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Summer Reading Roundup Thus Far
Good morning, sunshines! I hope you’re enjoying your summer and getting to spend some time having fun with friends and family and sneaking in a little reading. Today, I’m going to review the books I’ve read so far this summer; each will be short and succinct. Fair warning, however—I’m a pretty gentle reviewer because I know what it takes to write a novel. When someone pours their whole heart and soul into their creative writing and it takes time to do so, I have a difficult time being overly critical, but I will share my overall feelings about the book. I recommend all of them. The Giver of Stars by…
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Hold Fast to Dreams: An Update!
We all dream of seeing our book go out into the world and having people enjoy reading it. I’m proud of the work I’ve accomplished as an indie author. And I will be proud of the work I produce going forward if I stay in this lane. It’s never easy, but there are tremendous rewards. Meeting people, seeing the support of your local community, and hearing from people who’ve enjoyed your books keep me motivated. My goal is to write books that offer hope and to write better and better books each time. To those of you who have followed along on my journey, THANK YOU. To those of you…
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How Debbie Macomber Inspired Me
Last week, at the last minute, I signed up to join a Zoom call through the Baltimore County Public Library with author Debbie Macomber. It was the best thing I did for my writing career last week, and I’ll tell you why. If you don’t recognize the name Debbie Macomber, you may in a minute. She’s a bestselling author. Her genre is women’s fiction/romance. Her stories have been picked up by the Hallmark Channel (if you watched Cedar Cove, that’s Debbie’s brainchild, as are some of the Christmas movies on the network, including Trading Christmas, Mrs. Miracle, and Dashing Through the Snow). Her books can be found everywhere—at libraries, bookstores,…
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Frocktober begins tomorrow & I’ve picked my charity
FROCKTOBER BEGINS TOMORROW… And I’m announcing the charity I have chosen for the next 31 days. What is FROCKTOBER? It’s a 31-day fashion challenge, whereby you post an outfit a day on Instagram, that calls attention to a charity of choice! As an educator, author, blogger, and reader, I am so happy to support and call attention to another woman of style’s organization that fosters reading: Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Dolly’s nonprofit organization is a book gifting program that delivers free books to children from birth to age 5 in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Republic of Ireland. The organization was inspired by Dolly’s father’s inability to…
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What I’m Writing Now (or my current WIP)
* Currently, I’m not writing anything, but next week, I will begin to dive deeply into novel number five, picking up with Chapter 3 where I left off before coronavirus intensified the nature of my working life. The novel is still to be named, which I hate, actually. I typically have to have a working title, but now that the premise of the book has morphed into something different, the working title “Four in a Year,” is just, well, not working. Wrapping up the semester leaves me time only to write this short blog post before getting my grades finalized and uploaded. I shouldn’t even be taking time to do…
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Getting My Books in Order
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 doing, in addition to watching Game of Thrones from the beginning all the way through with our kids (they had not seen my favorite all-time show before) as diversions from work. It’s truly been a whirlwind. One of the projects I decided to undertake was rearranging my bookshelves in both my office and piano room.…
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Podcast 13 – Ideas to Help Foster Creativity During This Crisis
It’s difficult to feel happy during a crisis when there is so much heartbreak happening on the front lines of this coronavirus pandemic. I know I’m feeling a little depressed by the situation and can only watch bits of news each day in order to carry on with the things I have to accomplish for my students and university as I teach from home. We are all doing the best we can, and being home hasn’t been all awful, but I do feel as if my creativity has been zapped a little. Do you feel the same way? Today’s Podcast 13 offers ideas for those of us writers who need…
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Podcast 10 – A Little About My Books & Storytelling to Help You Write Your Stories
*** So…in this podcast, I recorded it from my back porch, replete with airplanes flying overhead and a noisy crow in the background (I think I even got a little choked up—seriously—and coughed, only briefly). But that’s how we do it here on Steph’s Scribe: we keep it real. Real talk about real stuff with no edits. I thought I would take a moment to talk about my books and my storytelling. The intention here is to share how I got from point A to point B…and it is entirely meant to kick those of you who need it in the ass to get yourselves writing! So often we say…
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Dear Fellow Writers
Dear Fellow Writers, Here’s a list of the things we do as independent authors: -write our books -edit our books -publish our books -promote our books -attend book signings -attend book talks -visit book clubs -blog -enter writing contests -support other indie authors -build an author platform -curate social media posts -network with others -create a podcast -join a writing group -learn photography -begin a new story -start all over In addition, we also read a lot. And some of us have full-time and/or part-time jobs. Fellow writers, what am I missing? There’s so much that we do. The list is long, and quite diverse, But I’m sure I forgot…
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Dealing with Disappointment
After watching Brene Brown’s Ted Talks, other videos, and reading her books, I’ve decided to just be vulnerable (which isn’t my strong suit) and say that I’m dealing with a bit of disappointment over here. The world of being an independent author is not always kind, nor is it always fun. My latest book, Little Milestones, a follow-up book to Inn Significant, is not faring well at all on Amazon. I have two reviews. I work hard busting my butt on Instagram and Facebook to try to ascertain readers and ask for help with reviews online, but it can be tiring. Exhausting. It can depress the soul, to be frank.…
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Podcast 5 – Clearing Your Head, Work Space, and Thinking About POV
Today’s Podcast #5 covers the need to clear your head before beginning a new project, along with the reasons to clear your workspace. I touch on these two motivators and then roll right into deciding how your narrative is going to take hold. Which point of view is right for your story? Sharing some thoughts on that and why you should think about this now…to avoid a lot of additional reworking down the road. Enjoy! Xx, Stephanie * Stephanie Verni is Professor of Communication at Stevenson University. She has authored five works of fiction and one academic text on Event Planning. Her character-driven books are typically set in Maryland to…
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The Thing That Connects Us
*** 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 world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who are alive, who had ever been alive.” – James Baldwin I’ve been “officially” publishing fiction now since 2012. Fiction is the best outlet to tell…
