That time it rained watermelons in Philly

+ inspiration from surrogate lovers & The Boss ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Hey {NAME} -- I have 3 stories on inspiration and death for you today. But first, just a quick reminder: CopyHour re-opens Monday July 11th. ++++ That Time It Rained Watermelons A few years back my wife and I were driving on I-95 near Philly when we witnessed the craziest accident I hope I'll ever see. A tractor trailer carrying watermelons overturned on an overpass raining watermelons onto the freeway below. One poor soul in a SUV was killed after the vehicle got struck by said watermelons and lost control. It's one thing to know that you can die at anyone moment. It's another to see it so clearly with your own eyes. "You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think." - Marcus Aurelius "You could be driving along 95 and have a watermelon rain down from the sky and kill you." - Derek Johanson [Link to news article.]( +++++ Don't Dismiss A Surrogate Lover In 2010 I was living on tiny little island in the Gulf of Thailand called Koh Tao. One night I was out for dinner with my friend when a strange older man, an expat, started chatting us up. He eventually told us he ran a "surrogate lover" business. Surrogate lover? A surrogate lover was a Thai woman or man who would pretend to be your boyfriend or girlfriend while you got over a bad breakup or the death of your spouse. Apparently, there was a lot of demand. He told us that it wasn’t a sexual thing but the entire conversation freaked us out so we politely took his business card and left. The other day I heard about AI chatbot boyfriends and girlfriends -- [Replika.]( It made me think of the surrogate lover dude. He was sitting on a billion dollar idea without realizing it. Sometimes adding new technology to an old idea is your golden ticket. +++++ "Everything Dies Baby That's A Fact" - The Boss Every 4th of July I fire up "Born in the U.S.A." as kind of a joke. But to be honest, I fucking love Bruce Springsteen. He's a great writer. One of my favorite songs he wrote is "Atlantic City" (You've probably heard The Band's version). The first two lines of the chorus are fire: "Everything dies baby that's a fact.But maybe everything that dies someday comes back. Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty, And meet me tonight in Atlantic City." The connections that great writers make are well... great. I look at Aaron Winter’s copywriting and get a similar feeling. "Making a fortune requires imagination. Losing a fortune requires a lack of imagination." On the surface these lyrics or bits of copy on a sales page don’t seem magical. But making those connections and writing them in a way that the audience instantly understands and feels takes immense skill. These are the types of things you miss when you don't slow down and really study good copy. That's why I think hand copying *great copy* is so helpful. It forces you to slow down and recognize these little gems. And finally... don't limit your copywriting inspiration to only other copywriters. Musicians or great authors can inspire you too. Cheers! - Derek Derek Johanson - Creator of the "legendary" [CopyHour]( course. - Husband & father of 2 rambunctious boys. - Never trust a watermelon.  I can write a mean sales page and email but I'm laughably bad at social media. Please come critique my approach on any of these accounts: [Facebook](  [Twitter](  [Youtube]( Sent to: {EMAIL} [Unsubscribe]( CopyHour.com, 340 S LEMON AVE, 5007, WALNUT, CA 91789, USA