Some humorous thoughts about writing
“There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
— W. Somerset Maugham For nearly 130 years, The Writer magazine has provided resources for anyone interested in writing. I have been receiving it for about a decade, and each month when it comes, I devour it. I particularly enjoy the articles in which authors share about their writing processes.
On the last page each month, a different author answers the question “How I Write.” Most of them talk about their writing rou- tines or what inspires them. They reflect on the best advice they have ever received on writing or they share their deepest motivations by answering the simple question of why they write. Whether it is our similarities or our differences, I always learn things from them.
All writers talk about how hard writing is, particularly editing. It is why Truman Capote said, “I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil.” Whether we are working on the first draft or the last, words like those encourage any author who has gumption.
But every now and then, I come across someone who says something about writing that makes me laugh. And for me, laughter often inspires me to keep writing more than formal advice. About three years ago (July 2013), Dana Lise Shavin wrote “Laughter on the Edge” in The Writer. For her, the “Edge of Despair” is that place where she finds herself in a hopeless dilemma with her current writing project stalls.
Anyone who is creating something needs to laugh now and then. Laughter causes us to step away from the serious tasks by helping us not to take ourselves too seriously. And inevitably, that helps the creative process. Laughter gives us a chance to breathe, and when we catch our creative breath, inspiration bubbles up to the surface.
In her article, Shavin shared three jokes. The first one was a one-line joke which her husband enjoys “tossing out when I’m on the Ledge.” He says, “I thank God every day I’m not a writer.” It is because he means it that Shavin finds it so funny.
Her second joke really made me laugh. “A woman calls her husband at work, crying hysterically. ‘I was ironing when your agent called and without thinking I left the iron on, and it caught the shirt on fire and then the curtains and then the whole house. There’s nothing left, we’re ruined!’ To which my husband says, ‘My agent called?’”
Shavin then writes, “I need to explain this only if you’ve never spent eight years attempting to flag down a literary agent on the superhighway of traditional publishing.”
The third joke is a oneliner like the first one and she borrowed it from Oscar Wilde. When he was asked how his writing was going, he famously said, “I was working on the proof of one of my poems all morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.”
On occasion when Shavin’s husband asks her how her writing project is going, she often uses “I took a comma out and then put it back in” as shorthand for “I’ve been at the computer for six hours and I got only one paragraph written,” which is code for “I’m on the Ledge.” To which he says, “I thank God every day I’m not a writer.” And with that laughter, she is ready for another day to “… open up my document and take the comma out.”
Laughter. It really does help our perspective, no matter what we are creating.
But since I have been thinking about writing and humor, I must share with you these words by Groucho Marx, “From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend to read it.” Keep smiling and … Think about it.
Dr. Don Meyer is president emeritus of the University of Valley Forge, Phoenixville. Connect via dgmeyer@valleyforge.edu, Facebook.com/DrDonMeyer, www.DrDonMeyer.com, Twitter and Instagram:@ DrDonMeyer.