Writer Ellen Morris Prewitt Blog

A Question Only You can Answer

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 7, 2013. Posted in General. No Comments on A Question Only You can Answer

Here’s the question: Can one make a “social business” out of writing? By which I mean: Can I successfully link my short stories with charities engaging the theme of the story? Will our modern desire to do good when spending our money extend to literature? Do readers read for anything other than entertainment? Here’s the...

Stages

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 6, 2013. Posted in General. No Comments on Stages

The oaks and maples and ginkgos make me gape. Add an overcast sky to their new growth, and you’ve got “vegetation.” Unfortunately, I’ll get used to it as the season progresses; thankfully, I’m not there yet. I crane my neck, gazing at the lush canopy. I’ve never had a wreck watching the trees, but I could. * I do not shiver. I hunch. And...

Just Wondering

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 3, 2013. Posted in General. 4 Comments on Just Wondering

* does everyone automatically lift their foot from the accelerate when they see a cop, or is it just me? * have we ever measured a dog’s blood pressure to see if our presence makes her pressure go down? * why did the salesman let me buy a black and blue shirt with a black and blue tie to go with “black” pants that would be revealed to be brown once...

Cain’t Do Nothing with Love

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 1, 2013. Posted in General. 4 Comments on Cain’t Do Nothing with Love

Terra firma info: Launch date: Thursday June 27th Time: 6:00 pm Location: The Booksellers at Laurelwood Memphis, TN What it is: collection of award-winning short stories written and read by the author (me) and made available on CD Ether info: Launch date: earlier than June 27th Time: anytime I choose Location: on the ethernet What it...

No One’s Studying You

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on April 28, 2013. Posted in General. 2 Comments on No One’s Studying You

The cabbie gives me the once over. “You a doctor?” he asks. “I’m a writer,” I say. “I thought you were a doctor,” he insists. “You got the hair, the glasses, the dress.” For the rest of my time in New Orleans, I wear patterned hose and flapper dresses and red pointed cowboy boots and a tight black tee-shirt with my Elvis medal pinned front and...

Documenting What I Cannot Change or Understand

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on April 24, 2013. Posted in General, GRIEF. 18 Comments on Documenting What I Cannot Change or Understand

She rises behind the lectern, carefully taking the steps. Each time, before she reads us our Sunday morning lesson, she flashes a smile our way. Not all lay readers approach their task with such lightness; some bring a decided solemnity to the event. Not her. We’ve walked with her through a recent journey—she’s lost an incredible amount of weight—and...

Train Triptych Part Last: Without Warning

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on April 23, 2013. Posted in General. No Comments on Train Triptych Part Last: Without Warning

Without a whistle without a lurch, the train moved out. Stationary at the crossing doing God knows what, it finished, and went along its way unaware that three heartbeats before— one thump thump, two thump thump three thump thump, a boy had been shoving his bicycle between the cars then clambering up and over after it, impatient to get along...

Ties that Could’ve Been

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on April 22, 2013. Posted in General. No Comments on Ties that Could’ve Been

Riding the train from Memphis watching the tracks go by, I was struck by the railroad ties strewn hither and thither along the way. Old ties, been there a while— it wasn’t like the tie collector was chugging along behind me ready to recover the rotting ties. I couldn’t help but think of my artist friend and the wonderful things she could make...

The Power of a Grandmother

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on April 21, 2013. Posted in General. No Comments on The Power of a Grandmother

The little boy taps his fingers against his open palm, making the baby sign language for “more.” But it’s not nanners he wants or more pancakes. Tap, tap he goes, and says, “More choo-choo?” We spend our days—Aubrey and his Gogi—racing to the window when the choo-choo whistle blows. We crane our necks to see. The crossing arm lowers, the red...

Time to Take a Break

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on April 18, 2013. Posted in General. 2 Comments on Time to Take a Break

When I was growing up, my daddy quit going to Rotary. Daddy had been a member of Rotary as a young businessman in Jackson, Mississippi, and when we moved to Charlotte, one of the first things he did was join the downtown Rotary Club. Tuesday nights at supper, Daddy would tell us all about what he’d learned that day from the speaker at Rotary....