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  • About Me
  • About My Novels
  • Press Kit
  • Podcasts
  • Books I’ve Enjoyed
  • Shop My Products
    • Book Pages Wreath
    • Heart Pages Wreath
    • Small Book Pages Wreath
    • From Humbug to Humble: The Transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge – Personalized & Signed
    • The Letters in the Books – Signed, Personalized, and with a letter tucked inside it
    • Beneath the Mimosa Tree: A Novel – Personalized & Signed
    • Baseball Girl: A Novel – Personalized & Signed
    • Inn Significant: A Novel – Personalized & Signed
    • Little Milestones: A Novel – Personalized & Signed
    • The Postcard and Other Short Stories & Poetry – Personalized & Signed
  • Freelance Writing

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  • Do Not Look Where You Fell

    February 6, 2023 /

    hen we slip, we can go one of two ways. We can catch ourselves and right ourselves or we can fall. Sometimes we fall hard.

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    Breathing in the Air and Tasting The Wines in Napa Valley

    April 27, 2016

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    January 14, 2016

    The Merriest Season and a Week of Joy

    December 24, 2019
  • A Vlog About Writing (Because I didn’t feel like writing it)…Is that weird?

    January 26, 2023 /

    I don’t post these types of videos very often here on my blog as I do on social media. Earlier, I thought about going LIVE on Instagram, but then decided to just post a video about the writing and editing process. If you enjoy talking about writing and interacting as a writer, follow me on Instagram at stephanieverniwrites or on TikTok at stephanieverniwrites, and I’ll be sure to follow you back. 🙂 I’ve always been fascinated by how other writers works. Do they plot? Do they write as they go along? What’s their editing process? Believe me…over the years, I’ve listened to and heeded the advice of many talented writers.…

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    A Nutty Story as a Metaphor for Life

    August 23, 2022

    Happy Easter!

    April 12, 2020

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    August 23, 2015
  • Stop Glorifying “Perfect”

    January 17, 2023 /

    In our attempts to be perfect we are missing a lot of the little joys that come along with the exercise of "going for it." Some of the best stuff happens along the way.

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    Travel Writing: From Teaching It to Doing It

    June 21, 2021

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    November 29, 2015

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    July 8, 2020
  • Delight in the Little Things

    January 4, 2023 /

    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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    5 Sure-Fire Ways To Boost Creativity

    March 16, 2016

    Thank You All!!!

    July 19, 2022

    Dear Fellow Writers

    March 6, 2020
  • I Believe the “New” Scrooge Would Adore this Collaboration

    November 7, 2022 /

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    Podcast 2: The Things I’ve Learned—Work Ethic is Everything

    February 14, 2022

    The Desperate Search for Our Missing Elf on the Shelf

    December 14, 2021
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    Watch Your Step, Distracted Walking Can Cause an Injury

    March 22, 2022
  • A Nutty Story as a Metaphor for Life

    August 23, 2022 /

    Two weeks ago, I couldn’t see straight, and I got tied up in knots about something. So let’s start at the beginning and make it really quick. Two years ago, in an effort to make our front lawn look as good as possible, we decided to have the lawn replaced and sodded. The sodding looked great, and it was refreshing to see a front lawn free of weeds and the dreaded nutsedge that had enveloped our lawn for several years. Nutsedge is a nuisance. If you don’t know what it is, it looks like long pieces of grass, but thicker, that grow above and beyond your normal grass. It sticks…

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    Podcast 9 – Building Your Story

    March 10, 2020

    Friday Fiction: A Short About Reincarnation & Love (and in need of feedback)

    April 3, 2020

    The Slump: A Short Story in the Absence of Baseball for Fiction Friday

    March 27, 2020
  • Book Reviews Are Coming In: Here’s what readers are saying

    July 26, 2022 /

    I can’t thank my friends, family, and readers enough for all the help you’ve given me to spread the word about The Letters in the Books. The two and a half years I’ve spent working on this novel is paying off for me personally, simply by seeing the support you have given me this past week. I’m touched, humbled, and so glad the book is now in your hands. Below, I’m sharing a little about the novel and some of the early reviews that have come in. Since people are always asking me how they can help, here are three ways you can help independent authors: 1- Talk the book…

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    The Way to a Character’s Heart

    May 18, 2021

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    June 13, 2022
  • Book Launch! The Letters in the Books Now Available

    July 18, 2022 /

    Good morning, sunshines! I have been waiting for weeks to be able to say that The Letters in the Books is now available. It’s also probably fair to say that I worked harder on this book than any of the previous ones. After two and a half years, I can finally say this project is done. Writing from the perspectives of five main characters–two men and three women–was cumbersome and a lot of fun. Setting the novel in Annapolis once again was a thrill. I can honestly say I don’t do this for the money, for any recognition, or for any other reason except that it fills a creative niche…

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    July 12, 2021

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  • gray ceramic cup of coffee on round gray saucer

    The Smell of Coffee in the Morning

    July 3, 2022 /

    Last week, I was in my bathroom and could smell the scent of coffee wafting through the house, through the vents. My son was home, spending his last week as a “kid” in our home before he moved into his new grown-up apartment in Annapolis, and he had made his cup of coffee. He and I are the only coffee drinkers in the house. I’ll miss that scent—and him—when he’s gone. They say the sense of smell takes you back in time faster than any of the other senses. I know it’s true. It happens to me all the time. How about you? Moreover, I often associate the smell of…

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  • One Week to the Publication of The Letters in the Books

    June 21, 2022 /

    Dear Eva, Lily, Reid, Dimitri, and Meg, It seems our time together has come to an end. The five of you have been living inside my head for more than two years now. It’s been a wonderful journey, but I’m afraid it’s time to let you go. As the world is spinning out of control and there are a lot of horrible things happening out there, it was a pleasure to tell this story and remind people that there is goodness out there, and that people have the capacity to choose the path to kindness. I will not soon forget the time we have spent together. But all good things…

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    Podcast 13 – Ideas to Help Foster Creativity During This Crisis

    April 6, 2020

    We Need a Little Christmas, Especially This Year

    December 8, 2021

    Thank You, Readers! I’m Flattered.

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  • How Brene Brown’s research influenced my novel

    June 13, 2022 /

    Over the last few years, I’ve become enamored with Brené Brown’s research, specifically with regard to empathy, vulnerability, and shame. On campus, I’ve executed workshops about Brown’s wonderful book, Dare to Lead. If you haven’t read this book, I strongly urge you hop to it. It’s a wonderful dissection about daring leadership, and what factors play into what kind of leaders we admire and what kind of leader we, ourselves, want to be. In the course of preparing to teach others about Brown’s findings, many of her assessments were illuminating, and as I began to figure out what my next novel was going to tackle, I landed on all three…

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  • The Process of Getting to a Book Cover

    May 27, 2022 /

    My newest novel, The Letters in the Books, is just weeks away from launching. I’m super excited about this one, as it was two full years in the making. Writing is a labor of love for me, and I just want to tell a compelling, yet sweet story that’s perfect for a beach read. This book was heavily influenced by Brené Brown’s research on empathy and shame. I have read her books and watched her TedTalks a million times. Her work on empathy and vulnerability in particular are interesting and worthy of your time. I tried my best to roll her findings into Meg, the empath and bookstore owner at…

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Welcome to my website! I'm Stephanie Verni, author of 8 works of fiction, adjunct professor of communication, and part-time travel writer. I love sharing my work, travels, and experiences with you. Thanks for stopping by!
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I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s book called BIG MAGIC when it debuted years ago. I remember feeling like we were soul sisters when it came out because of how I value creativity—both in myself and in my students. I never wanted to be that teacher who put the brakes on creativity. In fact, it was (and continues to be) a driving force in the way I teach my students. I am always amazed by students who believe they are not creative. Yet when you switch on the light and tell them they are, you see the proof of it in the work they produce. They ARE creative. We all have big magic in us; sometimes it just takes a little push to open the door to it. Don’t you agree that half the battle of writing a good story is believing in it? It takes a certain amount of faith and belief in your story— that it is worth telling—to keep you going. You need this faith in order to pursue all the things that go into the arduous task of writing and publishing a novel. I don’t know about you, but the satisfaction of hearing that people enjoyed it makes having that faith so worthwhile. This is my ode to being near the water. My soul always feels refreshed when I’m on the water. Most of my novels take place in a setting that involves water and boating. I love setting stories in places that reflect the love I have for small towns with water access. To me, it always feels like a place where you can escape to when you need that time to rejuvenate. Most of my characters feel the same way. I guess it’s true – write what you know. Which do you think I love more? The book is called Inn Significant for a reason. 💕 Two years after receiving the horrifying news of her husband Gil’s death, Milly Foster continues to struggle to find her way out of a state of depression. As a last-ditch effort and means of intervention, Milly’s parents convince her to run their successful Inn during their absence as they help a friend establish a new bed and breakfast in Ireland. Milly reluctantly agrees; when she arrives at the picturesque, waterfront Inn Significant, her colleague, John, discovers a journal written by her late grandmother that contains a secret her grandmother kept from the family. Reading her grandmother’s words, and being able to identify with her Nana’s own feelings of loss, sparks the beginning of Milly’s climb out of the darkness and back to the land of the living. The porch is open for the season. Thank you to @leeverni and @hector_herbert for all the help today. Couldn’t have done it without you! XxOo Another Blue Angels fly in Annapolis is in the books. Here’s a glimpse for those who love them as we do. 💙 Blue Angels Day here in Annapolis, but I’m sad to be without my husband, who’s in New York with the Orioles and clients. Wearing orange in their honor. Looking forward to seeing the planes fly shortly! I heard this and knew I wanted to make a reel with this audio. It’s so good & true & on 🔥. We are all of our experiences, both the good and the bad, the heartache and the happy times. You are better off with a woman who has grown from her experiences, including the mistakes, misjudgments, and bad decisions. We are a force to be reckoned with.

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