I stayed up all night wondering where the sun went, and then it dawned on me.
I wanted to buy some camo pants but couldn't find any.
And my absolute favorite…
I ordered a chicken and an egg from Amazon.
I'll let you know.
(pa dum dum)
Because I love humor and never miss an opportunity to laugh, I have vowed more than once to keep a record of how many times a day I giggle, chortle, guffaw, chuckle, chortle, titter, snigger, or howl. And since I’m a writer, I’m constantly looking for new words for the act of laughing and new ways to describe someone smiling, laughing, or otherwise showing joy.
The golden rule of writing is Show Don’t Tell, which means paint a picture for your readers rather than just stating the facts. For example:
Tell: Elenore laughed.
Show: Elenor snorted like a piglet before a giggle rolled from her throat.
The first sentence lets us know that Elenore said, “Ha ha,” but the second gives us a picture of how she laughed, that she was really tickled.
When you read one of my mysteries, I hope that you’ll chortle, guffaw, or perhaps even hoot. Yes, my books are filled with vicious murders, treacherous happenings, and villainous people intent on doing others harm, but among all the discord are characters and events that—I hope—will spark a reader to laugh. Because that’s important.
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From the beginning of time, laughter has been the best medicine and now more than ever, we need to laugh as often as we can. Grace Tworek, PsyD, health psychologist, tells us, “There’s a lot of literature that shows that Americans these days are more or less living in a ‘fight or flight’ response. Evolutionarily, that’s not what we’re made to do. Fight or flight is our natural stress response that allows us to run away from a saber-toothed tiger. It’s supposed to be short-lived. But the stress that many of us are living with day to day is triggering that response continually.”
And for those who are no longer as young as we once were (at 77, I include myself in that category), laughter plays a role in the process of healthy aging. Evidence suggests that optimists and others who look to the sunny side of life live longer than those who tend to focus on the bad. In one study, highly optimistic people had a 29% lower risk of early death and were significantly less likely to die of a heart attack or stroke.
So all of this is to say, never miss an opportunity to laugh. Merriment, joy, and seeing the funny side of life will save you every time, even—no, especially—when it doesn’t seem like there’s much to laugh about.
Now you know I like (bad?) jokes and try to write humor into all my books. I also spend a lot of time laughing with my husband Tom, who can still make me giggle like a schoolgirl. What do YOU do to help yourself look on the bright side?
Cheers and Santé
