Welcome to The Habit of Art by Kelcey Ervick, a free illustrated newsletter about writing, drawing, and storytelling as radical acts (that look a lot like sitting at a desk).
I’ve been writing for a lot of years. I got a PhD in it. I’m a professor of it. But a few years ago, I started drawing every day, and it changed . . . everything. How I look at the world, how I SEE the world, how I think, how I write, how I teach, how I draw. It also led to getting an agent and publisher for my graphic memoir.
I am passionate about writing and drawing these Substack posts, where I share insights, struggles, and creative inspiration based on my work as an author, artist, and professor—and where I am equally inspired by the community.
Subscribe to receive illustrated letters about:
Why it’s so important and radical (and hard!) to make art and tell meaningful stories.
How to cultivate a “habit of art”—lessons from my years of daily art-making.
Books I’ve read. Cat’s I’ve loved. Birds I’ve watched.
On the web
Author page: https://kelceyervick.com/
Art and stuff on Instagram.
Twitter, X, whatever nevermind.
I wrote about the experience of daily art-making at The Rumpus, twice.
On the bookshelf
I am the author of four award-winning books of fiction and nonfiction, the most recent of which is the graphic memoir, The Keeper: Soccer, Me, and the Law That Changed Women’s Lives (Avery Books/Penguin), which Alison Bechdel of all people calls “a triumph.” It’s about growing up in girls’ sports in the early years of Title IX, and figuring out how, if I can’t become Miss America, I might become a writer like my fellow goalkeeper Vladimir Nabokov.
Inspired by my own shift toward visual storytelling, I co-edited The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Graphic Literature, which is about making all kinds of comics, graphic poetry, and literary collage. Featuring 29 contributors including: Mira Jacob, Matt Madden, Josh Neufeld, Zeke Peña, Kristen Radtke, and my co-editor Tom Hart.
On the river
I live on the banks of the St. Joseph River in northern Indiana, where I am regularly attacked by geese and red-winged blackbirds. I’m a professor of creative writing at Indiana University South Bend, which also happens to be on the banks of the St. Joe River.
In the studio
