Direct Line to My Funny Bone
Mean What You Say: 202DONE
Finding My Funny Bone
Oh where, oh where can it be?
In a year of bad moods, isolation, low activity, and political drama, I decided to explore a new writing lane. I needed lightness. The question was, "Could I be funny?"
If I were to poll people around me on the question, "Is Jill funny?" or as the consultant in me would ask the question, "On a scale of 1 to 10, low to high, how funny is Jill?" the answers would be "occasionally" and "4 or 5." In other words, no one would hire me for my humor.
But could I find my funny bone if I persisted — maybe with the help of a good book and a few funny writers who could provide guidance?
I began by picking two topics that I believed had humor potential. The first was the story of my husband and I taking over household cleaning during Covid.
True to his style, my husband is all about using tools for every situation and using them right. Whereas I lead by intuition, he actually reads manuals. So when I gave him the toilet wand — minus written instructions or previous relevant experience — he consulted his tablet and then proceeded to clean.
This was when I understood that we were in for a very long evening.
I chronicled our different styles as we learned how to clean. Most importantly, I retired the term "cleaning lady" and replaced it with "cleaning professional" because I now understood that we lacked domain expertise.
The piece was minor-league successful. It received some attention on Medium, was picked by a few news outlets, and gave me the confidence to persist.
My next topic was how to be a "meh manager," which is something I had endured over many years. I offered a picture of Bart Simpson, along with 4 tips. I relaxed my rule of 3 (we don't easily consume more than three ideas on any list) because there was simply too much fun to be had.
I simultaneously explored the art of satire by perusing Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. I also started following Slackjaw. I then wrote, "How to Become a Meh Manager Without Really Trying," where I offered 4 tips that may or may not qualify as satire. Specifically:
- Take people's time without offering much in return.
- Never delegate but do hold people responsible.
- Avoid the personal touch by adopting one-size-fits-all, and
- Where possible, speak in gobbledygook.
It was then that my good friend and excellent writer mentioned that I was finding my humor lane. She described me as not "ha-ha funny" but offering insights with some charm and a small giggle. I didn't know if she was right, but I chose her description as my unconscious strategy going forward.
By now, I understood that humor pieces did better when they were short, easy reads. Exploring an idea in great detail would usually lose out to an efficient social commentary. The challenge was how to be quick, funny, and deep.
Some humorists adopt a loud and blatant style. This is not me. I wondered how I could achieve different perspectives in an accessible way that could both enlighten and get a giggle.
This led me to a new style that almost exclusively relied on dialogue to capture different voices and sensibilities. I first experimented with this approach in "Who Will Tell the Emperor that He is Not Wearing a Mask?" Here, a count and a court jester discuss who should approach the emperor about his missing mask.
This piece got a significant response, but I wasn't sure whether the claps came out of political leanings or outright humor.
I have since continued with my experimentation into heavy-dialogue pieces. The trick is to develop my ear so that it sounds like conversational talk and not an overly crafted piece of writing. I am improving, but not quite there.
I have applied my nascent humor in many venues. I wrote about a son who wants to opt out of school and learn about his world through gardening. I have two octogenarians using Zoom for their first time, which got a strong response.
I've also started a series where a young, very intelligent boy named Alfred needs the help of a coach to improve his social skills and build more friendships.
While I have miles to go before I am funny, I am discovering how to be lighter and on point. My pieces are between 3 and 4-minute reads. Humor might never be my leading skill, but I have begun a new lane and flexed some different muscles. It is too soon to know whether I will be taking a victory lap.
I still write "serious" pieces that range from social commentary to business idiosyncracies to our use of language across generations. It means that my lane looks more like an unplowed field. I don't have a niche of readers who match where I dwell because I don't really dwell anywhere.
One of my proudest accomplishments in 2020 is having the opportunity to write a column for The Writing Cooperative called "Mean What You Say." This idea was born out of my consistent misuse of idiomatic expressions, which has made me a laughing stock within my own family. Now I get to understand the origin and use of idioms and muse about possible insights across generations.
So what I make of 2020
I will look back at 2020 and take a small bit of pride in the things I have done that are "new," along with the things I have had to temporarily give up. I gave up the gym and reduced my tennis. There are times I gave up civility, but not the apologies that followed.
On the "add" side, I learned how to make challah, which I now do religiously every Friday (pun intended). I have almost found my funny bone, and I definitely haven't given up trying.
I remain true to my belief that attitude rules, which includes humor, even when it is hard to come by. I also believe we should experiment until we are out of our comfort zone. If we've learned anything in 2020, it is that comfort is hard to come by and maybe doesn't matter as much as we once thought.
Humor, on the other hand, is a road to sanity. Alfred is going to learn about humor in his next coaching session. Stay tuned.
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Source: https://writingcooperative.com/finding-my-funny-bone-a5c191b8e020
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