I recently spent two weeks living and writing in the Dayton Marriott, a prize supported by humorist, Anna Lefler, and named in honor of my first newspaper crush, Erma Bombeck. As a mother of three, I’m constantly playing catch-up. Today, I stretched two pieces of lunch meat into four sandwiches. Last week, my son wore… Read More
Au Revoir, Dayton
Au Revoir, Dayton
“Comparison is the thief of joy, Mom.” The nerve of this kid. Even as I basked in the glow of being selected as an Anna Lefler Humorist-in-Residence at the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop, the fruit of my loins had written an essay of his own. I was excitedly preparing for the singular opportunity to hole… Read More
Fluffy Robes and Prose
Fluffy Robes and Prose
By day, Kara Kinney Cartwright is a legal editor from North Potomac, Maryland, but her superpower is “trying to save the world with punchy humor about unwritten social rules and expectations.” A widowed mother, she’s writing a book “for grieving Gen-X and Millennial women who would sooner cut their own bangs than seek advice for… Read More
Wallow in Words
Wallow in Words
“Who wouldn’t want this honor because Erma is the G.O.A.T.,” one writer wrote in a pitch to be selected for A Hotel Room of One’s Own: The Erma Bombeck | Anna Lefler Humorist-in-Residence Program. All applicants told us they thirst for a block of uninterrupted time to lock themselves in a hotel room and write. “My… Read More
May We Introduce Our Judges?
May We Introduce Our Judges?
We have lined up dozens of remarkable authors, bloggers and humorists to review and rank the 2023 entries in A Hotel Room of One’s Own: The Erma Bombeck | Anna Lefler Humorist-in-Residence Program. The judges, all established writers, will narrow the field for final judging by improvisor Dion Flynn, best known as Barack Obama (and other… Read More
Entertainers Extraordinaire
Entertainers Extraordinaire
Improvisor Dion Flynn, best known as Barack Obama (and other characters) on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and comedy writer Monica Piper, head writer for the #1 children’s animated series Rugrats, will select two humor writers for a fun, unconventional writing residency that promises winners the gift of time to hole up in a hotel, write —… Read More