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Delight in the Little Things
Today’s card is a very simple, yet poignant quote from Rudyard Kipling, British short-story writer, novelist, poet, journalist, probably best known for his collection of stories in The Jungle Book and his poem Gunga Din. The quote reads: Delight in the little things. – Rudyard Kipling I can’t help but harken back to my younger days, when I was a child growing up in Bowie, Maryland. We lived in our ranch on Pointer Ridge Drive until I was 13 years old. What we learn as children can often inform our lives as we grow and age and work and then retire. The truth is, compared to now, life was simpler…
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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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The Annual Birthday Post Turned Poem
The Annual Birthday Post Turned Poem The hour has finally arrived, my friends Another birthday is here I’d love to scream with joy and glee But aging’s what I fear Growing old’s a gift, it’s true To live your life in full It should be sunshine and roses But a lot of it’s just bull Aging isn’t always bliss My back’s a pain in the ass It’s taking away from me having fun And affecting all of my sass The lines on my face do show some wear And I jiggle way more than I’d like The greys in my hair are plentiful, too So I escape when I can…
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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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The Postcard Gets 5-Star Review from Readers’ Favorite
Honestly, it’s been a pretty rough 2019 for so many reasons, but seeing this review this morning from READERS’ FAVORITE put a big smile on my face. It’s when I read something like this that I know that despite all the work and effort it takes to be an independent author, it is all worth it in the end. Thank you also to my former student, now PR pro, Grace Clark, for the amazing cover photo, which helped earn us a perfect 5 score for the collection, from writing, storytelling, to cover design. Cheers! THE BOOK REVIEW Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers’ Favorite A postcard is more than just…
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A Valentine’s Poem
What the heck. How about a little Valentine’s poem written by yours truly? Happy Valentine’s Day, you all. I hope it’s a great one. * * The Part That Came After | by Stephanie Verni Lovely, lovely… Thoughts of you gallup through my mind On a rollercoaster of ifs and whats And then there was then The part that came after The heart and its mend. * Memories, Memories… Linger beyond the time we spent Laughing and fighting and laughing some more Until our sides split The part that came after A silliness fit. * Faraway, Faraway… Places we went are in my mind Visions of you in the sun…
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The Annual Birthday Post – A Poem
It’s my birthday, and you know what that means…the annual snarky birthday post. I’m celebrating this year’s birthday with a poem…Dr. Seuss style. Enjoy! Thanks for reading Steph’s Scribe! Happy Birthday Poem Another year has passed me by I could laugh but I want to cry For time has flown without a hitch This growing old thing is surely a bitch. One kid off to college—so fully grown To explore and call the world his own. The other in high school – independent and bold With her, we truly broke the mold. But with aging comes aches and pains You feels some losses, you feel some gains You hang on…
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A Sneak Peak at What’s Coming Next Week…The Postcard and Other Short Stories & Poetry
If you’ve read Jojo Moyes’s book, Paris for One and Other Short Stories, or Rosamunde Pilcher’s The Blue Bedroom, then you’ll have an idea of what’s coming in my new book The Postcard and Other Short Stories & Poetry. Heavily influenced by Rosamunde Pilcher as a young woman, and loving every story she wrote for The Blue Bedroom, I think I fell head-over-heals in love with writing—and wanting to tell stories—after reading her work. Her novels that followed such as The Shell Seekers, Coming Home, and September all inspired me to write stories where relationships and setting are the main drivers of the work. Likewise, Jojo Moyes has been a…
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Unveiling the Cover of My Newest Book! The Postcard and Other Short Stories & Poetry
This is getting exciting! After years in the making, within hours, my latest work of fiction and poetry entitled The Postcard and Other Short Stories & Poetry will be available via Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Today, I’m unveiling and telling the story of the cover. But first I have to say…I love this part of the process. The part where it all comes together. The part where you get to see your work come to fruition. When I worked at the Orioles and was the editor of Orioles Magazine, I loved going to the printer’s and watching the magazine come off the presses. My heart would pulsate as my…
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They Say That Travel Changes You
They say that travel changes you. This is known to be true. For every time you take a step, No matter how many or few– The perspective that you used to have Is replaced with something new. —stephanie verni—
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The Postcard & Other Short Stories – Promotion
So while I’m super excited about this upcoming work, I made a mistake in my previous blog post and attached the work in progress jpg file of this teaser and not the corrected version. A good lesson to always double check your stuff. Sometimes we make mistakes as indie authors when we do it all and have a million things on our plate. But the good news? It’s all fixable. Here is the right promo. 🙂
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A Little Milestone
A Little Milestone: I finished editing the short stories today for The Postcard and Other Short Stories and Poetry. It is almost done being formatted. This project–a couple of years in the making–contains 22 short stories I’ve written over a span of time. I have so much love for this collection for these particular reasons: they remind me of fragments of people I’ve met along the way in my life; they remind me to take the time to tell a story the way you think it should be told; and they remind me to never stop going for your dreams even when it takes baby steps and months or years…
