Interview with humor writer Dorothy Rosby

A hearty welcome to humor writer Dorothy Rosby who is chatting with me about her collection of humorous essays, ‘Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate: Holidays, Special Occasions and Other Times Our Celebrations Get Out of Hand.

During her virtual book tour, Dorothy will be giving away a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn participant. To be entered for your chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:
Dorothy Rosby is an author humor columnist whose work regularly appears in publications throughout the West and Midwest. Her humor writing has been recognized by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, the National Federation of Press Women and the South Dakota Newspaper Association. In 2022 she was named the global winner in the Erma Bombeck Writers Competition in the humor writing category. She’s the author of four books of humorous essays.

Welcome, Dorothy. Please tell us about your current release.
’Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate is a collection of humorous essays about how we let our expectations take the joy out of Christmas and other holidays and special occasions. Christmas gets the most coverage, but I work my way through the year, from New Year’s to Valentine’s Day and so on all the way to Thanksgiving, with some off-the-wall occasions and holidays in between.

What inspired you to write this book?
As a humor writer, I’m never as much inspired as I am provoked. I observe something—in this case, the way we all stress ourselves out in the name of celebrating—and I deal with it by making light of it, by looking for and seeing the humor in it.

It’s the “most wonderful time of the year” and I’m feeling woefully inadequate reading everyone else’s Christmas letter and comparing my home to the Christmas showcase next door. But it isn’t just Christmas. We do that with all of our holidays, special occasions and not-so special occasions. We can take the fun right of what should be a celebration if we don’t ease up on ourselves.

Excerpt from ’Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate:
Excerpt from Essay: Cooks in Crisis

Every year while I prepare our Thanksgiving meal, such as it is, I tune into the annual live call-in show, Turkey Confidential, on National Public Radio. Food experts talk turkey about all sorts of dishes I’d love to gobble up.

And on the biggest cooking day of the year, Turkey Confidential guests come to the rescue of cooks in crisis across America. I’ve never had the nerve to call them myself, though I’ve had my share of cooking crises, and not just on Thanksgiving. But there are a few calls I could have made over the many years I’ve listened to the show.

1. Help! My goose is cooked but my turkey isn’t. I told my guests we’d eat at noon. Then I told them one. It’s now two. The relish tray is empty and someone sampled the pumpkin pie, but the turkey juices are far from clear and the little pop-up thingie shows no sign of popping up. Opening the oven every five minutes to check probably isn’t helping.

I should have seen this coming. Our turkey wasn’t quite thawed even after it sat in our fridge for four days, maybe because our refrigerator runs a little cold. That usually isn’t a problem since I mostly just use it to make ice cubes.

If that weren’t bad enough, our oven has been running a little cold too, maybe out of sympathy for the refrigerator.

My question is, should I go ahead and serve my guests leftover tuna casserole now and have the turkey as a bedtime snack? A lot of people sleep after Thanksgiving dinner anyway.

What exciting project are you working on next?
I’m in the process of putting together my fifth book, a collection of humorous stories with the working title, That Which Doesn’t Kill You Makes a Good Story Later. These are all true stories, but they’re greatly exaggerated because you get to do that when you write humor. I perform regularly with a local storytelling group so many of the stories have been performed for audiences.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I think I always considered myself a writer. I just didn’t feel like I could say it out loud until I was published. That seems so wrong now. A painter is someone who paints. A singer is someone who sings. A writer is someone who writes. That’s all it takes really. But for some reason, we all suffer from some kind of imposter syndrome.

Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I’m a self-syndicated humor columnist whose work runs regularly in newspapers and magazines in the West and Midwest. I’m also a speaker and the author of four books of humorous essays. And yes, I do write full-time now. But that wasn’t always the case. I worked in radio and in public relations while trying to get my writing business off the ground. After my husband and I got our house and other debts paid off, I resigned to write fulltime. I truly am living my dream now.

As for my workday, I’m a morning person. I wake up early—often much earlier than I’d like. I feed my cat. I spend half an hour in prayer and meditation and then I get some caffeine and go directly to my computer. I don’t even get dressed for the day until I eat breakfast and that can be two or three hours after I get up. I spend my mornings writing and my afternoons on the business side of things. My brain just works better in the morning.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I call it toasting. I read what I’ve written out loud while I walk on my treadmill. For many years, I’ve been a member of Toastmasters, thus the name toasting. Toastmasters is an international organization where members practice their public speaking skills in local clubs. And I often practiced, or “toasted” as I came to call it, my Toastmasters speeches on the treadmill. That way I was getting some exercise and practice at the same time. Long ago I learned that the more I “toasted” a speech, the better it got. I came up with better ways to say things and had new ideas about what to include. So now I “toast” other things I’m writing too. It’s embarrassing if someone walks by the family room while I’m doing it, but it works for me.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wasn’t sure what kind of writer

I wanted to be, but I think I always wanted to be a writer. I don’t think I ever saw it as a realistic possibility though.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
Have a wonderful holiday season!! And take it from me, you are more than adequate!

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