What’s up guys and gals-
The good folks at the North Carolina Writer’s Network have mistaken me for a writer and invited me to teach a humor workshop at their fall conference. It’s happening THIS SATURDAY, from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm, at the Embassy Suites in Cary, NC. Check this link for details on registration, and please check out the NC Writers Network, a truly class outfit. Also see the details below.
Here’s the humor workshop description:
“Comedy is one of the most rewarding and inspiring forms of writing, but it’s also the most terrifying. An artist is never more exposed than when he or she tries to get laughs from a group of strangers, which is why most comedians are bosom buddies with fear and anxiety. Writing humor is a soul-wrenching challenge, but one that gets easier—and way more fun—with experience and confidence. In this workshop, Grantland’s Shane Ryan (That’s me! I’m writing this!) will help you find your inner reservoir of comedic genius and produce hilarious content. After a brief talk on how to approach comedy through the principles of agreement and positive risk-taking, and how to deal with the pitfalls, such as angry internet commenters trying to ruin your self-esteem, participants will have 20-30 minutes to fine-tune their own material. Examples of strong humor writing will be used to help us along, and we’ll spend the last 50 minutes talking about your work and laughing together. Afterward, you can ask me any question you want about comedy or my personal life or anyone else’s personal life—I’ll make up what I don’t already know. Participants are encouraged to bring a rough draft of a humor piece to work on during the writing portion, or at least a good idea, since it’s hard to be funny or even coherent in 20 minutes without a plan. Speaking of which, the end of this description garbled be a bit little may. See you there!”
The registration deal: Since this is a full-weekend conference, you can’t sign up for an individual course. What you can do is sign up for an entire weekend of awesome classes, panels, and networking opportunities, all of which can be seen at those links. It’s really an all-star cast, and well worth the price of admission ($400 for walk-in registration, which you can do on Friday).
So come by, say hello, and maybe we’ll all go watch college football after or something.