AUDIO: Avoiding cheap presents and other wisdom

MURPHY, TEXAS
December 2, 2009 12:02am

As you grapple with the annual chore of buying gifts for the holidays, bear in mind, “A cheap present wrapped in expensive papers and ribbons fools no one.”

So says “Deedee Divine,” the pseudonym for Texas humorist and author Diana Estill. It’s one of Deedee’s many, many guides to life.

As business people try to add the holidays onto the recession-heavy load they already carry, Ms. Estill’s character might offer a brighter moment.

“I’ve been compared to Erma Bombeck -- it’s pretty clean humor. I like to write about family and life, relatives and mishaps and all that sort of thing,” says Ms. Estill, whose book “Deedee Divine’s Totally Stressed Guide to Life” is her second in a writing career that has evolved from a first job of putting the number keys into calculators passing by on an assembly line.

“The thing about Deedee is that she just gives herself permission to say what most of us are thinking but censor every day,” says Ms. Estill. “Whatever’s on her mind just comes out and if it sounds a little bit twisted, she doesn’t really mind.”

(Diana Estill talks about creating her alter-ego and the wisdom that can be found in everyday strife in today’s CVBT Audio Interview. Please left-click on the link below to listen now or right-click to download the MP3 audio file for later listening.)

While the book does not deal directly with practical aspects of business, Ms. Estill says it does have a universal lesson.

“Ultimately it all comes back to the same thing, and that’s being able to cope with any crisis by finding the humor that’s hidden in it,” she says.

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Ms. Estill’s other book is “Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road,” but she is no stranger to print. Previously she worked for 12 years as a journalist and humor columnist. Her columns have appeared in the Dallas Morning News, the Washington Post, the Miami Herald and other publications.

She is also a keynote speaker for business, civic and nonprofit organizations.