Here’s something I’d rather not reveal — but it’s the truth. I’m not a funny person. I’m rather boring, actually. If I ever say anything interesting or witty, it’s because I’m repeating something I read or heard from some person who really is witty or funny.

I can’t even tell a good joke without shortening it, forgetting the good parts and even…yes…forgetting the punch line! I end up saying, “Well, it was something like that” when the line falls flat and nobody laughs.

But I still like being around people who make me laugh. Through my insatiable reading habit, I can meet up with some pretty funny people. One is Sue Buchanan, who wrote one of my all-time favorite books, Duh-Votions. If you haven’t seen this book, it’s really a joy to read.

I had Sue’s book sitting on my desk a few months ago, and I was reading through it again. I thought to myself — I wish I could write funny like her! So, I starting typing out a couple of things that happened to me that could be told in a humorous way, and I sent them off to a couple of publishers.

The big shock for me came when I found out both stories were accepted! Somebody actually thought I was funny. One story will be in a book called Soul Matters For Mothers, which comes out in March from J. Countryman. Another of my attempts at humor writing will appear in the book, A Cup of Comfort for Expectant Mothers to be published by Adams Media this October.

So, maybe I’m onto something. What is it about Sue Buchanan that makes her so fun to read? For one thing, she LIVES a lot — meaning, she gets out and does things, goes places, talks to people — and maybe she takes a notebook with her because she fills up her stories with feel-like-you’re-there dialogue.

I’ve been getting a few tips from Tim Bete, who, according to his website, “is married with four children and has 19 combined years as a dad — 133 in dog years — which makes him an expert at answering the questions, ‘Are we there yet?’ ‘Why?’ and ‘What’s that smell?'”

As the current director of the University of Dayton’s Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop, Tim is really great at writing funny. I reviewed his book, In the Beginning There Were No Diapers, a few weeks ago. Recently, I gleaned some good tips in his article, Word Play, in Writer’s Digest Magazine.

He introduces his six tips for writing humor with this lead-in:

But often writers spend more time on the order and structure of sentences than the individual words within sentences. When you’re writing a humor piece, don’t settle for an overall funny concept. By going back through the piece with a fine-tooth comb, and using these six tips to find the funniest words, you can turn a funny piece into a hilarious one.

Go read his article if you want to make your readers laugh!

I’ve been on Cloud 9 and 1/2 since a couple of weeks ago when I talked to two LOCAL friends who are also writers! They’re both moms who submit articles and essays to magazines — and they’re both interested in writing a book. So, of course I told them about Terry Whalin’s must-read, Book Proposals That Sell. Hey, and I found out that Stacy interviewed him recently in her Mind & Media blog.

Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll learn how to write a book that will make people laugh. And in the process, I might even get better at remembering those pesky punch lines.