June Monthly Links Roundup

Creativity challenges, reframing rejection, and my inability to stand through concerts anymore

Hello and welcome to my June monthly links roundup,

I have once again been in need of comic relief and suspect some of you have too, so this month I’ve got some in the form of short humor, a funny podcast, and a humor book rec from Dennard Dayle, whose debut novel just came out.

I’ve also been trying to take a break from the news by reading more books, but I’ve realized that my habit of reading multiple books at once is kind of out of control. I’m currently in the midst of 9 (!) different books (some of which I started almost a year ago, but still intend to finish).

Audiobooks are easier for me to find time for than physical books, but some books I prefer in physical form. I also have a library holds habit that seems to send me a steady stream of books that I sometimes only get partway through before having to return, but intend to go back to.

My plan is to finish at least some of these books (2-5?) before starting anything new. Hopefully, stating that in this newsletter will help manifest it.

Also, I’ve got some travel coming up next month and am planning to take a small Substack break, so the next time you’ll hear from me will be with the end of July monthly links round up. Hope you will get some sort of July downtime too.

-JV

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• Book: This month, one book I did finish was The Humor Habit by Paul Osincup. It covers a broad range of things, from how humor can be good for your health to ways to develop it. Some of his exercises would work for humor writing, but the book talks more broadly about using humor in different aspects of life and work, so it isn’t just for writers.

• Short humor: I appreciated this piece by Viktoria Shulevich in Points in Case because I am also more of a worrier than a warrior.

• Funny podcast: I have been enjoying Amy Poehler’s podcast Good Hang for interesting conversations with comedians and feel-good humor. Hat tip to

  Lindsey Smith | Not Normal
  for the rec for it in the comments last month.

• TV: I’ve been catching up on many years of not having Max by watching Veep. I’m also only two episodes into the new season of The Bear on Hulu, but looking forward to watching the rest. I finished The Studio on AppleTV and liked some episodes better than others, but the last one made me laugh a lot (and also I think the dickey is maybe one of the funniest items of clothing there is?)

• Reframing rejection:

  Bizzy Coy
  ’s post about rejection has great insights into her submission strategy and how she reframes rejections.

• Quick creativity challenge: I completed this creativity challenge that the NYT did (giving you the gift link for one in the hopes that it gets you access to all 5 days, but if it doesn’t and you want to see the others, let me know). I’ve been leaning into trying to do small writing/creativity exercises when I can this summer.

• CNN Travel panel: If travel writing interests you, this upcoming panel with CNN Travel looks like a good opportunity.

This month’s rec is from Dennard Dayle, whose debut novel came out this month and garnered several great reviews, including this one in The New York Times.

Tell Us About Your Book:

How to Dodge a Cannonball is a novel about the first U.S. civil war. It's worth every minute I'll spend in El Salvador. The story follows Anders, an aspiring hero who serves the Union, Confederacy, and Union again, landing in a black regiment. Then things get strange. I recommend it to fans of Paul Beatty, Joseph Heller, sexual fulfillment, extreme wealth, and inner peace. The smartest and dumbest people I know both love it, so there's crossover appeal.

What is a Funny Book You Recommend and Why?

When you chase comedy instead of enjoying it, a problem emerges. Your vision improves. Perfectly good punchlines and plots appear before their cue. Standup specials play at double and half speed at once. You grow a third eye that refuses to close, ruining every open mic.

It’s the skill you’ve toiled for. And sucks. How do you escape?

From my perch, I see two choices. The popular one’s unlearning. At a glance, you inhale op-eds until famine seems fine. Or gaze into a screen until famine seems fine. Humorless souls really dig famine, so it’s a handy benchmark. Find psychic Novocain and skip practice, and you can weld that third eye shut.

If that’s not your style, I suggest The Man Who Was Thursday. It’s artfully written, insightful, and stuffed with humanist hope. If you’re into all that. I’m recommending it because it throws comedy change-ups. It’s more than funny, it’s tricky funny, and watching the machine move is instructive. Humor for humorists is normally code for “boring as air,” and nothing's further from G.K. Chesterton’s novel. It’s explosively entertaining and instructive. The simple machinery pulls you in, and the complicated stuff whirrs in the background.

Chesterton may also have invented spy thrillers a century early, which adds flavor. His novel certainly taps the shared humanity we haven’t mastered yet, based on all the famine. Impressive, that. See how far a good joke can take you? Read The Man Who Was Thursday to master your third eye. Or How to Dodge a Cannonball, I hear it’s okay.

Thanks, Dennard! Learn more about him here: Dennard writes funny. You can test that in his new novel How to Dodge a Cannonball, weekly 1900HOTDOG column, and newsletter, Extra Evil. Magazines like to note that he's Jamaican American. Dennard teaches at Columbia, where he studied, because nepotism is real. It's been more stressful lately.

• Author interview: I was happy to take part in

  Elizabeth Rynecki
  ’s author interview series where I talked about comic strips, comfort food, and AI.

• New short humor: I’ve got a new humor piece up at Belladonna Comedy this week inspired by my inability to stand very long: Before I Agree to Attend This Concert, How Much Sitting Will There Be?

• New satire guide: I have been working on a short satire writing guide for a while now (special shout-out to

  Leslie Gaar
  who has been hearing way too much about it in our Zoom accountability calls the past several months), but it is finally finished! If you are looking for some introductory tips on writing short satire pieces for places like McSweeney’s, you can find the guide here. Also, if you are a paying subscriber, you can get a 25% discount on it, which you can find here.

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Thanks for reading Humor Me, a newsletter featuring funny stuff and writing tips. In case you’re new here, I’m a humor writer and freelancer whose work has appeared in New Yorker Shouts, McSweeney’s, Real Simple, and more. Find out more about me at julievick.com.

Any typos in this newsletter are a result of the text being written by a human and not AI.

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