My friend Melanie Vare runs a funny female storytelling workshop the first Sunday of the month at Bongo Java Cafe in Nashville. It’s called That Time of the Month, or TTOTM.
She asked if I’d like to read a funny modeling story. I said yes and submitted a combination of two essays I had been asked to write that have still yet to be published. Since the essays were already written for a more somber audience and I was too busy… er, lazy to put forth to effort to start over from scratch, Melanie helped me funny it up a bit.
It has been pointed out to me a few times that I do not write very funnily. So, this month I decided I would be lighter in style. Instead of going directly to funny, I decided to simply write an uplifting story. Even so, it was passed over because it was too depressingly dark. Melanie, being a kind friend, was nice about the rejection. ”Yes, it is just a little too dark for what we’re looking for” She tells me, “let’s find you a funny story to write about. How about writing about the time you got bullied at work for a month?” Ugh. Her suggestion is not helpful.
I explained to her. “It’s just very very difficult for me to write about my life and make it funny. Because you know what? If you were me, with my brain and my oddly shaped personality trying to fit into worlds I consistently feel I have no business being in, you too would process it in the dark recesses of your brain. And I’m sure you’d find something either horribly wrong with yourself or with the world to explain such incongruencies.”
Anyways, although I didn’t create this from scratch and although it isn’t hilarious, Melanie was kind enough to let me get up on stage and read my story. Because she’s a nice person. And because she probably wanted to see if the jokes she inserted in my story got the laughs. They did.
