Most people have heard something I’ve written. They just don’t know it.

For nearly fifty years, I’ve written words that other people have spoken. Radio announcers have read them. Business owners have voiced them. Actors have performed them. Clients have used them to sell everything from pickup trucks to pizza.

Sometimes a line sticks. Someone will repeat a slogan or mention a commercial they remember from years ago. Almost nobody asks who wrote it. That’s the strange thing about being a commercial writer. If I do my job well, I disappear.

The announcer sounds clever. The business sounds interesting. The client gets the phone call. The listener remembers the message. And the writer quietly moves on to the next script.

I used to think that was a little unfair. Wr...

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