Every once in a while, we need a little humor to lighten our day—especially we writers, so serious about this business of writing! That’s why I welcomed Sharon Lippincott’s latest post, Mark Twain’s Advice to Memoir Writers, which made me smile and sent me on a hunt for other ways to turn up the corners of my mouth.

PlainLanguage.gov’s site may not be a blog, but it offers lighthearted advice for writers. With wise counsel like “Avoid alliteration. Always,” “Eschew Obfuscation,” and “Always pick on the correct idiom,” you too can learn How to Write Good.

Maybe you don’t want or need humorous advice about writing, but advice about how to write humor. In that case, head over to HumorBlogging.com, which is all about how to write funny. Ms. Solemn (yes, I mean I) could use a serious infusion of writing helium.

Though I enjoy humor as much as anyone, I can’t tell a joke to save my life. It’s true, just ask anyone in my family! (You also don’t want me on your Trivial Pursuits team, but that’s so 80s anyway.) So what’s a person like me to do if I want to writer lighter, or just lighten up a heavy situation? WriteToDone has an old (2008) post on The Secret to Writing Funny that just might be serious enough to help.

Finally, Dave Fox’s story about how he became a humor writer and advice (scroll down the page) sounds oddly familiar: Read what you want to write and analyze what you read; keep a notebook with you and write down ideas as they occur; write regularly and often; revise, revise, revise; allow for trial and error; and, oh yes, take classes.

Do you have any humorous advice for writers? Please help us smile … leave a comment below.
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Image credit: Sean Dreilinger

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