June 2002 Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop newsletter

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ERMA BOMBECK WRITERS' WORKSHOP NEWSLETTER

University of Dayton

June 3, 2002

mailto:erma@udayton.edu

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In May, I had a column published in the Christian Science Monitor and

sold another to Atlanta Parent magazine. The leads for these markets

came from two very useful sources.

The first is the Laughter Crafters discussion group

(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Laughter_Crafters). The group is free

and features a "market of the week." The second resource is

WritersMarket.com (http://www.writersmarket.com), which costs $29.99

per year. Selling the reprint to Atlanta Parent easily covered the

annual subscription fee.

A few other markets are featured in the "Resources for Writers"

section of this issue.

Keep writing!

Tim Bete

Humor columnist (http://www.timbete.com) and

co-director, Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop (http://erma.udayton.edu)

P.S. Feel free to forward this newsletter to all your writer friends.

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A FEW SIMPLE RULES

Bruce Cameron, who spoke at the last Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop,

is having his best-selling book, "8 Simple Rules for Dating My

Teenage Daughter," made into an ABC sitcom. The program, which stars

John Ritter, will premier in the fall. Bruce is writing for the show.

See http://abc.abcnews.go.com/primetime/preview/8_simple_rules.html

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HONEYMOON NIGHT CONFESSIONS

Bandal Publishing is taking submissions for a humor anthology about

true funny, touching and moving wedding night fiascoes. The anthology

will go to print in December 2002.

See http://www.miscramblingsmag.com/Honeymoon.htm

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SATIRE ON TRIAL

Editor & Publisher recently featured an article about the Dallas

Observer being taken to court for a story about "a first-grader

jailed for a book report on Maurice Sendak's 'Where the Wild Things

Are.'"

See http://alumni.udayton.edu/rd.asp?cd=satiresuit&rf=EBWWJune

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DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO WRITE HUMOR?

This article, from Writers Write, provides some tricks to the trade

which can help you improve your skills.

See http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/may02/hornung.htm

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AMERICA'S FUNNIEST POLICE LOG

Kevin Hoover is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame as one of the

country's most celebrated (and funniest) weekly newspaper

editor/publishers.

See http://alumni.udayton.edu/rd.asp?cd=policelog&rf=EBWWJune

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WHY ATTEND A WRITERS' WORKSHOP?

Carole Moore, editor of WritersHood.com's section for humor writers,

threw me this month's "Ask the Expert" question: "What should I look

for in a writing workshop and why should I consider attending one?"

See http://www.writershood.com/htms/humor.htm

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HUMOR WRITER OF THE MONTH: KRISTEN TWEDT

Kristen Twedt has written a humor column for The Hattiesburg American

for almost five years. Her southern wit is infectious. Kristen's

recent columns include "The Sweet Potato Queen Reigns Supreme"

and "Top Ten List of Things Our Family Will NOT Do This Summer."

You can read Kristen's work at: http://www.kristentwedt.com

If you'd like to be considered as our featured writer, send an e-mail

with a link to one of your columns to: mailto:bete@udayton.edu

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BOOK GIVEAWAY

Each month we give away a book to one of the subscribers to this

newsletter. If you're subscribed, you're entered to win! This issue's

winner is Chris Kelly from Katonah, NY. Chris has won a copy of

the "2002 Writer's Market," published by Writer's Digest Books.

Stay tuned! You could be next issue's winner!

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RESOURCES FOR WRITERS

THE WRITE MARKET

Since 1996, The Write Market has provided useful writing tips,

articles, news from the writing world, contests, inspiring writing

quotes, and hundreds of listings of e-zines and publishers as a

community service.

See http://www.writemarket.com

CONPO

A list for distributing guidelines for literary magazines and

literary contests.

See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/conpo

THURBER PRIZE

Conferred upon the author and publisher of the outstanding book of

humor writing published in the United States. The award includes a

$5,000 prize for the author, a statuette for both author and

publisher modeled on a Thurber drawing, and a nationwide media

campaign.

See http://www.thurberhouse.org/prize/Default.htm

SO YOU WANNA DO STAND-UP COMEDY?

To do any kind of live performance, you need to have a strong ego and

nerves of steel. To do stand-up comedy, you need to be virtually

insane.

See http://soyouwanna.com/site/syws/standup/standup.html

WRITING LESSONS LEARNED...WE LEARNED THE HARD WAY SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO!

by Shelley Divnich Haggert and Linda Sherwood

Provides you with the answers to the 50 questions freelance writers

ask most often, and more than a dozen appendices, including samples,

how-to articles and other good stuff.

See http://www.sherwoodcom.com/book.htm

GREAT COMEDIANS TALK ABOUT COMEDY

by Larry Wilde

Presents seventeen of the funniest people of the 20th Century talking

about how they make people laugh. Each engaging interview was

painstakingly elicited by the author, who spent years researching,

collecting the material and recording these intimate one-on-one

conversations.

See http://www.larrywilde.com/bkcomedy.htm

FUNNY WOMEN FEST 2002

Classes include Parody and Satire, Simple Comedy Structures, Stand Up

Comedy, Creating Your Solo Show and more.

See http://www.funnywomenfest.com/index.htm

If you have a favorite book or Web site, let me know at

bete@udayton.edu. ( mailto:bete@udayton.edu )

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ERMA T-SHIRTS ARE HERE!

The official Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop T-shirts are in. The

shirt has the writers' workshop logo on the front and, on the back,

the Erma quote, "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I

would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and

could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'" Take a look and buy one

at the Erma gift shop.

See http://alumni.udayton.edu/rd.asp?cd=ermashirt&rf=EBWW602

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NETWORK WITH OTHER HUMOR WRITERS

An e-mail discussion group has been formed for past attendees of the

Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop and those who would like to attend in

the future. To join, send a blank e-mail message to

humor_writers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

(mailto:humor_writers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com)

or visit the Yahoo! Group at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/humor_writers

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OTHER ERMA BOMBECK WRITING WORKSHOP LINKS

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ERMA MUSEUM: http://www.ErmaMuseum.org

ERMA T-SHIRT: http://alumni.udayton.edu/rd.asp?cd=ermashirt&rf=EBWW602

8 WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR WRITING: http://www.timbete.com/Erma

FREE SCREEN SAVER: http://www.udayton.edu/~erma/FREEstuff1.htm

FREE NEWSLETTER: http://www.udayton.edu/~erma/Subscribe1.htm

SPONSORS: http://www.udayton.edu/~erma/Sponsors1.htm

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