Writer Ellen Morris Prewitt Blog

My New Righting Group Book

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on October 30, 2019. Posted in General, HOMELESSNESS, Writing. No Comments on My New Righting Group Book

Y’all, I’ve been so busy getting my new book into the hands of folks who can use it, I haven’t stopped long enough to tell you about it. Most of y’all know for 8 years I was part of a weekly writing group of Memphians who had personally experienced homelessness. We wrote; we held public readings; we hosted...

Not My Street

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 9, 2025. Posted in Featured, Writing. No 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. My sister Marcee goes downtown in Raleigh in the evenings to see the chimney sweeps dive into shelter....

Making Choices

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 7, 2025. Posted in General. No Comments on Making Choices

If you stare at me and tell me, “This is what happened,” you may not actually be telling me what happened. You may be telling me what I’m supposed to agree happened. I’ll kick back against that every time. I have a choice whether to accept your story, and I want to be making choices that are the best I can make. Patterns...

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...

Peaceful Americans

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on October 19, 2025. Posted in Featured, General. No Comments on Peaceful Americans

After Trump was elected in 2016, I waited for him to pivot from being a candidate to being president. I didn’t like him, but he was now my president. Instead, Trump kept holding campaign rallies. And calling those who didn’t vote for him “them.” I realized he didn’t want to be the president of America. He wanted to...

MEMPHIS, y’all

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on October 3, 2025. Posted in General, LOVE, Racism to Reconciliation. 10 Comments on MEMPHIS, y’all

Hand-in-hand, we strolled down Front Street, the Memphis sky as blue as the air was crisp. At the new bakery, I ordered lox and bagel, cafe au lait, and, for Tom, a breakfast sandwich with drip coffee. The small bakery space was almost empty, quiet, until we stepped back to wait on our order, and the people poured in. At 9:30 on a Friday...

Wordle

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on September 23, 2025. Posted in General. 8 Comments on Wordle

Of all the things going on in the world right now, what I’m motivated to write to you about is Wordle. I’ve found an Unlimited Wordle site. I’m both obsessed and convinced this is really good for my brain. Why? I don’t think it’s primarily because of the challenge. If you’re as late to the game as I am...

Summer Adventures

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on August 11, 2025. Posted in Featured, General. 2 Comments on Summer Adventures

Over the last month of summer adventures, I’ve survived a fruit fly outbreak and a weevil infestation, both while caring for our five-year-old grandson for the week. I swam in a lake where duck poop covered the dock and my arms stroked into wavering water lilies. An acquaintance died from that horrid flesh-eating bacteria, and I got bit...

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.

Our Federal Court System

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on July 15, 2025. Posted in Featured, General, Racism to Reconciliation. 2 Comments on Our Federal Court System

I’m biased, I admit. I grew up in a time when the sea wall against the flood of fascism was our federal court system. In Mississippi in the 1960s, the state had lost its mind over the end of segregation. Officials declared federal law null and void inside Mississippi. According to this myth, anything the state did in response to the...