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Baseball as a Backdrop…again…in my upcoming novel
The second novel I published, Baseball Girl, takes place in the big leagues, with Francesca Milli working in the front office of a baseball team (The Blackbirds). The novel explores the professional side of baseball, while Francesca (Frankie) copes with the death of her father and explores relationships with two men: Joe, a baseball player, and Jack, a baseball writer. If you can smell there’s a love triangle, you are correct. Now, as the the finish line is in sight, and I look to publish my 8th novel currently entitled Dodging Lies, baseball is in the backdrop once again. Except this time it’s 1956 in New York City, and the…
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Lollygagging
Greetings, friends. It’s been a while. I’ve been lollygagging as it relates to my blog, that’s for sure. I’m kind of embarrassed about it, and I’m kind of not. I’ve needed time to recalibrate. Besides, I just wanted to title a blog post “Lollygagging.” Ever since the film Bull Durham, “lollygag” has been one of my favorite words. If you don’t know the clip I’m talking about, I’ve got it for you below. The truth is, I’m balancing a lot of stuff and hardly lollygagging at all. I’ve really become a juggler. When I went part time to teach, I didn’t realize I’d be developing so many courses from scratch,…
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Things I Learned From…
It’s hard to believe my daughter is going into her second semester of her sophomore year of college at Towson University. When I was exactly her age at this point in my college career at Towson, my life changed. I was, like her, a second semester sophomore who had changed majors from Business Administration to Mass Communication. I heard other students in my new major talking about their cool internships—at television stations, event venues, and Baltimore’s newspaper. Hearing them talk about these awesome experiences caused me to get off my duff and get serious. I mailed off a letter to the Baltimore Orioles and within a couple of weeks, I…
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Baseball Girl Gets a Revamp
There’s still time for a beach read! *** Hi, all! I hope you’re having a good Thursday! I made a little video to offer insight about my novel, Baseball Girl, which may have been the most fun of all my novels to write. I’ve been thinking about this novel a lot lately, and I went back and reread it. It’s chock full of so much “stuff,” so instead of writing about it, I thought I’d just share my thoughts here. The new cover is live on Amazon now. As a funny aside, I have to give special thanks to all the people I met along the way working in the…
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Sentimentality Run Amok
I can’t help it. It happens every time. Every single time. Even though I live and breathe baseball vicariously through my husband, who works for the ballclub, when I go to Camden Yards, it’s as if I never left. Be forewarned: take me to Camden Yards, and I get sentimental. With the pandemic seeping into every aspect of our lives, I haven’t been to the ballpark in a year and a half. On Friday night, our family enjoyed a lovely outing and got to spend time “at the yard,” as Orioles fans like to say. Luckily for us, the team had a big win Friday night over the Nats and…
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Baseball Nostalgia and Baseball Fiction
✨THINGS THAT HAVE MOST AFFECTED MY LIFE✨My parents & familyMy husband and kidsHigh school & collegeWorking in baseballBeing a teacherFriendships.✨THINGS THAT HAVE MOST AFFECTED MY STORYTELLING✨Broken lovesGrandmothersLife in baseballRelationships (good & bad)Losing people we loveMaryland’s beauty . BLACKBIRDS PARK is the fictional version of Camden Yards in my novel entitled Baseball Girl. I worked at Old Memorial Stadium and Camden Yards for the Orioles (hence the Cooperstown bear pictured here, a gift from Orioles owner Mrs. Angelos). I’m somebody who can feel romantic about places and about baseball. This novel is loosely based on my life working in baseball, an amalgamation of the people and places I loved over the…
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The Slump: A Short Story in the Absence of Baseball for Fiction Friday
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 glad it did. I enjoy writing about baseball. It’s the one baseball story that’s included in The Postcard and Other Short Stories & Poetry, and I thought I’d share it during these days of being at home and social distancing due to the coronavirus outbreak. The second book I published, Baseball Girl, is a novel…
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Love and The Orioles
* My husband and I met while working in the front office for the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards back in the 90s. Many of you know this story, or may have heard it once or twice before here on Steph’s Scribe. But now the story has come full circle. My husband left the club in 1994, and I stayed until late 1998; he went on to have a long career in media and sales—spending time at the Wizards and Capitals, Redskins Radio, CBS Radio, RadioOne, MASN, and Comcast. Last month, he returned to the Orioles, the place where he began his career and is serving as the VP of…
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And Here’s to You, Mr. Robinson
Yesterday, we learned that Orioles great and Hall of Famer Frank Robinson had passed away. He was 83. I was lucky enough to get to know Frank during my time at the Orioles. His humor, willingness to be helpful, and energy was a positive force within the Orioles organization. When you learn someone has passed away, you take a moment to be pensive. To truly understand how quickly life goes by, and that a little appreciation for people, places, and things is important in life. If you’ve read my blog at any point in the past, you know that I write quite sentimentally about my time working in baseball. I…
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Writing About Baseball: The Slump from The Postcard & Other Short Stories
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 me and helped me in the careers I have chosen now. It also gave me some pretty remarkable friendships (and I also got a husband and two great kids out of the deal). One of those careers I have today is that of a writer of novels and short stories. Today, I decided to share…
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Book Launch – Day Two Promo
It’s been over 24 hours since the book launch, and since then, I’ve heard words of congratulations, encouragement, and a few people who say I inspire them to tackle their own writing projects. These sentiments couldn’t make me happier. I hope I’ve inspired others to write and publish. That makes my day! Because there are 22 stories in the collection, and because I want to showcase them each in their own way, I’m going to share each story’s promo from The Postcard and Other Short Stories & Poetry. I’m also busy setting up my press room on the site which will contain information about me and my books. Here’s today’s…
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Thoughts on Missing Working in Baseball
It’s a question I get asked a lot. “Do you miss working in baseball?” Students ask me this often; then they ask what it was like to work in baseball, in sports, for a Major League baseball team. I have often blogged about how working in baseball changed my life in so many ways. I became a serious student when I got my job with the Orioles as a sophomore in college. I learned how to budget my time and work long hours. I loved every minute of it. I even roped my best friend and college roommate into working there during my second year when I supervised a small…
