Introducing Kersten Campbell, humor author

I've always thought of myself as a romance novelist. Imagine my surprise when I started writing and my first book turned out to be a collection of humor stories. I just couldn't help myself. For years I've enjoyed reading Patrick McManus's hilarious camping stories, and when I started to write about my experiences they came out all warped and funny just like the McManus stories. At first I didn't realize that I was writing a book. I wrote those stories on a blog to make myself laugh instead of cry at all the mishaps and mayhem that happened every day in my family of seven. But then people who were reading the blog told me that I made them laugh so hard they were crying, and I thought, "Hmmm...I wonder if I could get these published."

The rest is history. I worked to polish the stories and Cedar Fort liked them, and thankfully, other people did too. The book called, "Confessions of a Completely Insane Mother" was released in February of this year, and I hope it will give all mothers a sense of hope and a sense that there are no "perfect" families out there...so that they are more free to experience the joy in their journey.

I didn't realize I loved to write until later in life. I earned a degree in English Literature because I loved to read. But after I had my second child, I decided on a whim to try my hand at writing an article for the Ensign magazine. I was surprised when it got published. So I tried again. And again I was shocked when it got published. Through the years I wrote many more stories and articles for the other church magazines and some national family oriented magazines. I found so much joy in writing that I couldn't stop.

That's when I decided to try my hand at writing a romance novel. I was so exultant when it was finished! But when I read it again, I realized it was terrible! I revised it several times and it only got worse. Luckily, that's when I started to try my hand at a humor blog. I studied the craft of humor writing, practiced, and found that I loved it. It even helped me to be a better mother because it was a great way to keep life and its disasters in perspective.

Thus my romance writing days were over. Maybe someday I'll come back to it...but for now I'm having too much fun telling stories about my crazy family. (They don't like it sometimes, but hey...my son is now famous in his fifth grade class for inventing a fish tank bombing game using Christmas fruitcake. What's there to complain about?)

Besides writing, I am an obsessed gardner. My husband wonders if I am single handedly keeping all the nurseries in our area in business during these hard economic times. It's probably true. I also love painting, running, playing the clarinet in a city band, and playing with children. I currently work with the boy scouts, as a sunbeam teacher, and as girl's camp assistant director.

I hope you'll come visit often as I'll be writing tips every other Thursday about the craft of putting humor into your writing, whether you write romance, children's stories, or mystery. Often, humor is what sells an article or manuscript and gets it to stand out among all the others in the slush pile. For a sample of my humor stories, visit my humor blog at http://www.kersten4.blogspot.com/ or my website at http://www.kerstencampbell.com/.