Writing Archives - Ellen Morris Prewitt

I Should Be More Excited

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on December 9, 2025. Posted in Featured, When We Were Murderous Time-Traveling Women. 2 Comments on I Should Be More Excited

This week, I got the draft cover for When We Were Murderous Time-Traveling Women. The cover’s cool, particularly for a small press. Sometimes, to me, covers on small presses look like an image grab off Shutterstock. This cover is bespoke, tailored to New Orleans. It’s gonna be awesome. Still, I should be more excited than I am. I’ve seen the...

Romantasy or Trying New Things

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on December 5, 2025. Posted in General, Writing. No Comments on Romantasy or Trying New Things

This is going to be a ridiculously upbeat post where I report on trying new things. Last month, I facilitated a panel for the Louisiana Book Festival. Nothing new there. I’ve loved leading writing conversations forever. What was totally new for me was the genre of book I would be moderating. I had zero experience with romantasy. I...

Crystal Wilkinson

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on December 2, 2025. Posted in General, Writing. 4 Comments on Crystal Wilkinson

I don’t remember who introduced me to Crystal Wilkinson, but several years ago, I went to a writing conference because she was teaching the fiction session. The conference was in Asheville near my family. Also, the host, Image Journal, had nominated my work for a Pushcart Prize, where it received an Honorable Mention. But I wouldn’t...

Read the Bad Reviews

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 17, 2025. Posted in Featured, Writing. 2 Comments on Read the Bad Reviews

I do this thing. When I finish a book I really liked, I go to Goodreads and Amazon, and I read the bad reviews. I want to remind myself that it’s all simply a matter of taste, and we have different tastes, and that’s okay. But today after I finished an exquisitely written novel, something went awry. I got put out. In particular, I...

Not My Street

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 9, 2025. Posted in Featured, Writing. 4 Comments on Not My Street

I walk out the door of 100 Men Hall and birds sing, as if they’ve been doing that all along. Not one bird, two birds—an orchestra of birds, thrumming beneath the afternoon. I follow the sound and find the masses congregated on a cell tower. I don’t know what kind of birds they are. My sister Marcee goes downtown in Raleigh in the evenings...

Reading Hibernation

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 5, 2025. Posted in Featured, Writing. No Comments on Reading Hibernation

Traditionally, the week between Christmas and New Years has been for me a time to hibernate and read. The last deep dive I did, my mother was still alive. She gave me a slew of books for Christmas, all by authors whose first language was Spanish (because I asked for them, y’all–Mother always gave you what you asked for.) I feel like...

Split the Baby

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 4, 2025. Posted in Featured, General, Writing. No Comments on Split the Baby

It takes great courage to return to childhood. Not just the exposure we risk or the chance we will reveal more than we intend. To write memoir well, you must fully return to that time period, immersing yourself. You must make it real again. Not just the bad parts but, sometimes more heartbreakingly, the good parts as well. Lauren Rhoades...

Night Terrors

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on August 1, 2025. Posted in Featured, General, Writing. 13 Comments on Night Terrors

Write, write. Submit, submit. This is me, a busy little bee. One paid off, a story about the magic of night terrors. Or, alternatively, the demons in my prior life. I thank Dorothy Parker’s Ashes for publishing it. Y’all take a look and let me know what you think.

Two Mississippi Women Authors

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on June 17, 2025. Posted in General, Writing. No Comments on Two Mississippi Women Authors

I can’t remember how much I’ve told you about these two Mississippi women authors. Doesn’t matter. I’m saying it again because I want you to know about them. Ellen Ann Fentress Ellen Ann Fentress has been a friend since we both showed up to pledge the Jackson Junior League and draped our wooden name tags around...

Down to the Lick Log

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on June 12, 2025. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation, Writing. 14 Comments on Down to the Lick Log

Sometimes, the rubber hits the road. Or, to use a more personal metaphor, sooner or later, we get down to the lick log. I know a lick log because the cows at Mamo and Papo’s farm had salt licks. My Uncle Jimmy put the blocks of salt on stumps in the field behind the barn. The cows, for God knows what reason, liked salt. They would low...