Learning how
to Write Anecdotes
by Gregory C. Hundemer
The other day a friend came up to me and said, "Greg, how do you write so many anecdotes, both for the columns section at hungryandhollow.com, your personal website at geocities.com/anecdotalism, as well as for The Anecdotalist Underground, the new underground literary newspaper of the University of Houston, and keep the high quality that all your anecdotes possess?" "Well, friend," I told him. "The answer is simple: Lots and lots of Everclear." "So you're an alcoholic?" he asked me. "No, you fool!" I told him. "Not the drink, the band!" "Oh," he said. He finally understood. But it's true kids. If you want to grow up to be like me, writing quality, educational works that the whole family can enjoy, listen to Everclear, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But don't stop there. Tell all your friends to listen to Everclear, and buy all their albums... 27 copies each. That's what I did, and look at me. Why, I remember when I bought my 27th copy of Learning How to Smile... The man at the record store was like, "Dude, how many copies of this have you bought?" "27," I told him. "Everclear's my favorite band." "Indeed," he told me. He had inferred that from the fact that I had bought each of the albums 27 times. SRI&JFIFddDucky<Adobedۄ ę !1AQa"q2B#Rbr3႒C$4!1AQ"2aq#?,/JtVX}U}CI1uuñvfLFE+5p9v/axf_Px1>Y97kItgMDP&8*Uu%/[%rtmx!Ifq#Ӗb E1YiBNA|웥涳8Éi(X4W~v^IwH½4<5SoHݝep9>!!,BuzI`IL@IZ{Ushh}*G,z*s-.QڂT~Fx=!!/Dmn'rl!j종+c&=|nN<4Ve (29KuVj荗φyĘ c!]AW !>#_u+ 9#`VF W#ytB`4TiUq\iqEq*<=-`ge Hj@|@# k_HB^>XH7o1EeJ3?wq,m)4T`iwGZXi^xp7;+;wkRb*rvHj7~_HhBo+{)mԽk$%,r9jφvn]/,nt,bIRtVzLlB?v5ġeh7ηVH`gaCq<8R۽6Zg#4c\NDk̒ƲFUԂ<a ebqP@|0$)IG|.(GA?#35fŮVܲxy!ܚ2Z>gHFwM駑vDAfd0^Ken߹ti "0wwU3kncM $mAN(/دZ]lEŻIҌvH6n֡@9CC91Qq4nGfY4)# [ydr:6媵QMl|,g
XqdqGsTzQ!(OJb wvD^Q ,HQO1Snz-u%7/ o <5`Jjo3NxN?&rvKm"k'^QݛȄ3Ɨ9§yC2K&M0ZݵAg,mʹgMsfr'_=hϻ3M˖$0$}7̶2SX8WqΫLi1]Bzx_4QKy,u+Q$ ev\B~Wts%iID#"ʼ:EμFݿlX̅]B5רaV|qrnPdposٷ+Iy9b>gLmY lL S;t0ޥ-*39rl3SxS9ro`tѴ5V`8e翅tkfP2YΚLW%BBhA `X!x;sDJ,WEhjp%[ٻkek"\?2*c?pecHxSMOJ_6'};Km+v"T=':WYQ[fJFj@s4z"67pX͑%)R~8ƻ:_Օ"NO8!= E7IfG9CFcIɟѭ$Y"3X$h;O," FPi!0#Cm.J ݁eKq0Xװ|-W[Hm ֧<,TcjKL_B"DAˆ )(B{:ڀ9S*ڬ6_^۽NL'`yl ..VTot6ƞueo IWKkut`Wq_2r1XϵlhEZg\#u:?.kkȭmጳƄ)\dt*B$eEZ?FXxL:^{얖R@bb+]"gG8+[YZv*k{BV=Iˉ>u:O?snC~mͲL`k`7h/5@Bpkk&,u L2厡'3۪̽C@xߑ Wg 9-ӞY4ho)P#thb+XGXb2CgHAWI3VmJ$ԙTy_泩a#R fه 9Zɇ1.B6Fp, W 3D]"ψ96pCG[)3߸ql F(@q_g+yp;mq+۰ 2=@cb9{ک}s8S<S0mU" f+ 8Hݏn貹IfS^ S!ݫE~fM)TxO݉ҙ{:u(CpzS En5_}GVPUr%ȷy7mtb`48QOfq|[s%c&Mխ@y>5g`+5ZWfXB=ۛHn۠eyDҴ6۳UlE Yu4ƍWԩh5m_KQcKo\hZ,u;2\ *da|9?!yeNZEn).(Pb.H A-1$9C/9+X(*: 4#0%UOI1x$6,|Xr%>lRwoYT1&:cq&Fy$Zr=ص$y7~ܶjƖe$[<O-2lr7_N-T1oP1,- So there you go, kids. You want anecdotes? Listen to Everclear. You want good anecdotes? Listen to Everclear a lot. You want lots of good anecdotes, like me? Do nothing but listen to Everclear.
Check out the rest H&H's columns section. You can read more of Greg's writtings here.