Author Guest Post with Dorothy Rosby: Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate

Christmas comes but once a year; chaos never ends! Happy Halloween, merry Christmas and joyful Lumpy Rug Day.

Welcome to the December 3rd stop on the blog tour for Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate by Dorothy Rosby with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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Author Guest Post

Pros And Cons of Writing in Your Genre

Along with authoring four books of humous essays, I write a humor column which is published regularly in newspapers throughout the West and Midwest. Generally I write observational humor, which I’d describe as finding the absurd in everyday life, and self-deprecating humor, which I’d describe as…well… finding the absurd in me.

And therein lies one of the cons. Writing self-deprecating humor means admitting to my mistakes, faults and foibles and regularly putting them out there for everyone to read about.

But there are some positives that come with writing that kind of humor too. For one thing, it’s kinder than some types of humor and that seems like a good thing in such a divided and angry world.

Another benefit is that my brand of humor seems to help my readers relate to me. I often have readers tell me they’ve made the same mistake I did. I tell my story and it reminds them of their own. I feel so honored when readers write to tell me their stories. Not long ago, I wrote about leaving the gas station with the nozzle in the tank. That’s pretty embarrassing, so I was relieved when a reader wrote to tell me she’d done the same thing. She was probably just as relieved to find out she wasn’t the only one who’d done it.

The downside of observational humor—making fun of the absurd in everyday life—is that those who don’t find it as absurd as I do sometimes take offense and write to tell me so. I haven’t gotten many negative emails in my writing career, but I’ve gotten a few. For example, someone once wrote me a nasty email in response to a satirical piece I wrote about Christmas form letters. And a hockey fan once took offense when I expressed my disdain for the cowbells and the fights I’d witnessed at a hockey game I’d attended. 

The upside is that I get many more positive emails. People write to tell me they feel the same way I do or that they’ve noticed the same thing I have or that I’ve put into words what they’ve been thinking.

Another downside of writing humor in general, maybe of writing anything, is that in order to tell my story, I have to include family and friends who may not appreciate it. Family is such a big part of any writer’s life that it’s hard not to write about them. But I do try to do it carefully and to make myself, rather than them, the butt of my jokes. They might not agree, of course. But I am still married and my son is still talking to me.

About the Book

Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate
by Dorothy Rosby

Published 3 October 2022
Unhinged Press

Genre: Humorous Essays
Page Count: 210
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

Christmas comes but once a year; chaos never ends! Happy Halloween, merry Christmas and joyful Lumpy Rug Day. That’s real, by the way. Lumpy Rug Day is celebrated every May 3, though “celebrated” might be too strong a word. It’s the American way to create a celebration for everything, then turn it into a chore or worse, a nightmare. ’Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate is a collection of humorous essays about how we let our expectations steal the joy out of Christmas and other holidays and special events. It’s understanding for those who think Christmas form letters can be honest—or they can be interesting. And it’s empathy for anyone who’s ever gotten poison ivy during Nude Recreation Week or eaten all their Halloween candy and had to hand out instant oatmeal packets to their trick-or-treaters.

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Excerpt

Excerpt from Essay: The First Year of the Rest of Your Life

… I’ve studied the topic of New Year’s resolutions. And from my extensive research, I’ve gleaned the following tips for keeping them:

1.Write them down. The simple act of putting your resolutions on paper will make them seem more doable and make you feel more committed to them. Also, if you fail you’ll have your list ready when it comes time to make resolutions next year.

2.Frame your resolutions in a positive way. For example, instead of saying “next year I will stop being a couch potato,” say “Next year, I will become a couch asparagus, which has fewer carbohydrates.”

3.Don’t let setbacks discourage you. If you fall off the wagon get right back in the saddle! Tomorrow’s another day. Never say die. Then next year resolve to stop using clichés.

4.Keep a journal of your progress. It could look something like this. January 1: I resolve to walk the dog daily. This is going to be so fun! January 2: Spotty and I walked four blocks. We are bonding and getting fit at the same time! Tomorrow we’ll do five. January 3: Spotty and I walked four blocks again. It’s okay once we’re walking but I hate getting up early. January 4: Spotty and I walked just two blocks today. It’s so cold this time of year. January 5: I forgot to walk Spotty. January 6: Spotty isn’t my dog. We got him for the kids. Let them walk him.

About the Author

Dorothy Rosby is an author humor columnist whose work regularly appears in publications throughout the West and Midwest. Her humor writing has been recognized by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, the National Federation of Press Women and the South Dakota Newspaper Association. In 2022 she was named the global winner in the Erma Bombeck Writers Competition in the humor writing category. She’s the author of four books of humorous essays. 

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Giveaway Alert!

The author will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

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