Author: 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.

Writing Exercise #1

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On more than one occasion, I’ve remarked that at this point in my life, it is hard to get writing topics out of my Minefield Brain.   Dear Huzzy has told me to be gentle with myself. Life is as hectic now as it is ever going to be.  I’m lucky if I call a child by the right name when I tell him/her to stop picking his/her nose hugging me so tightly.
I’ve joked that I miss school. We got assigned topics, and I soared. 
School’s in session. My creative writing instructor this term is Dr. Google.  

 

Assignment #1, from here, is the first of 12.

Day 1:
Write 10 potential book titles of books you’d like to write.

1. Innerplay

2. No, But: How Failing My Dreams Opened a Top-Story Window

3.  Yesmother

4. I Know How to English — Tales from the Big Desk

5. The Orange Rhyme Scheme

6. The Someday Funny

7. Master of All, Mistress of None

8. Rumple

9. Hey, Slick

10. Turnkey

***********

My thoughts: First off, the assignment itself seems awkwardly phrased. Maybe that affected me, as it seems like all my titles are rejected names for improv teams or sketch shows.

This was such a new and weird writing experiment. I never have titled anything before writing it.  That is anathema to me and my oh-so-sacred process.  I suppose the idea is to back into writing topics, as each of these titles is for a specific type of book/story/article.

Anything ringing your chimes?