Dear writer,
I'm excited about the 2010 workshop in April. We've added columnists Mary McCarty and Laura Pulfer to the line-up, and we're firming up plans for a showing of Legacy of Laughter, the PBS documentary about Erma. I'm this close to ordering the popcorn.
Will you be there? If you haven't registered, it's now or never. We have about 10 spots left as of this writing. Click "2010 Workshop" above for registration information. If you're still on the fence, have a look below at what people said about the 2008 conference.
The deadline has passed for the 2010 Erma Bombeck Writing Competition, and the judges report back that the competition is laughable. Expect results in mid-March, and good luck to all who entered.
Ready to show off your best work from 2009? The National Society of Newspaper Columnists' annual writing competition is now open. Details here.
Keep writing & hope to see you in April,
Matthew Dewald
Workshop director
From Erma’s desk ...
“If a poll were taken of children asking why they thought their parents had children, 12% of them would say they got bored watching television, 26% would say it was a 4-H project that got out of hand, and 62% would swear adults had kids to get out of doing their own dishes.” (from Family -- The Ties That Bind ... and Gag!)
Latest news… (Instant Classic Edition in which we revisit stories from the 2008 workshop. Why? Because they remind me why I'm so excited about this year's conference.)
WRITTEN BY A BOMBECK...
SEVEN THINGS I LEARNED AT MY
GRANDMOTHER'S WRITERS' WORKSHOP
Eleven-year-old Eva Bombeck, Erma's granddaughter, writes about her first experience at the workshop and reveals which speakers she thought were "hilarious." Read more.
WRITTEN BY FACULTY...
USA TODAY: I'm here today to talk to
you about...oh, dear! by Craig Wilson
Participants at the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop at the University of Dayton, her alma mater, carried notepads. Some appeared to be taking down my every word. A few scribbled so furiously, I was tempted to stop my talk and ask them to read back what I had just said since I didn't have a clue what I had just said. Read more.
FROM NEWSPAPERS...
DAYTON DAILY NEWS: GIVING
WAY TO YOUNGER GENERATION by Mary McCarty
Eleven-year-old Eva Louise Bombeck — Matt's daughter — is an aspiring writer. (The middle name is the same as her celebrated grandmother's.) Michael Bombeck, not quite 2, ran around like he owned the place. Read more.
BRAIN DROPPINGS by Ron Rollins
Speaking of smart guys, if you ever get a chance to catch Garrison Keillor on one of his visits to the area, take it. Thursday night, April 3, he opened the University of Dayton’s Erma Bombeck Writer’s Workshop with his dry growing-up-Minnesotan stories that hilariously mix understatement and overstatement. Read more.
FROM MEDIA WEB SITES...
NATIONAL SOCEIETY OF NEWSPAPER COLUMNISTS: Fresh from the Bombeck Workshop
Talk about a great conference! The Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop featured almost 30 experts with advice on writing, publication, promotion, networking and staying inspired. About 325 humor and general interest writers attended the two-day conference held at the University of Dayton on April 3-5, 2008. Read more.
ST. LOUIS WRITERS' GUILD by Mary Menke
Hey, I just got back (okay, I got back Sunday) from the Erma Bombeck Humor Writers Workshop in Dayton, Ohio and I’d like to share some of the things I learned. Read more.
WRITTEN BY ATTENDEES...
TALES FROM THE CONFERENCE
by Danny Gallagher
Since I waited too long to get a direct flight, I had to catch three puddle jumpers from Dallas to Kansas City to Hades and then to Dayton.Read more.
IS CAMEL MILK THE NEXT BIG THING?
By Lara Bricker
So there I was on the way to the Erma Bombeck Humor Writing Conference last week in Ohio. I had hopped a taxi from the airport and was chatting with the little foreign cab driver. Eventually the conversation turned to what I wrote about. Well, I told him, I just had a book published called "How Do You Milk a Moose Anyway?" Read more.
TREND HUNTER MAGAZINE
by Rosa Capacola
I thoroughly enjoyed this event, which is near and dear to my heart, as I practically grew up reading Erma Bombeck, who left us too soon on April 22, 1996. I can’t help thinking how much she would have enjoyed all of the wonderful tributes given to her by the attendees and event speakers this year. Read more.
I MADE OUT WITH GARRISON KEILLOR
by Kelly Epperson
When it was my moment, I handed my camera over and had someone snap a photo. “Right here,” I pointed to my cheek. (I’d had a couple glasses of red.) Read more.
WRITER TRIES TO AVOID REALITY
by Stephanie Fellenstein
I felt like I was back in college. Days centered on me. Heading out in shorts in the definitely chilly, but sunny, spring air just because it was the first time in months the temperature actually rose above 50. Read more.
I'M FUNNY HOW?
by Michael Mackie
Last week I had the opportunity to visit the 2008 Erma Bombeck Writer’s Workshop in lovely Dayton, Ohio. Good thing …because my job mandates me to write things that are clever and catchy. Read more.
DEAR ERMA
by Lynda Zielinski
I’m not giving up though. I know you got discouraged too, even stopped writing that first year in college. It took one special man, someone you admired and respected, to come forward and say those three magic words. No, not those. The important words: You can write. Read more.
PAT COAKLEY'S BLOG
I heard Pulitzer Prize winning speakers, expert professional speakers–all over the past several days and this spontaneous comment–this is what I remember most. Read more.
GINGER TRUITT'S BLOG
The highlight of my evening, and I'm sure the highlight of this trip, was meeting Garrison Keillor! Read more.
Copyright 2010, University of Dayton
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2010 Workshop
Sponsors
Erma Bombeck
Writers' Workshop
Endowment
created by Ralph and Cindy Price Hamberg in memory of her cousin Brother Tom Price, S.M.
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All about Erma
FIRST DOCUMENTARY ABOUT ERMA BOMBECK
When 350 writers saw the premiere of the first documentary produced about Erma Bombeck's life, they were quick to applaud her legacy.
ERMA BOMBECK'S HUMOR STILL LOVED A DECADE AFTER HER DEATH by Jim Hannah, Associated Press
She kept homemakers in stitches with her writing on marriage, kids, dirty dishes and how to hang the toilet paper. Ten years after Erma Bombeck's death, her humor still has an audience. Read more.
ERMA BOMBECK: FROM COPYGIRL TO SUPER HUMOR COLUMNIST
Born in Dayton in 1927, Erma Bombeck began her writing career in junior high school writing columns in "The Owl," the newspaper for Emerson Junior High. Read Time Magazine's 1984 cover story on Erma, "Erma in Bomburbia." And see the cover.
REMEMBERING ERMA BOMBECK by Terry Marotta
It's 10 years now that Erma's been gone. The great humor columnist whose work once appeared in some 900 newspapers died the 22nd of April, 1996, and I for one have never stopped missing her. Read more.
YOU CAN WRITE!
Erma slipped a humorous essay under the office door of Brother Tom Price, a UD English professor who served as faculty adviser to the literary magazine, The Exponent. "He said to me three magic words: `You can write,'" Erma recalled. Read Erma's essay.
ERMA ON WRITING
In an interview with Erma, which was published in the Winter 1991 issue of the University of Dayton Quarterly, Erma explained her writing process. Read more.
EFFIE, ERMA'S
ROYAL PORTABLE
Erma wrote using a typewriter for her entire career. While attending the University of Dayton, Erma used a Royal portable that she affectionately called, "Effie." Read more.
'SCUSE ME WHILE
I BAKE A PIE
Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock. Erma Bombeck cooked with chicken stock. Jimi set his guitar on fire. Erma set a few roasts on fire. The similarities are endless. Read more.
MERRY WIVES AND OTHERS
So, you hated history in high school. This history of domestic humor writing will pique your interest. It includes many speakers from past Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop, including Art Buchwald, P.S. Wall and Liz Carpenter. Read more.
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Article archives
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Humor writer
of the month
What can I say? I have a soft spot for quirky & just plain fun. Doug Ankerman's blog "My Odd Sock -- A Funny Look at Life with a Limp" is both. The limp in question comes from multiple sclerosis; the funny comes courtesy of "a Poland, Ohio, based freelance writer and humorist (fancy titles for a 'laid-off advertising copywriter and former professional comedian')." Funny stuff from a lively, original voice.
If you'd like to be considered as our featured writer (or you read someone who should be), send an e-mail with writing samples or a link to your Web site.
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Who's publishing what?
WORKSHOP FACULTY
WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND?
“Ask me anything,” invites Karen Walrond, aka Chookooloonks.
BE FUNNY
Loretta LaRoche’s production company will present the first-ever Plymouth Rock Comedy Festival and Indy Comedy Short Film Contest in July, and you can enter. Details here.
COPING
Wade Rouse is using humor to cope with a death in the family.
BIGGEST LOSER
Wondering “who has the most awful political culture,” New York or Illinois, Gail Collins admits she’s unfairly overlooking other states. “I see you waving your hand, New Jersey.”
GOOD WORKS
Sales of Steve Doocy’s book Tales from the Dad Side have raised more than $25,000 for the Wounded Warriors project.
FRIENDLY ADVICE
Digital strategist Nettie Hartsock completes this sentence many times over: “If I were an author, I would…”
NEW BOOK
Jerry Zezima’s first book, Leave It to Boomer: A Look at Life, Love and Parenthood by the Very Model of the Modern Middle-Age Man is out. “Finally,” he says.
WORKSHOP ATTENDEES
Similarly early, Pamela Goldstein checks in on her progress with her 15 New Years resolutions.
Lisa Page Rosenberg bids adieu to The Democrat, her beloved car.
Joel Schwartzberg tells us “What Moms Already Know About Super Bowl Lingo”
OTHER PUBLISHING NEWS
Past Humor Writer of the Month Kathleen Norton revealed her family's dirty little secret in "Tinsel Addict: One Man's Story.''
Saralee Perel, has two stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul: True Love and will have two more in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Mom, out March 23. Her story "Decades of March Lunacy" will appear in the March issue of Funny Times. Find more Saralee here.
Keith Frohreich chucked life as a chain restaurant huckster to become a domestic god and tells the tale in his new book.
Past Humor Writer of the Month and current EB Writing Competition judge Brian Thompson has a new gig doing monthly commentary on WJCT in Jacksonville, Fla. Samples on his blog.
Stacey Hatton has launched a blog based on her experience as an RN. For laughs, try Nurse Mommy Laughs.
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Favorite articles
The structure of humor
Using formats in your writing allows you to produce material faster and funnier -- and sell more pieces. Read more.
Selling to regional
parenting magazines
Brette McWhorter Sember's kit provides an easy way to sell reprints.
Freelance selling
Until you sell your work, you're not a freelance writer. You're just a writer. Read more.
Secrets of the best seller lists
It's all a game, and the cards are stacked in favor of the big New York publishers, who have the money to promote new titles and generate a burst of sales. Read more.
Startling statistics
So you want to write a book. Well, why not? So does about 80 percent of the United States population according to a survey by the Jenkins Group. Read more.
Move over, Grisham...
Author Judy Gruen has some interesting -- and humorous --ideas about how to promote her new book. Read more.
Injecting humor
into your writing
Author Mary Emma Allen shows how to find the humor in everyday life. Read more.
Write brain
closed for business
Tired of having people assume you can write anything, anywhere? Deb DiSandro is, too. Read more.
25 ways to market your book
Connie Corcoran Wilson shares how she promoted her book, "Both Sides Now." Read more. 
