Jack Morgan

Jack Morgan lives in Hawaii, 100 yards from the mouth of a waterway that drains mountain rain and rubbish into the Pacific Ocean. He's a graduate of Harvard's low residency MA in creative writing. When he's not swimming or paddling in the ocean, Jack works on his current project, We, a novel of love, loss, vengeance, and peace. An excerpted chapter of We has been published in Harvard's The Brattle Street Review. He also writes the twice monthly column "A Work in Progress" for Story Street Writers.

A Work in Progress: Year One

Jack Morgan writes an irregular column on learning to write with brain lesions.

It’s been almost a year since I received my primary progressive multiple sclerosis diagnosis, and anyone who read the first few articles in this column knows that I started my stages of grief deep in a dark place.…

What I Learned Judging a Flash Fiction Contest

Several judges contributed to the first “Story Street Writers’ contest, the Nightmare on Story Street 100 Word Horror Story Contest.” I was the loudest proponent of the contest and due to my Catholic guilt, I poured myself into the shared task of judging the first two rounds.…

A Work in Progress: All of Writing is Suffering

I am not Buddhist, but I’m not not Buddhist. Same with Catholicism.

One belief that I share with some Catholics and some Buddhists is that all of life is suffering. For St. Teresa of Calcutta, earthly suffering brings us closer to the state of Jesus, giving us a rare ecstasy that prepares us to meet God.…

A Work in Progress: OK, I’ll Focus, But on What?

For years I’ve worn an oversized memento mori ring on the secure side of my tight-fitting wedding band. The rattle continually reminds me of the commitment I chose, but I’ve mostly ignored the memento mori ring. It’s been the clapper in the bell, noisy but invisible, essential but forgotten.…

A Work in Progress: Writing from Death Row

Fifteen days ago, I received news that landed like a death sentence. A suite of MRIs that I received after a month-long headache revealed multiple brain lesions consistent with multiple sclerosis.
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I asked the doctor what type of multiple sclerosis he thought it was. After more than an hour of medical explanations, questions, and matter-of-fact answers, he broke eye contact and looked at the floor. I knew what was coming. I'd done the reading.

A Work in Progress: What I Learned When I Quit Taking Classes

Just before Covid descended, I applied to an online writing program. As a high school math teacher, it was a stretch to convince my boss to convince his boss that an online master’s degree in creative writing and literature should be paid from the school’s professional development funds, but the fates intended for me to study writing, I guess, and he and his boss agreed to pay my tuition.…