Hello and welcome to the September edition of my monthly newsletter, where I share items of interest.
This month, my family spent a weekend at the YMCA in Estes Park, which is in the mountains not far from where I live. We stayed in a cabin, saw (and heard) some elk, and did not do very well at trivia night (do you know how many acres Disney World is? We did not). I was reminded that that Y location is a nice place to unplug for a bit and I think it would make for a good DIY writing retreat location too.
Here are some other things I’ve been enjoying this month…
-JV
Cat humor
I recently came across this post on Threads:
This is the case at my house too. Guess which one is the criminal vs. the sweet little guy?
They are trying to fool you in this picture, but I’ll give you a hint: The criminal’s month is October.
British humor
I seem to be on a British TV humor kick recently, including:
Taskmaster: Comics challenged to do silly tasks. I particularly appreciate Richard Ayoade’s dry humor in the current season. I’ve been watching on Hulu.
Slow Horses: An Apple TV spy drama that infuses humor, but I definitely have to close my eyes in some of the violent parts.
The Great British Baking Show: Happy that this baking show with gentle humor is back for a new season.
Fruit rec
I recently stumbled upon Lucy apples at my local farmers market. They are tart and have a reddish inside when you cut into them, which seems fitting for October. They seem to be available in some grocery stores too.
Short video
While listening to The Lonely Island podcast explainer episode about the SNL short “The Curse,” I learned that the inspiration for Jon Hamm’s look in it came from this scene in The Lost Boys. Truly inspired.
Motherhood writing opportunity: The Motherhood newsletter, The Pomegranate, is now open to submissions.
Submissions lead for The Cut: I spotted this post from a guest editor on Threads
Electric Lit humor: This month I attended the informative virtual Editor-on-Call session that Estelle Erasmus held with Denne Michele Norris, Publisher and Executive Director of Electric Literature.
I was happy to hear they always welcome humor pieces on the site and I think they can be a good spot for humor on literary or writer topics. I wrote more about a piece I did for them in the past here. I heard about the session via Estelle’s newsletter, which is a good writing resource.
Creativity advice: I also appreciated the advice in The Creativity Supercut episode of Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out podcast.
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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Last night we were in quiet mode in our bedroom, heading toward lights out, when a pronounced thump came from the kitchen. My wife sprang to her feet, hoping to catch the malefactor red-pawed. One of the cats had pushed over the counter the spray bottle of water used to punish one or the other when they do something untoward. I pointed out that the cats were justified, since this was war materiel, from their perspective. "It's not like it was an object used for civilian purposes," I added. She dismissed me with a look. I think I may be spending too much time on X arguing about wars and foreign affairs.
Julie, I absolutely love this collection! British humor, criminal cats, beautiful mountains, and writing opportunities. You've practically assembled my dream vacation, although I would probably need bail money before the weekend was over! 😂❤️
Your trip to Estes Park sounds wonderful. I love the idea of a peaceful writing retreat surrounded by mountains and elk. Unfortunately, my idea of a writing retreat involves locking myself in a room while my husband, my 82-year-old father, and our animal kingdom stand outside demanding to know where everything is!
And Taskmaster? I live with my own cast of contestants! My husband is an engineer who believes every problem requires calculations. Dad believes instructions are merely suggestions. Our enormous European Great Dane, Franchesca, believes she's a lapdog, and I'm 4 feet 9 inches tall, which means reaching the top shelf qualifies as an Olympic event!
As for criminal cats, ours has never been convicted, but I suspect that's because the witnesses are dogs and nobody takes their testimony seriously! 😂🐈
I especially appreciate the information about humor submissions to Electric Literature. I write daily comedy stories about my wonderfully ridiculous Michigan household, and I'm always searching for places that appreciate a good laugh.
Thank you for sharing these wonderful resources, Julie! And please tell me the elk didn't participate in trivia night. I can handle losing to another human, but being intellectually defeated by an animal wearing antlers would require several years of therapy! 😂❤️