Best Stories of Kim Funk
Yet another compilation.
If I were to begin at the beginning, we’d have a long story. And I’d have to edit out a lot — or you would get bored and stop reading.
There was, of course my novice phase, as a small child with a copywriter and copy editor for a mother. Then, my academic phase, while in college churning out college papers with the ferocity of a tense journalist on a deadline — even though I wasn’t a journalism major.
I majored in communications instead of journalism because writing all those papers seemed like so much work. The joke was on me — you write papers to get a degree in communications too. And you compete with the journalism majors for the same jobs.
It all started with this sweet, little story of life lessons. The story struck a nerve with my fellow hockey moms. And I was hooked. I had found my Medium.
Right away folks commented on my humor. But I was busy trying to sell copywriting services. Still, you have to practice even when you don’t have tons of clients. And I loved getting feedback — I could tell whether I was onto something or not.
I thought it might be therapeutic to explore my life as a divorced woman. If I were to date — but after analyzing the shoes in my closet, I chickened out.
Meanwhile, I kept hustling my copywriting business while perfecting my craft. Curation eluded me until P.S. I Love You published this story. Somehow, I felt like I arrived.
December was a great month for curation. This piece was curated.
And so was this one.
My writing was improving, I was hustling hard, 2020 was going to be my year. Then the pandemic hit. And I was at a loss for words. I couldn’t market myself to companies that had temporarily shuttered their doors. With so much uncertainty — there was only one place to turn.
Humor — where it all began. After a bit of a publishing dry spell, I published my first humor piece.
The laughs were encouraging enough for me to press on. I published this piece soon after.
Of course, as May turned to June, the pandemic unfolded into historic political unrest. I turned to political humor — as therapy — with this piece.
As someone living in Minneapolis, humor writing provided the perfect outlet — especially in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. I spent most of my days researching everything I possibly could about social justice and being an antiracist. Humor writing continued to provide a therapeutic escape.
Especially when the scenario was completely unrelated to current events. Like this one.
But overall, I hung onto the fact that truth really is stranger than fiction. And if 2020 were a horror novel, no publishing house would accept the manuscript. This story continues to get laughs. Who knows what the next installment will bring.
Interestingly enough, as the economy reopens, and I start talking to potential clients again, they all like the idea of adding humor to their marketing and advertising. I might be on to something.
Kim Funk is a freelance writer and hockey mom based in Minneapolis, MN. You’ll usually find her quietly writing something funny or losing her voice during her kids’ hockey games. She plays with fire on occasion and tries to grow things in her garden.
