Welcome to the Tree House, my grown-up hideaway! (Good thing
it has central heat.) How about a mega-keg of hot chocolate? Add a can or two
of whipped cream, and we both just might make it through this
chilly
winter.
Need a smile to chase away the icy blues? Check out
“Dam It
All, Anyway” my wedding story which won the 2004 Erma Bombeck
Global Humor Award, or my other
articles in Marriage Partnership and
Today’s Christian Woman magazines.
If you’d like incentive to delay Exercise and Healthy Living,
put your feet up, down another chocolaty mega-keg and read “Life Fitness
Awareness,” my past (thank heaven) adventures in adult college physical
education. [Click “My View from the Tree House."]
Need inspiration? Follow the links to excerpts from my four biographies
from Barbour Publishing’s Heroes of the Faith
series:
Frederick Douglass,
Billy Sunday,
St. Augustine, and
Well with My
Soul: Four Dramatic Stories of Great Hymn Writers.
Or invite me over for coffee at your club, group
or church. We'll inspire each other!
Editors: As you sip your hot chocolate, please help yourself to a few free
samples of my work! My
biography,
resume and up-to-date list of
published works and awards are also posted on this website.
Ho! Ho! Ho!
As you can see, my students at Bethel
College this past semester poured
themselves into the serious study of humor writing. We worked very hard.
Really.
While this photo did not capture us at our more industrious
moments, our class explored the theology and techniques of humor writing and
studied hilarity experts from Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain and C.S. Lewis to Dave
Barry and Monty Python. One of the textbooks we used, It Takes Village Idiot: Comedy in a Different Light, says it all. Click
Reviews for my take on this book by Dan Rupple, a veteran Christian comedy
performer and writer.
Oh, To Be Down South!
If even two mega-kegs of hot chocolate
aren’t thawing your toes, ya'll take a quick trip to Eros,
Louisiana, my father’s hometown, in my summery childhood
story “Dixie Pool,” just published by Adams Media in an anthology The Rocking Chair Reader: Family Gatherings. Helen Polaski, the editor, has compiled more than 250 true
stories of small-town love and celebration from New Jersey to Oregon.
She profiles ten of these towns, including Eros, with bits of
history, points of interest and nostalgic rememberances. My Aunt
Lurline Phillips, Aunt Svea Freeland and cousin Dee Phillips all contributed. It was fun to send
them copies of the book for Christmas!
If you purchase The Rocking Chair Reader: Family Gatherings,
be sure to also visit the North Carolina family of my friend and mentor, Kim Peterson, in her story
“Where I Belong.”
Humor Writing Tip:
Don't explain the joke! Weave only
necessary information into the early set-up of the anecdote or story so
the final punch line is brief, obvious and funny! Post-punchline
explaining, moralizing or analyzing kills the laugh.
