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An End-of-Year Letter to Readers
Dear Readers, Today, I’m going to start with one of the highlights of the year, and it has been handwriting letters to readers. I’ve handwritten over 100 letters to readers thus far. Without a doubt, this has been one of the most fulfilling aspects of being an author, for without readers, we are lost. When I published The Letters in the Books in July, I knew I wanted to do a special promotion with an independent bookstore. (If you order through Amazon or B&N, there are no letters inside). As well, since the protagonist of my book, a bookstore owner, handwrites uplifting letters that she slips inside books, I wanted…
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Do You Google While You Watch? And other thoughts…
I was thinking about the shows that my husband and I tend to watch on television. Most of them require me to Google while I watch, meaning they are typically rooted in some sort of reality or history, and we’re often pausing the television as we search to see how much of it is true. Do you do this, too? The benefit of online access is that we can check dates, facts, people’s names and histories, etc. The problem is, we need to know which credible sources we can turn to in times of our curiosity and which ones are accurate. One of the things I’ve prided myself on all…
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After Two Years, We Almost Have Lift Off
What is the process you go through to publish a novel? I'm sharing mine. Warning: there are a lot of steps.
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Book Review: The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom
Last night I started reading Mitch Albom’s newest book called The Stranger in the Lifeboat. I finished it this morning. I adore Mitch Albom’s knack for telling a good story. Years of journalistic writing make him an exceptional, concise, tight storyteller. His books unfold with ease, with just the right amount of wonder combined with thought-provoking content. The plot of this book is this: In a dire situation if you called out for God’s help, would you believe in Him if a human form appeared and said He was the Lord? Such is the case with a yacht that goes under at sea and only a handful of people survive…
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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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Why I Wrote From Humbug to Humble about Ebenezer Scrooge and Upcoming Events
Here is a video that tells you more about my new novella, From Humbug to Humble: The Transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge. The novella is available on Amazon.com, BN.com and exclusively at my local bookstore, Park Books & Literacy Lab. I will also be (along with my husband in Dickens-era costumes) at the annual A Dickens of A Christmas in Chestertown, MD on December 4 in London Row from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. selling my books and handmade book pages wreaths. Hope to see you there! Stephanie
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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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A Pep Talk on How to Use NaNoWriMo to Your Advantage
Okay, listen up writers. I’m here to kick you into gear. I’m here to tell you it can be done. I’m here to tell you not to give up. November is here, and on this 5th day, let us remember that there are many more days in the month, and they shouldn’t go to waste if you are participating in NaNoWriMo, otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month. Established many years ago, NaNoWriMo was created to encourage writers to complete 50,000 words of a novel or work of nonfiction by November 30. The word count of 50,000 words constitutes a short novel, or approximately 1,660 words a day. I’m here…
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ANNA IN TUSCANY: Something new I’ve published
The story I’m sharing with you was written back in May and was intended to be a part of a Valentine’s Day Anthology. As things sometimes happen, the Anthology was nixed, and I was left with a short story without a home. Taking the lead from many of my friends who are writers, I decided to publish it as a stand-alone story in the form of a novelette. It’s called ANNA IN TUSCANY, and is available via Kindle for .99 or Book Funnel for FREE. The links are below. The premise of the story is this: Travel writer Arianna (Anna) Ricci relocates from the United States to Italy for a…
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My 5th Novel Has a Name (at least for now)
Today, it’s official. I have a book title. I have a copyrighted ISBN number. I have a “mood” for the cover. And while I am going to seek traditional publishing this time around and solicit an agent to represent me, I still need to go through this process to help move in the right direction and keep me motivated should I venture down the self-publishing road again. The characters in this novel are not only in my head, but in my soul. Each one is a part of me, and a part of you, and a part of everyone we have met along the way. With five main characters, a…
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Capturing Moments
*** Capturing Moments Capturing moments, instead of things—A cloudless sky, a heron’s wingsThe things we loveHave come to passDimming sunshineDarkness, alas—Winter’s moodsBefall us hereWhen days are shortAnd nights are clearThe blackest nightWe’ll soon have metBut days like theseWe’ll not forget.We’ll not forgetThe way it feltWhen bleakness leftAnd hearts did melt. *** In August, my husband totally surprised me on my birthday and bought me a boat. Our friends were selling their boat and upgrading to a new one, so he bought the one they were selling. In the COVID-19 world, I can’t even begin to tell you how much that gift has meant to me. Since August, we have used…
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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…
