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Cuckoo Clocks and Tossing Pizzas
One of the fondest memories I have from being a small child is that of my great grandparents, Lena and Matthew, otherwise known to me as Nana and Old Pop. When I was little and we lived in New Jersey, my mother would take me to visit them, and I have very distinct recollections of their house, the kitchen, and the cuckoo clock. They say the sense of smell brings back instant memories, and I remember well the way their house smelled, especially when Nana made her homemade pizzas. She would toss the dough in the air, and I would marvel at the way she would catch it and make…
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Jesus, Football, and a New Novel
Jesus & The Chosen I promised I’d write about Season 4 of The Chosen, having just seen the full season in the theatre. It was so well done, emotional, and heart-breaking. If you haven’t watched one minute of The Chosen, it’s the most successful crowd-funded series in history and the first-ever multi-season series about the life of Christ. It’s become a global sensation. The series is centered around Jesus and all the “chosen” people in His life. Seasons 1-3 are available on The Chosen app via Angel Studios. Season 4, only released thus far in theatres, will come to the app sometime in the near future. If you have read…
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Pie + Hemingway in Key West
How low can you go? This is it. The southernmost point of the United States in Key West. To be honest, Key West wasn’t on my bucket list of places to visit, but I’m glad I got there. It is everything Jimmy Buffet said it is: a sun + fun, laid-back, partying good old time. We spent the morning on a bike tour, which gave us a good look at the island. We had lunch at one of the dockside restaurants, and we ate key lime pie. Along the way, we saw Hemingway’s house. I had a shot of his favorite rum at the Hemingway Rum Distillery. The man had…
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Anna in Tuscany – The Whole Audio Book
If you’d like to read—or hear me read—the entirety of my short novella ANNA IN TUSCANY, you can click the link below. It will take you to the page on my site where I have the links. You can also listen to it on Spotify by clicking here. I hope you enjoy the story. Perhaps there will be a follow-up story. One never knows… xx, Stephanie LINK TO ANNA IN TUSCANY About the author: STEPHANIE VERNI is the author of THE LETTERS IN THE BOOKS; FROM HUMBUG TO HUMBLE: THE TRANSFORMATION OF EBENEZER SCROOGE; BENEATH THE MIMOSA TREE; INN SIGNIFICANT; LITTLE MILESTONES; THE POSTCARD; and ANNA IN TUSCANY. She is also a co-author of…
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Anna in Tuscany, Chapters 6 & 7
Today, you will find Chapters 6 and 7. Enjoy. 🙂 Anna in Tuscany Copyright 2021 | Stephanie Verni Chapter 6 On Tuesday, I spent the day getting my assignments organized. Danielle and I talked on the phone for an hour, lining up my travel within Italy. I was going to Rome, Venice, and Florence, and then to some of the smaller regions and towns. Her assistant booked my hotels for those jaunts. Luckily, Rosa had packaged leftovers for me for two nights, so I relaxed with a new book I’d picked up and ate dinner. I even poured myself a small glass of wine. After dinner, I needed fresh air…
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Anna in Tuscany, Episode 5, Chapter 5
Welcome back! I hope you’re enjoying Anna’s time in Italy…we’re starting to make some headway, so here’s Chapter 5. Anna in Tuscany Stephanie Verni | Copyright 2021 Chapter 5 The next day, I received a letter in the mail at Rosa’s apartment. I recognized the handwriting right away, but oddly, there was no return address. Dear Anna, I am writing this letter a few days before you get on the plane for your new adventure so that you get it soon after you arrive in Italy. I didn’t want you to feel too lonely, so I figured a piece of mail from your family each week wouldn’t hurt. I can’t…
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Anna in Tuscany, Chapters 3 & 4
Below you will find audio recordings of Anna in Tuscany, Chapter 3 & 4. Text for these chapters is below. Enjoy! Anna in Tuscany Stephanie Verni | Copyright 2021 Chapter 3 “You made it,” my editor said as I picked up the phone on the second ring in the morning. She had woken me up, but I didn’t mind. I’d slept for almost twelve hours, having been up all night on the airplane. “I made it,” I said. “How’s the place?” “It’s lovely, Danielle. Really beautiful. And thanks for the car and driver.” “You’re welcome. Take a week to get settled and you can get started on the piece for…
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Anna in Tuscany, Chapter 2, Episode 2
Thanks for popping back in for Chapter 2 of Anna in Tuscany. Can you see the hills of Tuscany? Do you feel like you’re there? Oh, I love Siena. I hope I did it justice. Enjoy Chapter 2. Anna in Tuscany Chapter 2 By the time the plane touched down in Italy, I felt exhausted and disheveled. Sleeping on a plane was never in the cards for me when flying, no matter how hard I tried. You would think I’d be used to flying by now. The magazine had treated me to a car and driver to take me from the airport in Rome to Siena. By some miracle, I…
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Anna in Tuscany, Chapter 1
For the next 11 days, I will be reading my short novella set around Valentine’s Day called Anna in Tuscany. The text is below the podcast. We’ll start today with Chapter 1. Click to hear Chapter 1 (6 minutes, 56 seconds) on Spotify. Enjoy, and I’ll see you tomorrow. ANNA IN TUSCANY Chapter 1 I remembered a story my late grandmother, Nana, told me years ago about how lucky the number seven was for her. She married my grandfather, Vittore, (seven letters in his name) during a light snowfall on the seventh of January (a month with seven letters) in Livorno, Tuscany, (a town and region each containing seven letters),…
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Friday Fiction: The Flight with the Baby
Here’s a new piece of flash fiction for Friday Fiction, an idea that came to me earlier in the week. I have fun writing from a man’s perspective, and several of my books are written in alternating perspectives. The Flight with the Baby Jessica texted him before he got on the plane. Have a safe flight, it read. He didn’t text back. They’d had their third massive fight. The same one they’d had the past two times. She was ready to have a baby, and he wasn’t sure about it. Not with his upbringing. Not the way his brother turned out. It made him wonder why he wasn’t honest about…
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Friday Fiction: Strike Out
I worked in baseball for a while. My husband works in baseball now. We talk a lot of baseball in our house. My friend, Julie, was the one who told me to write a book about baseball, both of us having worked in the sport. And while the novel is set in professional baseball, the themes of the story revolve around loss, allowing yourself to love again, and finding the right person to love. Baseball Girl was my second novel, and the protagonist, Francesca Milli, becomes entangled in a love triangle at work with a ballplayer and a sportswriter. The novel is NOT about a girl who plays baseball; it…
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Fiction Friday is BACK: The Man in the Pinto
Hello, friends! I used to post short fictional snippets on Fridays, and over the years, I got away from that. As I want to commit to my blog and its creative nature in 2024, I decided to bring back this Friday feature. So, to kick it off, here’s a very short story about a man in a Pinto (remember those cars?) Fiction Friday is BACK! FRIDAY FICTION: THE MAN IN THE PINTO The car looks old. It is old. My guess is that the car is forty-plus years old. The brown paint is dull and is chipping off the car; the wheels look smaller than what we are used to…
