The Flying Week

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The week of the humor writing intensive has come and gone and what a week it was.

I learned that I am funny. At least on the page I can be funny. We practiced different approaches to writing humor and read famous writers' humor and read the writing of other writers in the intensive. We gave feedback. We tried to write and have it be funny; we tried to write without the mandate of humor by writing to a prompt and if it was funny, bonus!

The good thing about an online writing intensive in Ariel Gore's Literary Kitchen is that it is only a week. I can do anything for a week (pretty much), even if my schedule ended up not being as open and lazy as it was when I signed up for the class months ago. The bad thing about the intensives is that they are only a week.

It is true that time flies when you're having fun and the Humor Writing Intensive was no exception.

I did write every day. Even days when that meant posting my writing at 2 AM. And feedback at 2:30 AM. I did it. Every day,

Then, poof, it was over.

From that lovely week I have a few pieces to develop more. One premise I am letting another writer use for her own story (yes, she asked! very nice). And I have saved all of my writing and all of my feedback for future use.

I also signed up for an online poetry writing class through another source. It is one I wanted to do but avoided because the timing was terrible (it was supposed to start last week). Apparently there were technical issues so the start date was delayed to some unnamed time. Which is fine. Especially if it is later in April. So I signed up for that workshop/class and have a writing class to look forward to for after I get through the plays of April.

But back to the humor class. It was helpful, fun, informative, and I learned things. And I wrote. Ariel's workshops are always inspirational and she attracts supportive and talented writers. These are the things which keep my writing flowing and which keep me from going down the I'm-not-a-writer drain.

Thank you, Ariel, and all of the writers in the Humor Intensive!

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Practicing Funny

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This is the week of the humor writing class in Ariel Gore's Literary Kitchen.

It's kind of kicking my ass.

It's not that I didn't know that writing humor is hard; I already knew that. But trying to write to the prompts and make them funny is hard because some of the subject matter for applying humor is not naturally funny.

No, that's not explaining it well.

Okay. An example. On Tuesday we were to make two lists of things which we aren't supposed to write about or talk about for reasons which put them into those two lists. The things fell into the sacred-don't-touch column or the taboo-you're-going-to-hell column. Then we had to write.

It took me about forty-five minutes just to come up with five things in each column. And I wasn't even to the writing stage, yet.

I got there. I wrote. I wrote some funny stuff. And some not as funny stuff. It was a freewrite so it meandered a bit. Which was okay,too.

I am writing every day. And I am giving some feedback every day.

Sometimes I am surprised at what comes off my hands onto the page and it's not bad. Maybe I do still have a funny streak left. The next step will be figuring out how to integrate it into more of my writing.
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How to be Funny. No, How to Write Funny.

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This is not going to tell you the answer.

I don't know the answer of how to include more humor in my writing. I first typed, "in your writing," but I am talking about me.

Which is why I signed up for Ariel Gore's first ever humor writing workshop. Because I realized that I don't have a lot of humor in what I write. Not usually and not in the big pieces I have in progress (or in a stalled state).

Humor can move the story along. It lightens the heavier moments. It makes us feel good or breathe or think, I can read more even though the topic is a little too close to home or heavy or something.

One of the many things I admire about Ariel is her ability to mix in levity in serious subjects. Like her most recent book, "The End of Eve." It is not a humor book and it is not a humorous story. But there are moments which she weaves together as golden threads to keep the reader right there in the whole experience of the moments about which she has written.

These are the things missing in most of my stories. When I try to write humor I feel stilted or stupid and that the writing is too self-conscious or it outright sucks. Which may be a bit over the top but it is how it feels.

Humor in the face of big topics or big emotions. To bring a smile along with the tears.

This week before the week-long intensive we were instructed to find a piece of something we find funny. Then write about why it is funny. To us. To me. And I realize that I also don't read much humor. Or I haven't for a while. So my first challenge in the workshop is to find something that is funny. There have been moments in books, but only moments. I was reminded about Marc Acito's books, which I read several years ago. If I can't come up with something more current, I will go with one of those - find a passage I like and post it, with analysis of why I find it funny.

Humor. I'm not against it. But I realize it is an important missing ingredient in a lot of what I write. I don't aspire to be a comic, just to put more light and space in my stories.
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Laugh for Livability

This looks like a fun upcoming event I found...

Join in for an evening of laughter at CLF's 2010 LAUGH for
Livability show!

LAUGH is an evening filled with spoken word,
sharp-tongued political satire and musical talents from our region's leaders and
rising stars. Cocktail hour + silent auction and dinner lead into the main event
where you'll see long time favorites along with surprise guests at this great
event! The proceeds from this evening of fun will benefit the Coalition's work
to connect issues, organizations and individuals to ensure a livable region for
everyone.

LAUGH is Friday, February 19, 2010, 6 p.m

at the Melody Ballroom....

Portland, Oregon

get your tickets
NOW!

spoken word: "Fight. Have Sex. Think. Sleep."

Spoken word artist Juliana Luecking, aka QueenJuliana, of Kill Rock Stars and live performance fame, has done some really nice work. It is alive and real and makes you think and touches deep inside. She has a great series, mostly on YouTube and on Moli, called "People are a Trip" which asks the big questions and gets a lot of answers. She also has a CD with some amazine pieces, called "Big Boned Broad" which I listen to repeatedly. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, and is also a massage therapist and reiki practitioner.

If you like this one, go see more of her work.

If you don't like this one, go see more of her work. You'll probably find one that speaks to you. Humor, politics, the arts, filmmaking, life, opera, New York City, people.

Click here to watch her short piece, Fight. Have Sex. Think. Sleep.

"People live in all nine stories of that building. They fight, have sex, think, sleep, make good art and bad decisions. They have unruly hair in the morning, complicated schedules during the day, and tasteful quiet dinners at night. Their gruffness in the stairwell is completely appropriate. The building is on Broadway, just south of Union Square in Manhattan.

event: Third Rail Discussion

From Third Rail here in Portland...this looks like a lively discussion!

Funny Bone Meets Funny Brain This Sunday The last in our free panel
discussion series

"Dissecting Comedy" takes place this Sunday, May 24, at the WTC Theatre,
immediately following the matinee performance of "Fabuloso" (approximately 4pm).
As our season of comedy closes we've seen humor mined from adultery, grave
robbing, and poop throwing. It's a perfect time to ask "wait a minute, why was
that funny?" Our panel of experts, led by hilarious-in-her-own-right Victoria
Parker-Pohl, will take a metaphorical scalpel to comedy to find its giggling
heart. Please join us!