No matter your age, we can all benefit from three fitness goals: Eat, sleep, and be Merry! Of course each one of these has some stipulations. EAT There is a difference between eating and healthy eating. Last year I was given the diagnosis of pre-diabetic. Yikes! My A1C went from 6.4 to 6.8 and I was terrified. An A1C of 7.0 and over is diabetic. I went to a nutritionist and started eating a new way. In months, my A1C went down to 6.2! Yeahhhh! No dairy, no grains, no su

I never use the term New Years Resolution because I don’t know how to achieve a resolution. But I know how to reach a goal. Each year I set goals for every area of my life. This year is no different. One area I’m focusing in on this year is my profession. I’ve been writing stories, articles, columns, lessons, and books ever since I was a kid, but it has never been my main focus. This year I decided I am going to be a Writer. What’s that song Frank Sinatra used to sing? I’v

I guess I’m a fanatic about preparation. When I take a comedy gig, the first thing I do after I put it on my calendar is schedule clusters of hours for writing, planning my set list, and rehearsing. First, I take all my material that I want to use (or could use) and put it in a set list on the computer. It takes time to put things in an order that makes sense and that I’ll be able to remember. Proper standup has to be original AND memorized. I write out word for word every

This week has been a challenge. I’m 74 and although I’ve been performing for over 9 years, most of my audiences are from 30 – 95 years old. My persona is an older woman trying to stay young and thinking she is still a Smokin’ Hot 35 year old. Anyone over 30 gets it. I teach Oral Presentation Through Comedy to 5th graders. None of my humor appeals to them and they sit bleary eyed when I tell my jokes. I try to think like a 5th grader, but unless I tell a Yo Mama, Knock Kn

In my last blog I talked about how I love to tell people I’m a comic, even if I haven’t had a gig in months. I’m not sure if they are intrigued, envious, or amazed that an old gal like me is still pursuing the stage. (I also told what I hate about being a comic. Take a look back.) I love being around other comics and sharing our horror stories of hecklers, faulty sound systems, and audiences of three or four people. Comics have got to have thick skin because they take a g

One of the hardest obstacles when getting comfortable with standup comedy is to know who you are. What is your persona? Some comics never find it. Will you be a whiney disgruntled housewife like Rosanna or a foodie like Jim Gaffigan. The first bit I ever wrote was about being retired. I performed it once and ditched it. The second bit I wrote was about always getting the squeaky wheel on my way to Las Vegas: on the shopping basket, the taxi, the airplane and the luggage

So after 15 years of retirement, I’m back in the classroom teaching Oral Presentation Through Comedy to 5th graders. It isn’t my goal to make comics of them. My goal is to get them comfortable speaking in front of their peers and taking away their fears. The butterflies disappear when they are trying to write and perform a joke. Most 5th graders think they are already funny, but they’re prisoners of the knock-knock jokes, yo mama jokes, and jokes out of Boy’s Life. To wri

I finally published my first novel and people have asked me, “Was the story about your life?” Not at all! Except for the protagonist being a schoolteacher, Grace was just a fictional character . . . at least at first. People have asked, “How did you get your idea for the plot?” In 1986, I read about a bus accident on the road to Reno. It rolled down the embankment and into a river. Nineteen people were killed and 22 injured. Divers looked for the bodies. The fact that th

About 10 years ago, we hired a comic named Nick Arnette to perform at our church. I don’t think I’d ever been to a real comedy show, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I did grow up watching all the wonderful old comics like George Burns, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, Carol Burnett, Betty White. I think I always wanted to be like them. Nick suggested that when we set up the room, it was important to set up the chairs so that the f