Writer Ellen Morris Prewitt Blog

The Aftermath

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 7, 2020. Posted in General. 2 Comments on The Aftermath

I sit on the point of our porch with rain ticking around me. The pressure washer was scheduled to clean the house today, and I wonder if the rain will do his work for him. Like the lot next door where we removed the foundation from a Katrina house and planned on seeding St. Augustine until the wild grass began to creep, and we let nature fill in....

The Glow

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on November 4, 2020. Posted in General, GRIEF, LOVE. 7 Comments on The Glow

I got a new daybed in my house. The bed is minimalist for a small but important room: the room has the sacred palm in it. I’ve reupholstered the furniture to fit in this new house. I’ve had pillows made. Lamps are set out. Pictures hung. Bedding added. Charging stations rigged up, carts assembled, rugs cleaned and laid on their mats....

Where Do We Go from Here?

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on October 29, 2020. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation, Writing. 6 Comments on Where Do We Go from Here?

The revisions to my Mississippi novel have reached the “listening to the computer read to me” stage. I’ve received wonderfully helpful feedback from Beta readers and spent 2 months implementing it. “Implementing” sounds so neutral, but I wrote another 20,000 words and revised the ones I already had on the page. Now...

Violent or Peaceful?

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on September 27, 2020. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation. 8 Comments on Violent or Peaceful?

My last year at the University of Virginia, I took a masters-level Applied Sociology class. There I learned that small changes in our public spaces—placement of the exit on the bus, arrangement of an apartment complex courtyard—can lead to huge changes in group behavior. Ever since, I’ve been fascinated by forces that influence us in ways...

Optimist, Pessimist, Life, Death, Life

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on September 26, 2020. Posted in General, GRIEF, LOVE. 10 Comments on Optimist, Pessimist, Life, Death, Life

Saturday, and it’s raining. I’m eating dry Cheerios with raisins because I haven’t any milk. A hurricane is once again approaching, and the naming system is so worn out, all it can generate is Beta. RBG is dead, as are 198,000 Americans from COVID-19. I made a pot of white rice so I will have something to eat until my husband the...

Do You Want to Be Lied to, or Not?

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on September 18, 2020. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation. 10 Comments on Do You Want to Be Lied to, or Not?

They use it as an asterisk. Like when the governing commission is forced to add an explanation to a sports stat. Babe Ruth and Roger Maris or whatever. The sports hero is the greatest ever…except with this teensy asterisk caveat. The same treatment is granted to the white men who established America. Historians, politicians, we white people—we...

My Date with a Neo-Nazi

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on September 11, 2020. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation. 6 Comments on My Date with a Neo-Nazi

I went to lunch with a Neo-Nazi. We had gyros and iced tea, I’m pretty sure, but the details of the food escape me. What I’ll never forget was my dawning realization that this man was a nutcase. He was tall and incredibly good-looking in a blond Aryan blue-eyed way. (Yes, this is a true story, though it’s starting to sound...

If I Had Two Wings

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on September 1, 2020. Posted in General, Writing. 10 Comments on If I Had Two Wings

I didn’t know what I was doing. I had quit practicing law to become a writer. In typical lawyerly fashion, I formulated a “private MFA” where I would take 2 years and teach myself to write. I didn’t want to get an actual MFA because I figured, as a lawyer who had been the office’s managing partner, I would be a terrible...

China, Words, and Hope

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on August 28, 2020. Posted in General, Writing. 2 Comments on China, Words, and Hope

I don’t know if this is appropriate or not, but I need to tell you that a really nice publishing house is, right now, reading the full manuscript on MUD ISLAND, the mystery featuring a formerly homeless young woman set in Memphis in 1997 (which I revised from being a formerly homeless old man set in 2019), and I’m trying not to think...

White People’s Ego Will Get You Killed

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on August 18, 2020. Posted in General, Racism to Reconciliation. 10 Comments on White People’s Ego Will Get You Killed

The two young men had been high school friends. One was Black, one was white. The Black man went missing. He had last been seen with the young white man, his friend. The white man schemed with his half-brother to shoot the young Black man and rob him. The brothers buried the Black man in a shallow grave, and the white man’s wife allegedly later...