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Empty Nesters in Training
You know how it goes. You date, you marry, you have children, you raise them, they grow up and go to college or enter the workforce, and you find yourselves at home, twiddling your thumbs. So say some. We love our kids, don’t get me wrong. We dote on them and help them with anything they need. But they’re happy. They’re at college with their friends and significant others, and they’re having the time of their lives. So why shouldn’t we? Everyone loves to talk about empty-next syndrome (ENS) as if it’s a curse of sorts. I say, let freedom ring! Don’t you remember that feeling of being able to…
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The Beginning of a New Novel…or Not. What I’m Working On????
* The truth is, after reading my post headline, I’m not actually sure what I’m working on. I’m not sure at all. Ever since completing and now trying to promote Little Milestones, there’s been little happening in my writing world. January was spent getting ready for the spring semester as I’m teaching a course I haven’t taught in a while, so I’ve needed to spend a lot of time preparing for my classes. One night, however, the idea of these four characters popped into my head, and the idea of a book starting and ending in a bar took hold. I’m not sure AT ALL what is going to happen…
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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…
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What Blogging Has Meant to Me
* “You’re still blogging?” “Wow…you’ve been blogging for a while?” “How often do you blog?” “I didn’t know you had a blog. What’s your blog about?” “How do you come up with ideas for your blog each week?” “You’re still blogging?” * That’s pretty much how it goes most days when I mention that I’m a blogger. Going strong and steady since April 2011. One to three blog posts a week. You can count on me for that. With the help of a then-student and now friend, Bill, we put our heads together and came up with Steph’s Scribe. I needed a title. I needed some content. He gave me…
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Reflections on Feeling a Loss of Hope
It’s probably pretty shocking to some of you who follow my blog, a “safe space” for positivity and a place where lifting up others is standard operation. It’s always been my goal for Steph’s Scribe to inject a dose of inspiration into people’s lives. But today, just days before Thanksgiving, I’m feeling something tampering with my state of hopefulness. A bleakness has entered my atmosphere. A sense of time slipping away and dreams fading a bit. I hate this feeling. A culmination of many things swirling around my personal domaine, I felt it was appropriate to be real with you for a moment, to illustrate that life is not always…
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A 5-Star Review for Inn Significant from Readers’ Favorite
First, the review: Reviewed by Ruffina Oserio for Readers’ Favorite “Inn Significant: A Novel by Stephanie Lynn Verni is a beautiful story that looks at the heart of depression. Milly Foster lost the will to live the moment she learned about her husband’s tragic death. And that was two years ago. Asking her to look after their business while they are away to help a friend in a startup bed and breakfast in Ireland, her parents couldn’t imagine what this would do to her. While at the inn, Milly’s colleague, John, discovers a diary to her grandma. Read on to find out how an old journey changes everything in…
