was never going to be a marketing vehicle, but it has gotten me clients based on the quality of my writing.
I like the way you write is a common echo.
Here are a few other things people have said about Rude but Charming…
Thanks to Rude But Charming, time has meaning again...Fridays are when I slough off the ennui of my existence and read Amy Says…You won't find "Brad Pitt smiling like he just fucked the moon" in any phrase book, but I found it here one Friday. After I read it, I sort of felt like I had done it myself.
I might strike a comparison to Anais Min and say…”Whether you wish to explore,The Delta Of Venus, or Market your soul”, Amy's your man. —Dennis R. Taylor, Warrior Poet
Or this…
I read Amy's emails like I do the work of Lamott, Gilbert, and Doyle. Yes, they're entertaining and make me think, but as a writer, I have an ulterior motive. I'm there to study the language, their approach to the timeless art of diction and syntax. I'll read everything Amy writes so that I can laugh and study all at the same time. — Corrie Myers, Copywriter & Strategist
And this…
this one is so fucking real and good and you. reading good writing is so satisfying. maybe even more when you can smell what the writer is conjuring.
love it, thank you. — Chris R.
Not bad, right?
So after the first year, I collected the very best letters into a paperback book titled, Rude but Charming, The First Year. Because my not so secret dream is to write a New York Times bestselling memoir and get invited onto Brené Brown’s podcast. Also David Letterman.
These letters are muscle in action, a workout training for that grand goal.
But even if that never happens this weekly-ish exercise is a life worth living.
Because I love story. I’m fascinated with the myriad of stories that inform our everyday moments, from the ones we tell ourselves about our own existence and worth, to the ones we read in the media, to the many forms of narrative entertainment like books, television, movies, and song.
Story lets strangers connect on a deeper level that often defies verbal conversation. This is why we read. Both fiction and nonfiction stories teach us something about ourselves, who we used to be, who we are now, and who we might become.
True, unique story slips under the skin and settles like a layer of goose down, something familiar and reliably present.
Thanks for being here. I can’t wait to hear what you think of these essays. And you can always leave a tip if you feel moved to buy me a coffee, a fancy-ass cocktail, or a steak dinner.
Dead lifting the entire alphabet,
Amy