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.

NaNoWriMo Day 5: Wide Awake Until I’m Not

I’m trying to let “Go with it” flow over me as I get older.

Crazy writing idea? Go with it.

Nutty dance party breaks out during the PTO meeting? Go with it.

Day ten of being awoken by a child’s hacking, painful cough and/or nightmare and then being unable to go back to sleep? Yeah…

Lather, rinse, repeat.

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Littlest Little has a cough that sounds like she’s got a 70-year-old smoker caught in her little throat, and of course, it’s worst at night, especially at 2 am. I lie with her, rub her back, give her one of the few medicines approved for kids under the age of six, and wait for an hour for it to kick in so she can sleep.

By 3 this morning, she was snoring somewhat peacefully. I, on the other hand, couldn’t fall back asleep, so I dragged my carcass out of bed and got to the computer.

I got a lot done in the three hours before everyone else started their day, and, allowing for my own sleep-deprivation-twinged-eye, it’s actually the first thing I’ve written this NaNo that I am sure I will submit. I may even break it into several pieces, as right now, it’s reading like the longest chapter in a David Sedaris book, with its winding and its odd tangents and yanks back to the main storyline.

I am in no way saying it’s anywhere near as good as Sedaris’s writing. I’ve just been enjoying his work of late and decided to try something a la Sedaris.

And now, as I’ve tried to tend to kids most of the day, all of whom are in various states of wellness, I’m tired. And as their father is out of town, I’m on my own. It’s good to stop while the ideas are still there and while I still have enough to give to three little faces who need tending. I’ve got plenty of things to write about tomorrow. There will be no blank pages taunting me in the morning when I sit down to write.

Hopefully at a more godly hour.

Today’s Stats:

  • Essay: “Processing the Leftovers” 3402 words
  • Short Story: “Pie Trauma” (working title) 422 words

Daily Word Count: 3824

Total Word Count: 15,761

NaNoWriMo Day 4 — Just the Facts

Just the facts.

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Today’s Stats:

  • Essay: “Bricks in the Wall or Memes about Seats in the Lunchroom vs. Academic Achievement” 1503 Words
  • Essay: “Piñatas and Glitter Girls” 842 Words
  • Short Story: “Pie Trauma” (working title) 642 words

Daily Word Count: 2987

Total Word Count: 11937

NaNoWriMo Day 3

It’s been a day of fits and starts, yet surprising output.

I realize how much I love the writing part as opposed to the editing part. Writing is wave after wave of hope and possibility. Editing attempts to strictly discipline those waves.

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Most of today’s work will need the softening of time. Right now the humor is biting. With a little time and some careful rework, it should mostly nibble with the occasional chomp, which is how I like my humor. Less zombie, more almost-too-cold ice cream.

Today’s Stats:

  • Essay: “Cubs Win — Won’t Somebody Think of the Children?!!!”  675 Words
  • Essay: “November Surprise: They Won’t Sleep Through the Night Until They Leave Home” 1725 Words
  • Short Story: “Pie Trauma” (working title)  885 words

Daily Word Count: 3285

Total Word Count: 8950