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We Need a Little Christmas, Especially This Year
We Still Need a Little Christmas…and we desperately need Charles Dickens’ reminder to be a good human being in 2021 and beyond. Living through this pandemic and seeing what I see daily on social media convinced me (do people really need to be so nasty to others, even if you disagree on things?????) that I needed to do what I could to help promote charity and goodwill. Additionally, I’ve weathered a hip replacement and continuing SI-Joint issues that leave me in pain, and honestly, I just needed to distract myself with something pleasant. So, all summer I wrote the continuation of Ebenezer Scrooge’s story called From Humbug to Humble: The…
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Join Me for Two Dickens Events this Holiday Season
It’s not often you get to attend Dickens-related events, but how wonderful to have two upcoming events within a week of each other! I’m certain these will put us in the Christmas spirit! (And the way the world is at the moment, we need a little Christmas!) My husband and I will be wearing our Dickens-era costumes, and we’re looking forward to meeting people who share our enthusiasm for the season. A DICKENS OF A CHRISTMAS, Sat, Dec 4 CHESTERTOWN, MD, In Chestertown where the slogan is Party like it’s 1843, I’ll be signing and selling books at “A Dickens of a Christmas” on Saturday, December 4, from 10 a.m.…
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PUBLICATION DAY for From Humbug to Humble, A Christmas Book to brighten your holidays
Yay!!! I’m so happy today! It’s RELEASE DAY for this little novella and labor of love. My new book, From Humbug to Humble, is on the market. If you love all things SCROOGE, I hope this will make you as happy reading it as it made me writing it. I’ve been feeling a bit “Scroogey” since the summer (only in the best of ways), and I’m thrilled that it’s finally arrived. As always, thank you for your support, for following along on this crazy journey of writing books, and for lifting me up. There are so many people to thank for helping me with this project, so as Scrooge says…
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What the Dickens? Book Launch Next Week
Next week, my newest novella entitled FROM HUMBUG TO HUMBLE, will launch! I’m very excited to share this book with you. It was a true labor of love, and I think I’ve been in the Christmas Spirit since the summer when I began this undertaking. The truth is, I’ve loved Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol since I was a little girl. The story of a man being haunted by ghosts in order to warn him about his place among humanity and save him from his selfish ways is one of literature’s most renowned stories. That love of Ebenezer Scrooge and A Christmas Carol led me to fill in the blanks…
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The Merriest Season and a Week of Joy
*** Well, today is Christmas Eve. It’s the day we’ve all been waiting for here at the Verni household. This year, we are hosting both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and then we are heading to my parents’ house the day after Christmas for a celebration with my brother and his family. Three days of family and celebration = good times in our books. We’ve been lucky enough to continue a lot of our traditions this year, including the following: We cut down our Christmas Tree at Pine Valley Farms the day after Thanksgiving We decorated the house inside and outside for Christmas We took our Christmas Card photo and…
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A Post-Christmas Letter
Dear Readers, It’s January 2, and I haven’t blogged since Christmas. I hope you had a great holiday season and that your New Year is off to a tremendous start. It’s not that I didn’t want to blog, it’s just that I didn’t make time for it, if I’m being completely honest. I committed myself to the 2017 holiday season fully; I did almost everything I wanted to do, and most of it revolved around spending time with my family. Minus the mad rush of finishing up teaching my college classes, scoring students, and reading endless amounts of papers and reflections (which is all great in itself, but it gets…
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Dickens Is Missing
I’ll make this one short and sweet. Where the hell is Dickens? My son is now a senior in high school, and all this time I’ve been waiting with anticipation each year to see which books have been selected for the high school English classes for the year. I am sad to report that now, for four straight years, we’ve had no Dickens on the list. I’m not a fan of Common Core, but I am a fan of Dickens. When I was in high school, I read Great Expectations. I read A Christmas Carol on my own. Now, Dickens’ novels are missing from high school reading lists. When I…
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Friday Fiction | She Said, I Know What It’s Like To Be Dead
If you love the classic story of A Christmas Carol featuring Ebenezer Scrooge like I do, I hope you’ll be amused by today’s Friday Fiction. I honestly can’t remember the last time I posted a short piece of fiction. I haven’t written flash fiction is so long. Today, I’ve attempted to write a short fictional story using a prompt from Brian Kiteley’s book, The 3 A.M. Epiphany. If you are a writer, and you don’t have Brian’s book, you should get it along with the sequel, The 4 A.M. Epiphany; they both contain writing prompts to get you thinking—and writing. I worked hard this summer to finish my third novel,…
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An Eastern Shore Treasure: Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay
* As a Marylander who sometimes enjoys a quick getaway to the Eastern Shore, I recently had the privilege of once again staying at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort, Spa and Marina. Situated on the banks of the Choptank River, the resort boasts 342 acres in Cambridge, Maryland. As this was my third visit as a guest—having gone once before with my husband and then again for a girls’ getaway weekend—I always forget just how large, well-maintained, and picturesque it is. Unlike some resorts, it does not have an air of superiority to it; instead, it welcomes guests with open arms and invites them to walk the trails,…
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Go Ahead—Call Me Corny
* * * Last night I snuggled in and turned on the television, which is something I don’t normally do. I don’t watch a lot of TV, but during the months of November and December, I tell my husband to clear some room on the DVR because I record every Hallmark movie so I can watch them from the time the semester ends until Christmas. This is when I get to be “ruler of the television,” as I watch Christmas movie after Christmas movie and feel the holiday spirit. It’s a lovely part of the down time I get with my family, and I love it. I won’t apologize for…
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Let Scrooge In This Holiday Season
I’m crossing my fingers that my feature writing students will heed my advice and read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. We talked about the book’s timeless appeal: a ghost story wrapped up in the idea of redemption at the holidays. When you study writing, it’s important to study all writers. Stephen King, in his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, strongly urges writers to read other writers. It’s the only way we learn technique, garner ideas, and think about things in new and exciting ways. ‘Tis the season, I say. Plus, we could all use a little reminder of the importance of giving and caring and loving…
