As the November election nears I find myself reading too many blogs and too many depressing news articles about too many nut cases who are running for Congress and just might win. Then I listen to Keith and Rachel - and who can sleep after that?
When I get angry I write a post for this blog. Fortunately for you most never get posted. When I become nearly paralyzed by depression I write humor pieces. That seems strange doesn't it? Actually, for years I've always had 6 or 7 humor pieces going at once. I open one, read it, change a word, add a comma, rewrite a passage, and save it, and open the next. Every few years I actually finish one. They aren't long, four pages at the most, but they make me laugh.
Right now I have a story about Shirleen, who is 13, and her boyfriend, Bobdog, who isn't. She just got implants from a quack who put himself through med school writing ads for bail bondsmen. There's one about a private eye named Stone Breaker, a 5'9" wuss who's real name is Winklesaus. His Mom calls him Winky. In front of his clients. There's a first person story about a guy who assaults a police cruiser, in front of the officer, and gets away with it...and more. There's one called "My Friend Garner" which is three paragraphs long and has been stuck right there for three years now. It's so good I haven't been able to improve it, but I also can't figure out where to take it from there. Very frustrating.
If you tap the "humor" link under Categories you can see some of the shorter stuff I've written over the years. A few faves are here, here and here. Very uneven stuff but each made me smile at a time when politics overwhelmed me.
My friend Al sent me a link recently to an article by Scott Adams (creator of the Dilbert cartoon) about writing humor. Good advice. Read it and then give it a try. Make yourself laugh. It beats slitting your wrists when you see another tea party candidate ahead in the polls.
--Trakker
The problem with all writing ...
... not just humour writing, is that it has a hard time competing with reality.
Carly Fiorina flummoxed on spending cuts, 7:13 on youtube.
h/t, http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2010/10/17/carly-fiorinas-underpants-gnome-budget/
FOX News asks tough questions, Where are $4b in savings going to come from? Where are you going to cut? There isn't that much waste and inefficiency.
Posted by: horsec | October 21, 2010 at 02:56 PM
Yes, I saw the video of the exchange. It's tough for a humor writer to top that! It's just not fair that some politicians like Christine O'Donnell can make a crowd howl with laughter with just a quick comment while I sit for hours trying to write something funny.
Posted by: Trakker | October 21, 2010 at 03:13 PM
Terry Gross's Jon Stewart 29Sep10 interview on Fresh Air. A practical lesson in How To Be Funny, and get your own TV show, by reading the newspapers.
Posted by: horsec | October 22, 2010 at 03:13 PM