Word by Word

Practical insights for writers from Jessica P Morrell

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What’s Next?

©Jessica Page Morrell       Sometimes you just have to trust the thing you claim to trust – and for me that is the shaping spirit of creativity. ~ Jeanette Winterson      In long-ago times, as seems fitting, March was the beginning of the year and interestingly marked the resumption of war. In about 700 BC […]

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Plan B

Jessica P. Morrell © Everyone needs a Plan B. Criminals, if they don’t want to get caught, create a Plan B; movie directors formulate a Plan B when they shoot various versions of the same scene or alternate movie endings; and writers need a plan B so that they’re always facing forward, always moving ahead. […]

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Writing is Hard

Time spent focusing on art is a privilege and a gift. The writing doesn’t make me happy, but it makes me happier, and it makes everything else easier to take. Stephen Elliot, from an essay first published in Tin House             If you’re a writer you know that writing can be the best fun you’ll […]

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Turning Pro

©Jessica Morrell There is no mystery to turning pro. It’s a decision brought about by an act of will. We make up our minds to view ourselves as pros, and we do it, simple as that. ~ Stephen Pressfield File this column under my annual pep talk. Something you might hear from a hard ass […]

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Good Advice, Bad Advice?

Bad Advice? Good Advice? ©Jessica P. Morrell “You write to be read. That is the bottom line.” ~ Jane Yolen While teaching and working with writers I’ve heard them parrot all sorts of advice by well-known authors, experts, and cranks. And I’ve concluded that there sure is a lot of lousy advice aimed at writers. […]

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A Meaningful Life

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.  ~William Wordsworth I started teaching writers in 1991 and in these past years I’ve worked with and taught enough writers to fill a small town. Now, if all these writers would move together into this town (I imagine it in the foothills of an impossibly majestic […]

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The Story in All

The Story in All     Examine human nature and you’ll find a primitive creature, afraid of the night, spooked by unexplained noises, and troubled by the mysteries of nature and death and heartbreak. To be human is to need answers and solace. And ever since there was a fire and a circle gathered round […]

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Prompts

Writing a story based on a prompt stretches your  muscles, helps you dig out of a dry spell, and send messages to your subconscious about how you’re endlessly creative. Try your hand at creating an essay, scene or anecdote based on these prompts, using tangible details to bring the piece to brimming life. Write about […]

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Resonance

Writing that, because of its elegance or verve, commands not only attention but a place in the reader’s memory. Writing that, because of its unique approach to subject matter, brings an emotional melding with the reader. Resonance is responsiveness. Resonance is communion. Resonance brings a writer/reader atonement—a harmony intellectually, or emotionally, or both. Peter Jacobi […]

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Cheat Sheets

When I was in college one of the ways I passed my most difficult classes was to construct cheat sheets. Now, this didn’t mean that I’d sneak the pages into the exam, but rather that I’d list the most important ideas and concepts in my own handwriting to press them into memory. With that in […]

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