Tisha MorrisFounder & Principal Attorney, Legacy Arts Law PC · 🎬 Entertainment Attorney | Protecting & Empowering Filmmakers, Authors, Artists & Creators | Founder of Legacy Arts Law® | Legal Clarity for Creatives

Writing and Publishing Nonfiction with Tisha Morris

2 Feb 2022 · 2 min

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2:05

In this monologue, Tisha Morris explains how nonfiction authors can repurpose existing material, describing how she transformed a blog post into the core chapters of her book "Clutter Intervention." She contrasts the depth and hands‑on nature of courses with the broader, linear approach of books, noting that courses can go deeper into practical application. Morris shares her passion for how‑to and self‑help writing, emphasizing her love for breaking down complex topics into clear, actionable guidance. She reflects on her professional shift from technical legal writing—where personality is stripped away—to vulnerable, personality‑driven nonfiction, describing the practice and self‑exposure required to make that transition. Finally, she expresses a future aspiration to write fiction, viewing it as a significant but exciting trajectory beyond her current nonfiction work.

Chapters

And that's one of the benefits of a book for nonfiction authors is that you can repurpose things. And obviously a course is a more applicable or, you know, hands-on approach, how to do things like, you know, how to do things for yourself in a very linear course-like way that can go deeper than the book. And so I've had my book Clutter Intervention started as a blog post and it was like, you know, I don't remember what it was called, but 4 things that you something, something, something. And those 4 things became 4 chapters. And then I added more from there. I am a how-to, like I'm a self-help junkie. I love how-to books. I, and so therefore I love writing and sharing information with people. I like putting, I like taking kind of complex topics, and presenting them in an easy articulable— articulable. See, this is why I write. Your best writing style is you, and finding that and, and getting more comfortable with, um, with doing that. And it's not easy. I, I, for me, I came from an attorney background, so my legal writing was what I started out writing at. And so, um, this is why my trajectory Eventually, I do want to be a fiction writer because that's such a huge trajectory from the legal writing. Legal writing is obviously very technical. Your personality means nothing. You know, you're citing case law and giving reasons for it, and your personality is inconsequential, in fact distracting. And so even just writing nonfiction where I'm, you know, sharing some experience of my own experiences in the book was a huge leap for me. And so it's taken a lot of practice and my own vulnerability to even do that.