*** I was sitting here staring at a blank cursor knowing what I wanted to write but not knowing exactly how to say it. Then I remembered studying writer James Baldwin during my first master’s degree, and thought of his quote: “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the… Read More The Thing That Connects Us
Another semester is in the books, as our university will host graduation ceremonies this Thursday. My grades are just about closed out, and the sun is shining outside, marking the beginning of summer for those of us professors in higher education. I love teaching and being in the classroom—for me, it’s all about that. Waking… Read More When Things End
*** The past three Mondays when I’ve walked into class, I’ve been greeted with wide-eyes and inquisitive looks on the faces of my students that suggest…WELL???? WHAT DID YOU THINK???? I’d like to tell you that my darling students are eager to discuss public relations writing, but at 9 a.m. when I walk into the… Read More I Was “One of Those” People
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. – Cicero * No matter how big or how small a library is, I love the feeling of walking inside and sensing the books call to me. I’m also amazed at the 19% of Americans who say they have NEVER visited a… Read More A Garden, a Book, and a Library
I was sitting in my office approving students for registration when I saw an alert from WordPress, my blogging platform. It said, “Happy Anniversary.” It hadn’t even occurred to me what today was because I’ve been so busy and in so much pain recently due to my herniated disc, but I can’t talk about that… Read More 7 Takeaways from Blogging on the 8th Anniversary of Steph’s Scribe
I’ll always have a little bit of baseball in my soul, even all these years later after having worked for the Orioles. The truth is, I grew up in baseball. I did. From the age of 19 through my early 30s, I learned so much from working for the Baltimore Orioles organization. That experience molded… Read More Writing About Baseball: The Slump from The Postcard & Other Short Stories
* I woke up officially down in the dumps. It’s probably pretty shocking to some of you who follow my blog, a “safe space” for positivity and a place where lifting up others is standard operation. It’s always been my goal for Steph’s Scribe to inject a dose of inspiration into people’s lives. But today,… Read More Reflections on Feeling a Loss of Hope
I’m back to motivate you. Are you open to it? Do you have an idea for a novel, memoir, nonfiction story, or a collection of short stories that you need to give some time to this month? You’re in luck. Welcome to National Novel Writing Month, or as we call it for short, #nanowrimo. We’re… Read More Let’s Do This Thing
I can equate the feeling of getting in the right frame of mind for yoga to getting in the right frame of mind for writing. It’s time to stop finally stop saying you’re going to write it and actually do it. All I can do is strongly encourage you to write, to tell the… Read More Getting in the Write Frame of Mind
THIRTY YEARS LATER Kate crossed her legs and swallowed hard. She looked at her feet and wondered if the shoes were right. She played with the bracelet around her wrist and looked around the smokey bar, the sound of a cheesy Bryan Adams song filling in where conversations dragged. She wondered why she had ever… Read More Fiction Friday – 30 Years Later
Last night at dinner with my friend, Elizabeth, she mentioned that she enjoys reading my short prompts and short stories on the blog. I haven’t written one in a long while, so this morning, I found a prompt that I decided to tackle. It goes like this: Write a scene whereby two people think that… Read More A Previous Life – A Short Story
I use a lot of prompts in my writing classes. Today’s in-class writing prompt was this: Write about a goal you are trying to achieve. This can be a personal goal, an educational goal, or a professional goal. No more than 350 words. I decided to write along with my class this morning, as I… Read More Setting #Goals – The First Step in Turning the Invisible to the Visible
