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.

Why Did I Stop?

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My last post was ages ago. I need to write. I always feel this push to write and blog as the solstice hits. Writing is my warm blanket, my wooly socks, my hearth.

I stopped, I believe, because I couldn’t ignore the inner critic. It’s dumb. Who cares? This isn’t important. This doesn’t matter. This isn’t funny enough. This isn’t serious enough. This writing isn’t as good as it used to be.

In other words: I’m dumb. Who cares about me? I’m not important. I don’t matter. I’m not funny enough. I’m not serious enough. I’m not as good as I used to be.

Even if that’s true, and that would be pretty harsh, the only way to push past, push through, or ignore completely is to try again. And again. And again.

So I promise once again. But not to you. To me.

See you tomorrow. I’m not waiting for life to keep giving me convenient New Years and New Starts.