Today we contrast yesterday's episode by Joan Didion with the anti-personal essay, essay, "The Decay of the Essay," by Virginia Woolf. Thank you to AnOther Magazine for the background and quotes about Virginia Woolf and thank you to Royalty Free Music from Tunetank.com Track: Coffee Jazz by DogisReal https://tunetank.com/track/3764-coffee-jazz/

If you'd like to read your essay on Real Quick - please let me know at [email protected] or visit mishkennedy.com. I am also available on most social platforms as @writermish

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The next two episodes are about the personal essay. Joan Didion and Virginia Woolf both had something to say about the nature of exploding one's life on paper (or screen, as it were). The essay begins around minute 3 and really does have some of the best thoughts on being a writer I've ever read. I love reading why writers write. 

If you'd like to read your essay on Real Quick - or have it read - email Michelle Kennedy at [email protected] or visit mishkennedy.com. I am also on Instagram and Threads @writermish and @realquickshortcast. 

Enjoy!


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My great-grandmother was named Esther Salafia and she came to America on a boat from Sicily with her husband James Capone and their son Nicholas. I tell you this because first of all their names are fabulous and I love that I have this Italian heritage somewhere in my DNA. 

Thank you for joining me today! Please contact me through mishkennedy.com or email [email protected]

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This is a tough topic to talk about. Please dial 988 if you are having suicidal thoughts, or are in crisis. For a long time, my backwards brain (ND if we're being technical) was comforted by the idea of suicide. I thought that made me really broken. What I've found, is that I'm not broken, and I'm not alone. 

If you have an essay to contribute to Real Quick, please let me know at [email protected]. 

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This episode includes the shortcast introduction. If you'd like to skip ahead to the essay, go to minute 2:35. 

This essay is titled Crone. I wrote it because I have come to love what the word is supposed to mean, but it took me a long time fighting with my aging to get there. Enjoy. And please - let me know what you think! If you'd like to contribute, please email me at [email protected]

Thank you!
Michelle

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lessons learned from mothering many…

Being a mother is often a disappointing endeavor. I don’t mean that the kids are disappointing — definitely not. They amaze me all the time. But the job of mother itself can be fairly disappointing overall.I think, it’s in part, due to the expectations we have as mothers and the expectations other people have both from mothers in general — societally speaking — but also the expectations that spouses, children, and friends have of the mothers in their lives.

I learned early not to have a lot of expectations of my children. 

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Welcome to Real Quick! Real Quick is a "shortcast" and lasts about 10 minutes, featuring an essay each day. Sometimes I write and read my own essays and sometimes I read essays written by others. I hope to soon have other writers who would like to read their own essays on the show and chat about them with me a bit after. 

I am a huge fan of essays of all sorts and truthfully, I get tired of literary essays in high falutin journals being the only ones I hear about. I think the essay is a truly underrated art form. Join me in celebrating it! Want to contribute? Please write me at [email protected]

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