Hi funny people,

I finally listened to the audiobook version of Anne Lamott's classic book on writing called Bird by Bird via Libby! It was recommended highly by Mike Birbiglia on his podcast and he is right, it's a real gift.

The book is more personal than many books on writing. Anne is funny and takes detours between helpful tips while she explains exactly what the neurotic, self-doubting voices in her head are saying while she tries to sit and write.

She talks about when she teaches writing workshops she explains that getting a book published is unlikely to happen for most and won't fix one's problems. She then emphasizes how writing is the main reward (even though it is hard) for writing. Her class will stare back at her blankly and then someone will raise a hand and ask again how to get a book agent.

This message that the main reward is in the doing, translates into other art forms or goals and it's always a nice reminder. Comedy can feel like you are constantly aiming for the next goal: getting on a popular booked show or podcast, having a viral clip, being invited to a festival, being invited back to that festival, filming a special, touring independently, touring clubs, touring theatres, touring stadiums, having your face on a billboard in Time Square, hosting a talk show, all other talk shows are cancelled because yours is so singular, curing cancer with your talk show and so on.

Along the way it is easy to forget that while hard, writing jokes and telling them to people can be really fun. It's easy to freeze up and quit when we listen to the voices in our head or think everything short of getting The Mark Twain Prize is a failure.

Here are a few of Anne's tips to get into your writing when you are having doubts or trouble focusing:

Short Assignments

Just try to do the next little bit of work. Perhaps it is just thinking of a few different tags for one existing joke. Perhaps it is listening to an old set and rewording one joke. Keep the next step bite sized.

Anne just tries to ensure that she writes 300 words per day.

Shitty First Drafts

Anne advocates for letting the childlike part of you to write down whatever they want. It will not all be good. Most of it might not get used, but you often have to write down things that are obvious, whiny, or overly sincere to get to observations that you want to share on stage on the page.

Quieting the voices is half the battle

She jokes that for her, this used to be 87% of the battle, but that it remains an important part of the creative process to be able to be still with yourself and not overwhelmed with negative voices. Anne suggests if you have those negative voices, write out what they say and use it in your work, but don't let them dictate your writing process.

If I have enough energy, I try listening to these voices and acknowledging their worries, appreciating that these voices are trying to help me in their own way, then letting them know that we are going to try to write anyways and ask them to take a few steps back for a while.

I am frankly not great at this and can easily convince myself to just watch Disney+ instead, so this is more aspirational than anything at the moment. But it is a process I do in therapy and when I remember to do it for creative work I can calm my mind enough to start writing out something...anything.

Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor

Anne notes that it's also the main thing between you and your shitty first draft.

If you have not already read or listened to this book, don't think my overview does it justice. Grab a copy and feel a little rush of inspiration from reading it. Then come work out your jokes or writing with us.

Next Workshop

We will see you tomorrow, Saturday June 10th at 10:00 AM PST, on Zoom for our informal joke writing meetup. You can come even if you don't have goals or jokes you are actively working on, you can join in and give feedback to others. Can't make this one? Next one is on August 5th, so mark your calendar.

Summer break

No workshops on June 24th, July 8th or July 22nd.

We will be back on August 5th and I will send out a reminder email the day before. From August 5th, we will continue every other week, so you can set a reminder in your calendar.

Stay funny and see you tomorrow!

Em

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