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.

Let Go and Let Goo

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I didn’t meet my goal of having an outline even of The Project.  Two sick toddlers, sick Huzzy, sick me.  An insidious flu that won’t let go.

I’ve spent too many moments beating myself up for not meeting that deadline and for feeling behind.  I should say, “more behind,” because at 38, I already feel behind in artistic pursuits, Georgia O’Keefe isn’t inspiring me right now.

My solution?  No deadline.  I’m a creature who never actually works well with them.  I get things done faster when they’re open-ended projects. 

The writing will get done when it gets done.  Instead of attacking a scene/outline/lyrics with resentment and worry that I’m behind, I want to sit down and write it because it needs to be written.  Because it bursts forth.  Because it should be and I want it to.

This means sticking to my writing schedule, of course, but sometimes I will just write a story or a poem or an article.  The Project only when it comes from a giggly, bubbly, strong place.  Not a place of worry and weakness.

I have glossed over this blog and seen how unhappy the last few months have been, artistically.  I want to get back to writing the blog posts I started with — more complex, more funny, more me. 

Happy New Year!  It’s a beautiful day.