How I Got Here from There
by Karen Williams | June 09, 2005
Seminole Chronicle
People often ask me, "How did you get into humor writing?" Actually, people rarely ask that, but I'm sure the question burns within them, so I'll address it here and now.
As a mom with two little boys, I became a freelance writer. It enabled me to stay home with the kids and write while they napped and played, although I more than once found gooey food and mystery substances in my typewriter. And I often stopped typing in mid-sentence to dodge an airborne G.I. Joe.
I submitted stories and poems to a variety of magazines, but most of my writing came back like a boomerang, and I amassed enough rejection notes to wallpaper the Taj Mahal. Finally, in a fit of frenzy, I thought up creative uses for those notes, including returning them to the rejecting editors marked, "You'll regret this once I'm the next Edgar Allan Poe." I then wrote a mock-serious article about the rejection slips and sent it to a national writers' magazine. Bingo, they liked it, and I began to receive humor article assignments. It marked the end of my poignant poetry and the start of writing with my funny bone, or is it crazy bone?
My first stint as a newspaper humor columnist came while I lived in Ashland, Ore. Out of reverence for the computer printer of the day, I chose a pen name, "Dottie Matrix," and wrote anonymous, tongue-in-cheek advice articles. Once I went to aerobics class to find people talking and laughing about Dottie's recent column, "How not to kick the aerobics exercise habit." It gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling that compensated somewhat for the muscle I pulled later in the session.
One approach to writing humor takes an exhilarating experience and pokes fun at it. I did that recently with my older son's graduation from the University of Florida, and he says he's never speaking to me again, except to ask for money. Another approach takes ordinary situations and gives them a surprise twist. It requires looking at life from an odd perspective and then hoping against hope that people are going to chuckle instead of avoid me on the street.
But most humor deals with life's stresses and problems. In recent years, I've written about hurricanes, aging, eternal road construction, snakes on the porch, cockroaches and telemarketers - all in an attempt to ferret out some amusement and come to grips with the human condition. My Irish heritage helps a wee bit with this, along with an in-depth acquaintance with Murphy and his everything-that-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong law.
One of my favorite humor columnists was the late Erma Bombeck. Many years ago, I was sick and hospitalized when someone brought me Erma's book, If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? I laughed so intensely that I actually slid out of bed. Although my tailbone was the worse for wear, it was the beginning of my overall recovery.
Another favorite is Dave Barry. For decades, I clipped his columns from the newspaper and saved them in bulging file folders. If I moved to a town where the newspaper failed to carry his writings, I asked a friend to send me the columns and threatened to divulge her deepest secrets if she omitted a single one.
Last fall Dave announced that he was taking a break from the humor column he wrote for the Miami Herald. Rumor has it he got wind of my humor, knew he couldn't compete, and threw in the ink-stained towel.
And in Dave's immortal words, I am not making this up. Well, maybe a wee bit.
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Copyright 2005, Karen Williams
