Every now and then, someone will ask me where I get my ideas for writing each blog post. I have had quite a few people express the thought that it would be too hard to come up with something to say week after week. [They probably haven't read my blog much, since they don't seem to have noticed that I don't actually have much to say, either.]
I'm not sure if they think there is a list out there somewhere that I can refer to, sort of a Blog Topic of the Day, that all the bloggers subscribe to in case we run dry on the whole "idea" thing. Perhaps they think I have created my own list of topics that I want to spout off about. Or maybe people who stumble across this blog think that I make up the stories or situations I talk about, simply to provide humor or make a point. I assure you, I rarely have a point, and I do not have that good of an imagination.
No, if I am writing about it, I have up close and personal experience with the topic, and for one reason or another, I find it entertaining. I am driven to share that with others, in the belief that they, too, will also find it funny, and it will brighten someone else's day. Sort of like a comedy fairy; Tinkerbell with laughing gas.
Besides which, real life is the funniest thing there is. That's why "America's Funniest Home Videos" is still on the air.
The truth is, life is funny enough each week that I can generally come up with a topic that is interesting enough to spend the time on without keeping a list. Eventually, I can find the humor in almost anything that happens to me, even my divorce, which is not fun, but can be funny, when seen through the right filter of perspective.
Currently, the only topic about which I have a hard time finding any humor would be the IRS, which is not only usually not funny, but is genuinely terrifying. Did you know that they are the only entity in the United States that is legally allowed to consider you guilty of wrongdoing at the start, (that is, in fact, the premise on which they begin each and every audit,) and it's up to you to prove yourself innocent? [I am not making that up - ask a tax attorney.]
It's a scary agency, with even scarier people running it. I promise you, they do not care one whit about you or your family, or the fact that they hold the power to ruin your entire life in their hands, even if you have made an innocent mistake, or no mistake at all.
And yet, although humor and the IRS are rarely found in the same location, even the IRS has its moments. One of these days, I will write about my experiences whilst held captive in their clutches, and I promise, you will giggle.
I will obviously have to begin with the story of how I received a missive from them recently, informing me that they approved of the results of their own 1.5 year examination. Which, I might add, they already signed off on when they sent the results to me in the first place. Yes, you read that correctly. They sent me a letter to inform me that they agreed with the letter they have, in fact, already sent. In and of itself, that was pretty funny.
But I was rendered hysterical when it was followed up by another mailing, just a couple of days later, informing me that they were refunding part of the money they had taken from me as per the last letter, because a mistake had been made. There's a confidence builder.
Anyway, I generally pull my topics from my life. I always try to see the humor in my world, and at the end of the week, I pick a topic to talk about, and somehow, it seems, I usually have a blog post worth of stuff to get off my mind.
For example, I might read an article about how people suffering from chronic depression feel reluctant to reveal that fact openly, because they fear others will look down on them for being "weak" minded or whatever. That strikes a chord for me, because I have suffered from chronic depression most of my life, and I am not embarrassed or ashamed of it.
My life has had its rough spots, and I responded by being depressed about it. Frankly, I would worry about someone who has gone through my life experiences and not felt depressed at some point. So I write about it, in the hopes that someone, somewhere, in the depths of their own dark night, will find it, and it will help them through a similar rough spot in their own life.
Some weeks the blog post is my therapy, because I need to work something out in my own mind, and writing my blog is my way of thinking out loud. I can start a blog in one frame of mind, and by the time I'm finished, I am thinking something entirely different, because I have worked my way through the issue, and have now talked myself into or out of my original thought.
Sometimes I just want to share an amusing happening or a funny anecdote, because I think other people will find it funny. If I could have a career in which I was guaranteed success, I would choose being a comedian, because what could possibly be better than making people laugh day in and day out for a whole lifetime? Unlike Hollywood, I don't think something needs to be Significant to be valuable. Sometimes, it's good just to laugh out loud, and that is of value in and of itself.
There are a lot of things that happen during my week that make me think, oh, I will definitely have to blog about that one. Of course, by the time I sit down to write my blog, usually I can't think of them, because if it's not written down, it doesn't happen. One of these days I will write a blog post about over 40 syndrome, just to warn the under 40's out there what's coming down the pike for them.
Or perhaps my blogging is simply proof positive that I, too, suffer from the American affliction of reverse voyeurism, where I want to display myself and all my problems in public for the world's enjoyment, like a paper reality show. "Sliding Through Life with Sarah." Doesn't have quite the kick that "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" does. Better not give up my day job, I guess.
I'm not interesting enough to devote a whole national obsession to me, anyway. [Really, is anyone? Just throwing the question out there.] I don't think that's it, because I don't enjoy getting a lot of attention - that whole Minnesota Lutheran thing, again; don't notice me, don't notice me, don't notice me. Blush.
In truth, I have gradually come to understand that my ability to find humor in the everyday happenings of a fairly boring life, and then make it fun for others to read, is, perhaps, my true gift, the one that justifies my presence in this world.
Although I have always been a writer - I cannot help looking at the world from that perspective, and putting it down in writing - it is only lately that I have realized I am a storyteller, a life story humorist. That is my genre, for better or for worse, and people come down on both sides as to how good I am at it.
I spent years trying to write the Great American Novel, and never got anywhere. I just couldn't make it work. For every serious theme, I couldn't resist a wink and a nod at the reader, because honestly, how fun is it to be serious All The Time? I would get bored with my own prose, because I don't take myself seriously, so I can't really see why anyone else should, either.
I finally realized, if I have a larger value to the world, beyond my family and friends, perhaps it is to make people chuckle over how much we have in common. Erma Bombeck is my hero, goddess of the everyday happening, the pinnacle to which I humbly aspire, and consistently fall short. I hope my ramblings make people think back to a similar experience they have had, and it will make them laugh. They can, in a word, relate, and it humanizes us all.
So the short answer, for those who wonder where I find my topics, is that I find them all over, wherever my life takes me. I laugh at the world, I laugh at myself, and I laugh at those I am closest to and care most about. A friend of my daughter's expressed the fear that I did not like him, because I always make [gentle] fun of him. My daughter immediately responded with the statement that he had it backwards, and that, in fact, my making fun of him was proof positive of the fact that I liked him.
I have, on occasion, had people tell me about their own experiences, and then suggest that I should blog about it, because it was an amusing time, or a funny experience. Sadly, it doesn't work that way, and I usually suggest they begin to write their own blog, because they can convey the humor of their experiences a lot better than I can. Generally, I get the response that they cannot write, therefore, their story will go untold.
While there is a definite skill to writing, one which you hone and improve as you do it, anyone can talk about their experiences. I am not sure why people fear the process of putting words to paper so much, since it's really just another way to tell your story, something that people do verbally all the time, often in intricate [excruciating] detail. But fear it they do, and thus, much of the joy of a person's life is left untold.
One of the best things about my blog, I feel, is that when I am long gone, my children will be able to read what I have written, and share it with their children, and they will feel my presence once again. They will laugh with me at the funny events that have occurred in my life, and they will be reminded of how much I loved life, and loved them. My words are the most valuable legacy I leave to my children, because they define my life experiences. They tell who I am, and who I have always been.
So what, then, is the purpose of this, or any blog post I write? Most importantly, it is fulfilling the contract I have with my readers, unspoken, but still important, that I will produce something to read each week; something that will make you laugh, or think, or feel something you haven't felt before. When people look forward to my words, then I have an obligation, as well as a privilege, to provide it as experience has promised them I would, and this fulfills that promise.
But also, triggered by a particular experience this week, it occurred to me that most people ask how I come up with topics because they do not see the humor in their own daily lives in quite the same way that I do. I assure you there is no humor pill, no trick, no device, no set formula to finding your own funny bone. Humor is everywhere, all the time. Look for it, and you will find it.
You always have a choice to laugh or to cry over your experiences, even the really difficult ones. Although I may cry for a short time, the laughter always wins, because life is, at the very bottom of it all, pretty funny. As far as I am concerned, that is the way to win at life, whatever your gifts or talents may be.
