All posts by Jackie Pick

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About Jackie Pick

Jackie Pick is a former teacher and current writer living in the Chicago area. She is a contributing author to multiple anthologies, including Multiples Illuminated, So Glad They Told Me: Women Get Real about Motherhood, Here in the Middle, as well as the and the literary magazines The Sun and Selfish. She received Honorable Mention from the Mark Twain House and Museum for her entry in the Royal Nonesuch Humor Writing Competition. Jackie is a contributing writer at Humor Outcasts, and her essays have been featured on various online sites including McSweeney's, Belladonna Comedy, Mamalode, The HerStories Project, and Scary Mommy. A graduate of the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, Jackie is co-creator and co-writer of the award-winning short film Fixed Up, and a proud member of the 2017 Chicago cast of Listen To Your Mother.

Can't Find Comfort in Kale

Gratitude, Parenting, Writing, Writing process, ,

They – so many theys – say to keep a record. Write it down. For posterity. For history. For sanity.

During this awful beginning, I try to jot down a note. Dribs and drabs. A minute here, a half-hour there. What’s happening? Am I ok when things are not?

Short answer: no. Who is, really?

Fully aware I am not on the front lines of anything but my little family and their well-being. My little notes contain no first-hand horror, and for that, I am grateful and profoundly aware that is not the case for many.

So here are tiny dandelion seeds I’m blowing out there. Messy weeds I’m spreading everywhere in an attempt to figure out where to land in this new reality of absolutes.

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Three Words

Inspiration, Writing, Writing process, Writing the first book,

Sometimes the writing is an exercise in confronting my deficiencies as a writer. And because I am a writer, that easily spirals into thoughts of inadequacy, worries of having “missed my chance,” and wondering if I will ever meet the potential everyone thought I had when I was eight. (I was quite an eight-year-old. Weren’t we all?)

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Diggy Diggy Hole: February 2020 Month in Review

Books, Fiction, Month in Review, Poetry, Recommendations, Writing, Writing process, Writing the first book

Earlier this week, we began construction on an addition to our house. Short term, it means a new office for me, and a sunroom and deck for the family. Middle-to-long term, it will help with resale when the time comes to move my little band of mischief-makers.

There are a lot of unknowns, unexpecteds, and uncontrollables.

Continue reading Diggy Diggy Hole: February 2020 Month in Review →