Going Home Jessica P. Morrell Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days.  ~Doug Larson Last month I went home to the small town in northern Wisconsin where I lived until I was fourteen. The occasion was my father’s 80th birthday and I found a place changed by time, […]

I’ve got openings in both of my fiction critique groups that begin on October 3 in southeast Portland near 70th and Woodstock. Monday afternoons and Tuesday evenings. Write me for details. This experience will take your writing skills to the other side….

A heat wave has hit Portland and won’t end until next week, so I’m spending extra time watering my new plants and trees. Before it arrived, however, hints that fall was coming whispered in red tipped leaves and cooler nights. And speaking of fall: There is still time to register for my Story Writing Intensive […]

Story writing Intensive September 21-24 with Jessica Morrell Manzanita, Oregon Story Writing Intensive is open to writers serious about getting published. Our days and nights will be packed with lectures, one-on-one meetings, feedback sessions, and time to work on manuscripts (and walk on the beach).   Enrollment for this Intensive is limited to no more than […]

©Jessica P. Morrell I made mistakes in drama. I thought drama was when actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries. ~ Frank Capra A few months ago I was part of a discussion about a writer’s novel-in-progress. The writer had been struggling for years to craft a compelling a novel—a sort of heartbreaking […]

“I don’t teach writing. I teach patience. Toughness. Stubbornness. The willingness to fail. I teach the life. The odd thing is most of the things that stop  an inexperienced writer are so far from the truth as to be nearly beside the point. When you feel global doubt about your talent, that IS your talent.  […]

Welcome to my website. I’ve been moving this past month and since I work at home, the boxes need to be unpacked, the stapler and files and notebooks located before I can completly settle in and return to my routine. Meanwhile, I’ve got great workshops and sessions planned for Fall 2011.  So please check out my upcoming […]

Subtlety Jessica P. Morrell “Serious writers, including comic writers, are interested in subtlety, in avoiding heavy-handed effects and obvious characterizations. They want to make reader pay close attention, and reader enjoy picking up on clues as subtle as a hesitation or a dropped glance.”    Jerome Stern “If you would be pungent, be brief; for it […]