Writing Archives - Ellen Morris Prewitt

If I Had Two Wings

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on September 1, 2020. Posted in General, Writing. 10 Comments

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

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...

That Which Soothes When All Begins to Crumble

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 26, 2020. Posted in General, GOD, GRIEF, Writing. 4 Comments

Though I welcomed—after our terror subsided—the stillness of our shelter-in-place life, we who had been circling and circling for years, the last few days I have felt as if I might crumble, my “dust to dust” having become friable, my feet of clay exposed, a descending that was not helped when the priest who understood me and yet encouraged...

Where We Are….

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 22, 2020. Posted in General, HOMELESSNESS, Writing. 12 Comments

Last summer, I got an agent for my mystery. Once reason I chose her was because she had good ideas on improving the manuscript. I made those revisions, which were not insubstantial, and in the fall the agent submitted to publishing houses. We didn’t get any bites. We confabbed in January, and she suggested I change the gender of the amateur...

Lord, This Wore Me Down

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 24, 2020. Posted in General, Writing. Leave a Comment

(I INTRODUCED this set of book reviews here. This is the 4th in the series) Pedro ParamoJuan Rulfo (set in Mexico, pub 1955)Plot Summary: man returns to (literal) ghost town searching for his father This is the second time in as many reviews that I find myself reviewing a book not for its writing or character development or dialogue or atmosphere...

How Do You Choose What to Read?

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 19, 2020. Posted in General, Writing. Leave a Comment

(I INTRODUCED this set of book reviews here. This is the 3rd in the series) The Transmigration of BodiesYuri Herrera (set somewhere in Mexico, pub 2016)Plot Summary: During a killing plague, a fixer is called to solve a dispute between two crime families Goodreads reviews are to advise other readers whether they want to read the book or not,...

When You are Set Apart by Your Gifts

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 17, 2020. Posted in General, Writing. Leave a Comment

(I introduced this set of book reviews here. This is the 2nd in the series) The Loneliness of AngelsMyriam J.A. Chancy (set primarily in Haiti, pub 2010Plot summary: a family tries to understand—and live with—its gift of discernment I recently have read a lot of books in a very short span of time, all by authors with whom I was previously...

What if We Quit Dying?

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 15, 2020. Posted in General, Writing. Leave a Comment

As I mentioned earlier, when I was in school, I loved the week between Christmas and New Year’s because all I did during that time was read, book after book. I wanted to replicate that reading marathon this year, and, in particular, read the Spanish-language based books my Mother gave me for Christmas last year (yeah, I know I’m late,...

We are Wonders of the Universe

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on January 25, 2020. Posted in General, HOMELESSNESS, LOVE, Writing. 2 Comments

They were strangers to me. One I had met the Sunday before and spoken with for about five minutes. The workshop host I had admired mostly from afar and met with to set up the workshop. The group had a mother and daughter in it, but otherwise, they appeared to be as unknown to each other as they were to me. Now, we, this group of strangers, were...

Claim the Disappearing: Chapters 6-10

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on December 3, 2019. Posted in General, Writing. Leave a Comment

(I’ve been unrolling this novel on this blog one chapter at a time. Earlier, I gathered Chapters 1-5 for your convenience. Click here to read them if you want before reading Chapters 6-10 gathered below. Whether the blog offering will continue past these first 10 chapters is up in the air!) CLAIM THE DISAPPEARING: 6 The first Bigmama...