Colleen Morrissey
@colleenmoz.bsky.social
Writer, PhD, O. Henry Prize-winner, rogue literary scholar. Writing in The Rumpus, Southern Review, Studies in the Novel, Chicago Reader & others. Prose editor for Cottonwood. Rep. @howlandlit. Available to rant about stories.
linktr.ee/colleenmoz
linktr.ee/colleenmoz
Sometimes, revising sucks, but sometimes it feels like this:
October 24, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Sometimes, revising sucks, but sometimes it feels like this:
Me @ me writing tense, climactic dialogue in which one character disillusions another:
October 14, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Me @ me writing tense, climactic dialogue in which one character disillusions another:
Staring down another whole chapter that will need to be cut from my WIP.
August 26, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Staring down another whole chapter that will need to be cut from my WIP.
Wrote a scene set here today. I miss Chicago.
August 13, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Wrote a scene set here today. I miss Chicago.
Me, a literary fiction writer, attempting to write a fight scene:
July 29, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Me, a literary fiction writer, attempting to write a fight scene:
So thrilled that my latest story, “Animal,” is appearing in the latest issue of @5ptsmag.bsky.social ! Can’t wait to dig in to this great issue!
June 20, 2025 at 8:58 PM
So thrilled that my latest story, “Animal,” is appearing in the latest issue of @5ptsmag.bsky.social ! Can’t wait to dig in to this great issue!
Writing can feel like such a solitary, cerebral process that I’m glad my summer writing class at my local art center got put into a graphics lab, with ink splatters and drawing boards. Gives a nice, messy, tactile vibe.
June 7, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Writing can feel like such a solitary, cerebral process that I’m glad my summer writing class at my local art center got put into a graphics lab, with ink splatters and drawing boards. Gives a nice, messy, tactile vibe.
Gonna tell my kids this was Slavoj Žižek
May 5, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Gonna tell my kids this was Slavoj Žižek
Yes, I am available for commissions.
March 20, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Yes, I am available for commissions.
Every character is repulsive and pathetic and so real, utterly spot-on.
March 9, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Every character is repulsive and pathetic and so real, utterly spot-on.
Writing a book mood.
February 26, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Writing a book mood.
Library sale haul. An excellent one, worth it for the Uncle Buck alone.
February 14, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Library sale haul. An excellent one, worth it for the Uncle Buck alone.
Query for a hypothetical reader: Can I use the phrase "pain and panic" without making you think of these guys?
February 13, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Query for a hypothetical reader: Can I use the phrase "pain and panic" without making you think of these guys?
More old books. More old books! MORE OLD BOOKS!
January 31, 2025 at 10:44 PM
More old books. More old books! MORE OLD BOOKS!
I am almost certainly going to be cutting the aforementioned entire chapter.
January 26, 2025 at 2:52 AM
I am almost certainly going to be cutting the aforementioned entire chapter.
Using this Caravaggio painting of St. Jerome for the header of my upcoming fiction-writing class's site because this is what writing feels like to me--half-naked, old and gaunt, bent over my manuscript while death stares me down.
January 17, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Using this Caravaggio painting of St. Jerome for the header of my upcoming fiction-writing class's site because this is what writing feels like to me--half-naked, old and gaunt, bent over my manuscript while death stares me down.
My parents are downsizing and let us go through their records. Starting off the new year with some of the spoils.
January 1, 2025 at 4:02 PM
My parents are downsizing and let us go through their records. Starting off the new year with some of the spoils.
My grandfather died this year. He and my grandmother were the last surviving children of their respective lines, and they were pack rats, so my mom is going through a huge trove of family detritus, including several old books, which have come, delightfully, to me. Here’s an 1882 collection of Poe.
December 31, 2024 at 4:54 PM
My grandfather died this year. He and my grandmother were the last surviving children of their respective lines, and they were pack rats, so my mom is going through a huge trove of family detritus, including several old books, which have come, delightfully, to me. Here’s an 1882 collection of Poe.
My Lucy buns turned out rather… bulbous this year (I think I let them over-rise?). Still my favorite Christmas baking.
December 16, 2024 at 1:04 AM
My Lucy buns turned out rather… bulbous this year (I think I let them over-rise?). Still my favorite Christmas baking.
Surely reading this will be good for my mental health
December 10, 2024 at 1:42 AM
Surely reading this will be good for my mental health
The Shop Around the Corner should be just as popular a Jimmy Stewart Christmas film as It's a Wonderful Life, and it's an injustice that it isn't. There's just as much poignancy (incl. a thwarted suicide attempt and found family), and there's a better love story, tbh. Nora Ephron knew what was up
December 8, 2024 at 1:38 AM
The Shop Around the Corner should be just as popular a Jimmy Stewart Christmas film as It's a Wonderful Life, and it's an injustice that it isn't. There's just as much poignancy (incl. a thwarted suicide attempt and found family), and there's a better love story, tbh. Nora Ephron knew what was up
My first year at the U of Iowa, I lived in the Iowa Writers Learning Community, a freshman dorm for student #writers. We got to do special events and workshops with the MFA program, and I met lifelong friends. Today, with great sorrow, I am throwing away our beautifully silly t-shirt.
December 6, 2024 at 3:50 PM
My first year at the U of Iowa, I lived in the Iowa Writers Learning Community, a freshman dorm for student #writers. We got to do special events and workshops with the MFA program, and I met lifelong friends. Today, with great sorrow, I am throwing away our beautifully silly t-shirt.
And this is why I suffer.
December 5, 2024 at 3:26 AM
And this is why I suffer.
My horror lit class starts discussing this beauty today.
November 15, 2024 at 2:04 PM
My horror lit class starts discussing this beauty today.