Jackie O'Donnell

I admit it. I'm addicted to writing, be it poetry or prose. It's a compulsion I've had ever since I first held a pencil and could make words appear on pieces of butcher paper from the roll my parents wrapped bread and other goodies in at our family bakery in San Jose, CA. It continued through third grade, when I won a prize from the school bank for a little masterpiece called "It's Fun to Save." Writing drove away the lonesomes of not being able to play with other kids because polio left me less than agile, and it led to several notebooks containing imaginary escapades of my mom, my dog Slicer, my wheelchair, and me. As a senior in high school I won the Creative Writing award and a scholarship, but I earned only a B in the class because I wanted to write what I wanted to write, not what was assigned.

When I began collage, I decided writing was not going to feed me, and I loved the idea of teaching others how to communicate. Teaching was a natural fit. For many years I taught high school English, that universally hated subject. Those years gave me happy fulfillment and lifelong friends in the form of colleagues and ex-students. I count among my blessings "kids" who were now in education, politics, on both sides of the aw (in prison and a District Attorney), corporate executives, trades people, the famous and slightly infamous. Keeping in touch with these people, along with experiences I had growing up as a person with a disability, gave me food for thought...and for writing. Much of what I write, then, deals with how people treat each other.

In 2005, my son, Brian, vacated the nest to begin his own life. Deeply saddened by this, his father and I set out the following day to turn his bedroom into a guest room and buy new living room furniture. When Brian asked why we hadn't done all that while he was still home, I could only tell him he'd understand when he had teenagers, and that we hoped he'd drop by often to see whatever else we were up to. Meanwhile, my husband, Frank, and I were content to make a life of our own while enjoying the man our son had grown up to be.

I've written six books so far, the latest one ("The Women in Me: How they Helped Me Survive and Thrive") with my good friend Nancy Malone-Mercado.

Life is good. Life brings surprises, Life exists to be written about and shared.