✨FROM MY PORCH OFFICE✨ This is what Sunday morning writing looks like here at the Verni house. As I’m now officially over 33,000 words of building this story—probably my most complicated story to create to date—I am feeling the hum of the characters, the movement of the story, the connection of my 5 characters, and… Read More Sundays Are for Stories
✨HOW DOES IT FEEL WHEN YOU’RE IN THE ZONE?✨ I’ve hit my stride, finally. As we are approaching mid-July, I’ve made some pretty good progress with reading and writing. I’m about to hit 26,000 words on my work in progress, and my goal this week is to make it to at least 30,000 words. As… Read More The Madness of Writing a Novel (in my own words)
*** I’m not sure why I’m slow in sharing this bit of publicity I received from Shore Monthly. As my two latest novels are set in Oxford, MD (Inn Significant) and St. Michaels, MD (Little Milestones) respectively, Shore Monthly ran an interview about my writing. The best part of the story is, a very… Read More A Recent Article in Shore Monthly About My Writing (yippee!)
*** As many of us are still in the “working remotely” phase of this pandemic, I’ve decided to promote virtual book club visits to help promote reading and our sanity! I’m currently booked for a book club in July and have a lot of openings for book clubs who might want to read my books… Read More Booking Remote Book Club Visits
This whole lockdown has been pretty strange. Not only are we getting sick of being in the house, we’re in front of our computer screens nonstop, with walking breaks stretched throughout the day to keep us sane. I thank goodness each day for the park/farm up the street and the odd little jobs we’ve been… Read More Getting My Books in Order
*** What’s one of the first stories you remember reading as a child? The Tale of Custard the Dragon by Ogden Nash and Cinderella were two of mine. Now I prefer stories about fire-breathing dragons that torch fighting pits with Daenerys and love stories that make me feel so deeply for the characters, I want… Read More Happy World Book Day
* Two days ago, my aunt posted the above photo of my grandparents on Facebook, wishing my grandmother (we called her Nanny) a happy birthday in Heaven. She’s been gone from us for quite some time, but seeing the photo, while we simultaneously fight this coronavirus pandemic and Easter is upon us, made me contemplate… Read More An Easter Contemplation About Grandparents
What I’m sharing today, in the absence of Opening Day for Major League Baseball, is a short story I wrote about a ballplayer in a slump. Working in baseball, we saw a lot of slumps, from top-tier players to rookies. I’m not sure when or why this short story popped into my head, but I’m… Read More The Slump: A Short Story in the Absence of Baseball for Fiction Friday
Today’s podcast addresses writing a character sketch. It’s your job as the author to know everything there is to know about the characters you are including in your stories. How do you write one and what should you include? Check out today’s podcast to find out! * Stephanie Verni is Professor of Communication at Stevenson… Read More Podcast 7 – Writing a Character Sketch—it’s pretty helpful
I did something new, you guys. I joined a writers group (and got new glasses…but it’s the writing group I want to talk about). It’s a blissful thought to me: a bunch of people who love writing talking about writing. Truthfully, I’ve wanted to join a writers group for a while, and the time has… Read More Podcast 6 – Joining a Writers Group
❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Today is what life is all about, people: LOVE. And it’s not always romantic love—just love in general. I’ve spent years writing books with love as a core theme. Love for a father, a mother, a grandmother, a grandfather; love for a daughter or son; love for one’s work; love… Read More On This Valentine’s Day, LOVE
