I’m getting home from biking last night when I stumble upon a horrifying scene in my living room.

My dog, Aggie, had been chewing — rather aggressively — on a bottle of pills.

I rush over to see what’s in the bottle.

Advil.

I check to see if any came out.

Seems unlikely, but there is a hole big enough for a pill to pop through.

Of course, since I’m a neurotic helicopter parent with her, I freak out. Apparently, Advil is like … one of the worst things for your dog.

I’m immediately on the phone with poison control.

Based on the “risk” factor, they tell me to induce vomiting (with hydrogen peroxide) within 2 hours of potential ingestion … which happened around 9:15 pm.

Except … I don’t have hydrogen peroxide.

And it’s now 10:15 pm.

And the closest grocery store is 2 miles away.

And my wife has the car.

So …

I turn on my heel, grab my bike, and rush to the grocery store at breakneck speed.

As I’m fumbling to lock my bike up, I see a HUGE train of people on bikes riding down the street.

But something’s … off about the whole scene.

They have lights. And horns. And hats. And … oh … oh … I see.

They’re naked!

Turns out it’s Portland’s annual “naked bike ride.”

Not thinking much of it (since I’ve seen it every year) I run into the grocery store.

But as soon as I step foot inside, I nearly collide with a group of 3 friends … each one completely butt naked.

Mind you, this is the grocery store I go to every week. So to me this scene is so weird and hilarious.

I make eye contact with the group for what feels like an eternity … awkwardly nod … and rush off. Lol.

Long story long, I got the peroxide, rushed home, induced vomiting, and checked the vomit for pills.

Turns out she didn’t eat a single one (and is 100% fine).

Total overreaction.

But hey, I got a great story out of it, right!?

Storytelling and entertainment is something I’m trying to do more with all my copy this year. I’ve learned that entertainment can provide loads of value where hard teaching fails.

I’ve even tested it with one of the lists I manage, which has over 400,000 subscribers.

When I started telling stories instead of hard teaching, open rates, clicks, and revenue went up.

I also cut down my writing time for those emails from 6 hours to about 1 hour.

It’s a whole new paradigm shift for me. And I’m excited to do more of it with this email list and the other projects I’m working on.

In the meantime, you can see more of my copywriting stories on the blog:

www.stealthiscopy.com

David Patrick