Published inThe Writing Cooperative·PinnedMember-onlyWhat Editors Mean When We Say “Read the Submission Guidelines”How to dramatically improve your chances of acceptance — As an editor of The Belladonna, a Top 100 publication on Medium, I am driven to madness by one recurring issue. For some inexplicable reason, so many writers blatantly ignore our submission guidelines. Through my conversations with editors at other publications, I’ve discovered this is not a problem exclusive to…Writing10 min readWriting10 min read
Published inThe Writing Cooperative·PinnedMember-onlyHow to Write ‘Funny Anger’ (Not ‘Angry Anger’)Why humor editors love the former and reject the latter — As a comedian and editor for The Belladonna, a popular humor publication on Medium, I read and write a lot of angry humor pieces. But for every terrific piece of satire, I read at least 4–5 attempts that fall flat. Why? Because they aren’t funny. One of the best ways…Writing8 min readWriting8 min read
PinnedMy 2021 Submission StatsBecause getting published is a numbers game. — This was a really good year for me. With a few small exceptions, 2021 is the first time I really wrote, submitted, and published short humor. I wrote almost every day (especially from January — June), and I got pretty good incredibly quickly. But that wouldn’t have been possible if…Comedy7 min readComedy7 min read
Published inSlackjaw·PinnedMember-onlyQUIZ: Is This A Quote From My 5-Year-Old Or An Old Timey Expression That Fell Out Of Style?Tyler is in his Don Rickles phase right now. — Humor4 min readHumor4 min read
Published inThe Belladonna Comedy·PinnedMember-onlyIf This Cartoon Lady Animal Doesn’t Have Human Breasts, How Will Men Know If We Wanna Fuck It?PETITION: We need a set of honking knockers to hold our attention! — “[Malcolm D. Lee], the director of ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy,’ has ‘reworked’ Lola Bunny’s role for the reboot — claiming he wasn’t comfortable with the ‘very sexualized’ way she came off in the original back in 1996.” — TMZ, 3/4/21 Petition for Malcolm D. Lee to DRAW TITTIES ON…Comedy3 min readComedy3 min read
Published inSlackjaw·Apr 26, 2022Member-onlyOther Drugs Dewey Cox Tried In Deleted Scenes From ‘Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story’“We’re ratioing the crap out of a terrible New York Times Op-Ed on Twitter. You don’t want no part of this shit!” — DEWEY yawns, opens the bathroom door, and freezes. SAM and several GROUPIES are drinking out of novelty mugs. SAM Get out of here, Dewey! DEWEY Whatcha guys doin’ in there? SAM We’re drinking a steaming cup of coffee first thing in the morning, and you don’t want no part of this…Humor4 min readHumor4 min read
Published inThe Belladonna Comedy·Apr 12, 2022Our Most-Read Pieces in MarchOh hey, Belladonnas! Since the last time we talked, our very own Heidi Lux’s movie, Crushed, came out on Tubi!!! (Holy shit!) Give it a watch — it’s wildly hilarious! Now on to the news of the week: TOP 3 MOST-READ PIECES IN MARCH Quick tip: As always, we encourage you to promote your work on…Humor5 min readHumor5 min read
Published inThe Belladonna Comedy·Apr 3, 2022Member-onlyQuiz: What Is Your Real Housewives Tagline?You may think I’m the clap-back queen, but I’m actually the Devil. — Humor1 min readHumor1 min read
Published inThe Belladonna Comedy·Mar 31, 2022April 2022 Content CallFirst order of business: Sign-ups are open for the Humor Me open mic on April 3rd, 2022 at 8PM EST/5PM PST! This is a really fun event and a great way to get to know your fellow humor writers. More info here. Now on to the content call: CONTENT CALLHumor2 min readHumor2 min read
Published inThe Belladonna Comedy·Mar 20, 2022The First Belladonna Newsletter of SPRING! 🌸🌷🌼Raise your hand if: ✅ You’re excited for spring ✅ You can’t wait to catch up on this week’s hilarious pieces in The Belladonna ✅ The birds outside your window won’t! shut! up! LAST WEEK ON THE BELLADONNAHumor3 min readHumor3 min read