Jessica Page Morrell is an author, developmental editor, and writing instructor and coach. Her published works include five books written for writers. She’s  founded and coordinated writing conferences and has taught thousands of writers at conferences in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Ireland. 

Morrell has also been a corporate trainer for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and charities. She’s worked as a  columnist, copywriter, and feature writer. In a previous life she taught cooking classes, cooked in restaurants, owned a catering business, was a restaurant reviewer and restaurant consultant, handed out food samples, and developed recipes for a grocery chain. She’s also a good tipper.

Constantly inspired, she’s a word person who is fascinated with the history of English, a lovely, potent, mongrel language.  In fact, she’s currently taking a course in the history of the English language, a fascinating endeavor. This interest came about because she’s often suggested that writers rely on words of Anglo-Saxon origin. The solid, meaty old words we’ve known since childhood–moon, bird, stream, queen, hammer, sister, honey.

In her work she’s especially focused on imbuing langauge with tension and resonance and scenes with tension. Oh, and limiting prepositions–the carbs of language. She collects words daily, scavanging baubles and jewels, and has kept a writers notebook for many years. 

As an editor she helps writers reimagine their stories, aids in nailing  a firm inner rationale, nudges them toward creating emotional resonance, and cinematic tales told from a deep viewpoint amid meaningful dramatic entanglements. Morrell has not only helped launch writing careers, but also guided midlist authors to become bestselling authors. She believes in noticing, everyday magic, and artful living, and hikes in the old growth forests and along mountain-fed rivers of the Pacific Northwest.  Since moving to Oregon in 1991 to her delight, she’s been surrounded by writers.

When watching  a film or television series, or  listening to a podcast,  she cannot help but analyze every writer’s techniques.  Jessica thinks about story craft a lot and is known to utter ‘plot point’ in the midst of a movie. She researches almost daily and reads all kinds of fiction, nonfiction, columns, essays, and news. This dates back to childhood when she could be found reading the cereal box at breakfast. Her to-read book stack is unwieldy and she’s  fascinated  with post-apocalyptic tales. However, the current state of world sometimes means she also peruses lighter fare and has a fondness for stories with a lifelike, witty voice {because all writing begins with voice} that also make her think deeper.

Jessica plants trees, grows flowers, vegetables, and herbs, and battles weeds amid the region’s long growing season. She might be happiest when arranging bouquets with flowers from her garden. While reading is her lifeline, as a former food professional she appreciates the heft of a good chef’s knife and the reliability of  cast iron pans, buys from local growers, and believes cooking is the perfect accompanient to writing. 

Jessica also believes in writing what scares you and is currently working on a book that is daunting and more than a little terrifying. Her bucket list needs attention since Covid kept her homebound and she always watches the sky.