South Carolina writer Jan Igoe is one of the finest humorists writing today. Her humor column "Earth to Jan" appeared in The Sun News, the Myrtle Beach, S.C. daily, a few years back and touched on family, children, jobs and idiosyncrasies that had people nodding and saying, "That's so true. That's how it is."
Jan moved on to other publications and continues her humor writing as a columnist for South Carolina Living magazine. The current issue carries "Lazy until proven active," a prime example of how Jan gets to the heart of the situation. She cites Bloomberg Businessweek's 2010 ranking that states South Carolina is the eighth laziest state in the Union. Speaking as a South Carolina resident, Jan agrees and tells why!
How can a writer project the humor that people appreciate?
1) By making themselves the object of the humor
2) By seeing the humor in an otherwise undesirable situation
3) By using specific examples
Check out the article in South Carolina Living magazine on Facebook or go to www.ecsc.org.
If you're interested in humor writing, see if you can take a rather ridiculous accusation, situation or circumstance and write a piece that makes people laugh.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Writing resolutions for 2011
How do you motivate yourself to write in 2011?
1) Consider your goals. If the desire to write something--anything--dominates your thoughts, this is the year to start. On the other hand, if the passion to write an article, novel or poem isn't primary in your mind, store the idea away until Jan. 15 or Feb. 1. Revisit the idea then.
2) Choose a project. Do you want to write your autobiography? a novel? an article for a specific magazine? a poem? Focus on the project. If you don't know how to start, do a Google search and get some help. Dozens of books, magazines and college and online classes are available.
3) Put time aside to write. Take a minimum of an hour, more if possible. Determine to write 500 words in that time. You can always increase the amount.
4) Write at the same time every day. Be faithful to the time. Don't take any minutes or days off. Be persistent.
5) Believe in yourself and your goal. You can reach it.
1) Consider your goals. If the desire to write something--anything--dominates your thoughts, this is the year to start. On the other hand, if the passion to write an article, novel or poem isn't primary in your mind, store the idea away until Jan. 15 or Feb. 1. Revisit the idea then.
2) Choose a project. Do you want to write your autobiography? a novel? an article for a specific magazine? a poem? Focus on the project. If you don't know how to start, do a Google search and get some help. Dozens of books, magazines and college and online classes are available.
3) Put time aside to write. Take a minimum of an hour, more if possible. Determine to write 500 words in that time. You can always increase the amount.
4) Write at the same time every day. Be faithful to the time. Don't take any minutes or days off. Be persistent.
5) Believe in yourself and your goal. You can reach it.
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