Lisa Cooper Ellison

I offer a free thirty-minute initial consultation via Skype for all potential clients to discuss the scope of their projects, goals, deadlines, and budgets.

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“The best part of this work has been watching other writers blossom.”

About Lisa Ellison Cooper

Lisa Ellison is a freelance writer, editor, and writing coach. She teaches memoir and the art of story telling at WriterHouse, a nonprofit writing center in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her work and life story are forthcoming or have appeared on NPR’s With Good Reason, and in The Kenyon Review, Huffington Post, The Rumpus, The Guardian, Streetlight, Gravel Literary Journal, The Rusty Nail, Charlottesville Family, and The Healthy Living Directory.

More about Lisa

Helping writers harness the power
of their stories one word at a time.

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Testimonials

“Lisa has read two manuscripts for me now, one a short piece of narrative nonfiction and one a full-length novel. Her feedback on both was excellent. She provided an overview document with detailed suggestions on the narrative arc, character development, and more. She also provided page-by-page suggestions and line edits on the entire manuscript. I would highly recommend Lisa even to the most experienced writer.”

Katie Rose Guest Pryal, author of Entanglement

“Since I’ve known Lisa Ellison (we met at the VQR conference in August 2015), her incisive commentary on my work has been extraordinarily helpful. It’s easy to see from the outset that she’s genuine and generous, and puts those traits to work in everything she does. Apart from the nuts-and-bolts mechanics of writing, which she is also good at, she got me to see my work in a different way and to imagine new possibilities. What more could you ask for?”

Phil Quam, Indonesia, author of “Inmates” published in Word Riot

“Lisa is both an accomplished teacher and very talented practitioner of mindful writing. She is a very capable, empathic and insightful writing teacher, who creates and sustains a safe, warm space for students to learn and become successful mindful writers themselves. Lisa is nurturing, attentive and generous — everything one wants in a teacher of such a practice. Students will benefit from her kind, insightful and truly mindful attention, and will grow under her tutelage and guidance.”

Rita Hart, book publisher in Melbourne, Australia

Slow Pieces Blog

When Memories Fly: Tips for Engaging Your Involuntary Memory in the Writing Process

by lisacooperellison | Oct 25, 2018

Over the past few months, I’ve struggled to figure out where to begin my new memoir. There are so many entry points for our stories. In fact, I wrote those words—there are so many entry points for this story—as the introductory sentence in a terrible draft I cranked...

Your Writing Conference Toolkit: Planning, Packing, and Pacing Yourself

by lisacooperellison | Jul 31, 2018

This post originally appeared in the June 15, 2018 edition of the WriterHouse Newsletter. While summer is fabulous for beach reading and destination vacations, it’s also a great time to attend writing conferences. Whether you’re interested in getting started with a...

The Crater Versus The Observation Deck: The Importance of Writing in Scene

by lisacooperellison | Jul 24, 2018

On forty-fourth birthday, I hiked into a volcano. This happened during an early-April bucket list trip with my husband to the Big Island of Hawaii. A recovering adrenaline junkie with a deep love of adventures, I’d dreamed of standing next to a lava river or perhaps...

Lisa Cooper Ellison

Writer, Editor & Coach

What i do

Manuscript Evaluation

Developmental Editing

Coaching

Classes and Seminars

Mindful Writing

Getting Started