May Monthly Links Roundup
Maycember, a flash writing opportunity, and a jacuzzi lifeguard
Hello and welcome to the monthly links roundup for May!
I saw some references to parents calling this month “Maycember” due to all the chaos the end of the year tends to bring, which feels like an accurate description.
It was one of the more chaotic months of the year over here, but my kids are now done with school for the year, and I took a lot of pleasure in taking down our complicated whiteboard/organizational system that looked roughly like this:
In any event, this month I’ve got a TV and podcast recs and a funny book rec from Liz Alterman.
-JV
Podcast: I’ve been enjoying Mike Birbiglia’s podcast “Working it Out,” which is both funny and has some interesting insights into comedy with the comedians he interviews.
TV: I’m apparently in my “comedian who travels” show watching era because I’ve been enjoying Travel Man and Conan O’Brien Must Go. In one episode, Conan mentioned that he recently turned 60, and this seemed incorrect to me, as I think he should be younger. Something he might want to look into.
Short SNL: I (and my kids) appreciated the commitment in this older Jacuzzi Lifeguard SNL clip.
Happiness tips: I liked the tips in this happiness piece. Happy meatloaf to you!
Flash submission opportunity: I spotted this opportunity on Substack Notes for flash pieces.
Humor writing: I appreciated this piece about character voice from
in her Substack Humor Science.Book publishing: I’ve been enjoying the behind-the-scenes Substack posts
has been doing about her book The Deepest Lake being a Barnes & Noble monthly pick. Her Brevity piece about how her book idea developed was also interesting and is making me think about ideas and what form they can take.Where to find or create non-AI images: If you (like me) are interested in using non-AI images with your writing, this Substack post and this Medium post both have some great ideas. For what it’s worth, after realizing I was sometimes spending as much time searching for an image for a piece as I was writing it, I started creating images for this newsletter and other pieces in Canva. There is a bit of a learning curve, but I try to reuse some of the same basic templates for the newsletter to save time. I may try out some of the other ideas from these pieces too.
This month’s funny guest rec comes from author who has a new book out next week.
Tell us about your book:
Claire Casey’s Had Enough is told over 13 hours and follows a forty-something mom of three who, as the title suggests, has had it with juggling parenting, working, volunteering, and worrying about her aging parents. She’s lost herself while caring for everyone else. When newly separated Claire reconnects with an old boyfriend at her college reunion, she begins to remember her hopes and dreams and finds herself at a crossroads: blow up her life or try to rebuild it flaws and all.
What is a funny book you recommend?
My recommendation is Will Not Attend: Lively Stories of Detachment and Isolation by Adam Resnick, I read this collection a few summers ago while at our community pool. I usually sit in the sun while my husband sits in the shade and while I was reading, he got up and came over because he could see my shoulders shaking and he thought I was crying—and I was—with laughter.
There are so many hilarious moments in this book—from a scarring childhood Easter egg hunt to the author's brutally honest feelings about Disney World and his sister-in-law. It feels like a mash-up of David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs with a touch of Samantha Irby mixed in. Whenever I recommend it to friends, they always tell me how much they enjoyed it and it's fun to hear which story was their favorite. I've been desperately waiting for Resnick to write another. If you pick it up, I hope you also laugh until you're crying in public.
Thanks, Liz! I’m adding both of these to my summer reading list. Learn more about Liz here:
Liz Alterman is the author of the memoir, Sad Sacked, the young adult thriller, He’ll Be Waiting, the suspense novels The Perfect Neighborhood, The House on Cold Creek Lane, and You Shouldn't Have Done That, as well as the forthcoming romcom Claire Casey's Had Enough. Her work has been published by The New York Times, The Washington Post, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and other outlets. Subscribe to her Substack where she shares the ups and downs of the writing life (and cat photos).
- hit a milestone with her Mothers Who Make interview series, and I was happy to be a part of it.
I wrote about why I like to sign up for summer reading programs as an adult for the Parenting Portal.
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.
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I can second that recommendation for “Will Not Attend.” It’s really funny.
Love Liz’s writing, yay re her new book! 📖 🎉