Saturday 23 August 2014

In search of happy stuff...

Can someone tell me how I'm supposed to write a light-hearted comedy while all around the globe people are massacring each other? 

I can't decide if the news is worse than normal or it's just that I had these great expectations of the human race evolving and so I'm badly disappointed. 

I'd hoped that the penny might have dropped about us all being fundamentally equal. About us all feeling love and loss in equal measure. I guess I'm an optimist. It appears we're off again, charging back to the middle ages to burn witches, kill children, behead journalists, with the pathetic excuse of: God told me to do it, and, the neighbours started it!  
I've just reached 70,000 words of my novel Please Retweet with only about 15,000 words to go. The problem is this first draft isn't half as funny as it should be because I keep watching the news. I tell myself not to read anything until I've reached my daily word count, but then something heart-wrenchingly sad will pop up in my Twitter timeline, followed by a helping of prejudice and a side of hate... and then I'm imagining it was my own family being persecuted and having a cry and signing campaigns and donating money and my mood has gone from sunny yellow to black. Hopefully I'll be able to bring out the giggles in the second draft, but right now, I feel like I'm writing in a desert. It's all so bloody heart breaking.
I never set up this blog to rant about politics or religion. There are plenty of people better qualified to give their opinion on the many horrors unfolding right now. I have no intention of depressing you, my lovely readers. We all need to laugh and escape for a while. So here's a little collection of things that have made me smile this week. I hope they make you smile too.  

1. THE FEARSOME FROG



2. THE NOT SO MISSING CAT 




3. THE BOSSY PICTURE


Courtesy of 9GAG

4. THE BOOBY IN THE TWEET



5. THE ONE WHO HAD IT, THE ONE WHO DIDN'T
  

6. MY MUM LEARNING TO SKATE!





I know it's not much, so maybe you can help. What has made you smile recently?


7 comments:

Lindsay said...

I think the sad and bad things make us need light-hearted and funny things all the more. They don't trivialise the awful, they make us more able to cope with them and where we can do something about them. So keep going Emily and bring us all some joy.

Emily Benet said...

Thank you Lindsay! It's good to hear that. I'd hate to sound frivolous but definitely feel like we need to laugh! :)

Unknown said...

Emily I understand completely. It is hard to be funny when there is so much in the world that is awful. The thing that has made me smile most this week are the videos of friends and family taking on the ice bucket challenge - funny and promoting a good cause - I felt moved to donate.

Anonymous said...

Laughter is the only thing that can help us survive. I end all my blog posts with 'Take care and keep laughing'!

I'm delighted to have discovered you (via the Writers & Artists newsletter).

Good luck with the remaining 15,000 words!

Sarah

Emily Benet said...

Thank you Jane! Funny and promoting a great cause sounds excellent... I saw a really moving video about a 26 year old who had been diagnosed with ALS. He's obviously thrilled it's finally getting so much attention but made a point that people need to donate not just do the challenge for fun! Great to hear you did! By the way, I love your blog and it makes me laugh, so glad you started!

Thanks Sarah, I'm delighted you have discovered me too :) Thanks for the encouragement! Laughter is definitely the way forward!

Emily x

Suz said...

Thanks Emily, so heartwarming to read your post especially hearing news of another horrific act.

So hope this makes you smile: My husband took our 6 year son cycling. They came back and my son was proud to have done 12 km.
Son says to me 'do you know why they're called km'
Me: 'no'
Son: 'because they kill your legs'

Didn't think it was the time to get into spelling

Emily Benet said...

Thanks for reading Suz and for sharing your story! :) My cousin once said I should have kids just because they make such good blogging material!