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  • Podcasts
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    • Book Pages Wreath
    • Heart Pages Wreath
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    • From Humbug to Humble: The Transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge – Personalized & Signed
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  • Escape to Italy and Meet Anna, Matteo, and Nicolo

    January 28, 2022 /

    Anna in Tuscany – A Valentine’s Read .99 on Kindle You’ve suffered through two failed relationships. You’re not sure you believe in love anymore. Then, as a travel writer, your editor sends you to Italy for a year to write about the regions. When you arrive, you meet Matteo, an older gentleman who has lost his wife. In search of a story for your first assignment about Valentine’s Day in Italy, you begin to uncover a love story that changes the way you feel about love. And maybe a little love walks into your life, as well. Such is the premise of ANNA IN TUSCANY, a little novelette to put…

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  • Travel Writing: From Teaching It to Doing It

    June 21, 2021 /

    You’ll have to forgive me for just getting around to sharing this; my family and I were on vacation last week. This month, I had the opportunity to write for a travel publication called marylandroadtrips.com. After teaching feature writing at my university for many years (having formerly been an editor of a magazine) with aspects of travel writing incorporated into the course, I was thrilled at the opportunity to do some travel writing of my own. If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know that I often blog about my trips here, writing it in feature style, to use as a learning tool in the classroom. Writing for…

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  • Finding Italy…and Paris

    April 27, 2021 /

    It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Italy. I’ve never been to Paris. The closest I came to speaking French in another country was a visit to Quebec when I was in 7th grade. I began taking French classes that year—in 7th grade. Later, in high school, Mademoiselle Hammerstrom had our class read Les Misérables in French. In college, I took French classes as well. Last week, my husband and I started watching Stanley Tucci’s program Searching for Italy. My passport is updated and I’m ready to go. When it’s safe to travel again, I need to go to both of these countries. I make my father-in-law laugh…

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    Celebrating World Book Day 2019

    April 23, 2019

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    July 17, 2020

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  • What Are You Missing Most Right Now?

    July 29, 2020 /

    Here’s the question: WHAT ARE YOU MISSING MOST RIGHT NOW? Most of us are probably missing the freedom we used to have to travel, being with those we love without social distancing, and seeing the world. Plus, as I am working on my syllabus for feature writing, I typically instruct and assign an article about travel writing. This morning I woke up realizing I may have to take this assignment out. How can I expect the students to travel and write about their local travel in these present circumstances? This semester is going to be unusual enough without now having to rethink assignments. I’m going to have to get creative.…

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    That First Sentence

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  • Vlogging about the Writing Life—Connecting Inn Significant & Little Milestones

    November 18, 2019 /

    After I published Inn Significant in 2017, I seriously considered a sequel. People were writing to me and asking me what happens to the characters. I began constructing the sequel and dabbled with about 13 chapters until I stopped writing it altogether. After I put it away for a while and took a break, a lightbulb went off in my head: what if I wrote a second book with a character with a somewhat parallel life and had them meet in the new novel? It would be more of a series rather than a sequel, and that appealed to me much more. Typically, sequels aren’t very good. There are exceptions…

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  • Finding Inspiration

    September 3, 2019 /

    As someone who writes fiction as my side job, I seek inspiration, either from other people or from places. Additionally, as a writer who is about to publish my 4th novel, I use places almost as I use characters in my novel—they must have a personality and purpose.  Setting is very important to me, and getting a handle on that place requires me to do some digging and exploring. Next month, I will launch my newest novel, LITTLE MILESTONES, set in St. Michaels, Maryland, a place I love visit when I need to get away from the rat race of life. It’s only a little over an hour away from…

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  • Twilight and Twinkles and Travel

    July 11, 2019 /

    * As I tell my students in the special topics in travel writing course I teach, travel happens as soon as you step outside your door. Day trips, afternoon trips, and evening trips can all be wonderful experiences, especially when you’re sharing the time with someone you love. It can also be great to go exploring by yourself. In our local travel writing class, students often pick Annapolis as their spot. I love to read about my hometown from their perspective, some of them only visiting Annapolis for their first or second time. As I’ve grown up in this area and have spent lots of time cavorting and entertaining in…

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  • Travel, Interrupted

    January 2, 2019 /

      Lesson learned in 2018: Perhaps avoid planning travel excursions during the holiday season when people are getting sick and germs are running rampant. Last week, the day after Christmas, for the second year in a row, we had planned a trip to Asheville, North Carolina, with two days in Williamsburg to follow at Christmas. We’ve been trying to do a little more travel and less material gifts with our kids now that they are older teenagers. And so, last year, the trip was put off because my son, as a then senior in high school, had a ton of homework and presentations to put together for both school and…

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  • Life Philosophies, Not Resolutions This Year

    December 31, 2018 /

    This year I decided to do something different. Instead of making New Year’s Resolutions that we forget two weeks into the year, I decided to adopt some life philosophies full of wisdom and put them into action the whole year long. I love quotes, sayings, and the ability that people have to say succinctly what I’m thinking, hence the use of so many quotes, some from well-known folks and some that were posted anonymously that I found searching for the right ones for me. What follows are the ones that speak to me the loudest. And what follows are the ones I plan on adopting in 2019. May all your…

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  • My Travel Writing Class and Their Work: Feeling Like a Proud Momma

    December 7, 2018 /

    * Wow. It’s hard to believe we have come to the end of another semester. My group of writers in our travel writing class published their stories today on our WordPress site called MORE THAN MARYLAND that I set up as a place to house of all of my All-Star Travelers who have taken the course at Stevenson University. As the students made some of their final presentations in class, a lot was discussed, such as what they learned from taking a travel writing course, which pieces from renowned travel writers were their favorites, how this course has helped them see travel differently, and what they will take with them…

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  • My Experience of Teaching a Travel Writing Course

    October 25, 2018 /

    I’ve been pretty fortunate to have the opportunity to teach a course called Special Topics in Travel Writing at Stevenson University, where I am a full-time professor. It’s one of my favorite courses to teach, and for years in another course I teach called Feature Writing, we cover travel writing as part of the curriculum. To be able to teach travel writing as a semester-long, intensive 400-level course is something I treasure. The students in my class are required to each pick a location relatively local to our region. Some explore cities or towns in Maryland, some in Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Washington, D.C. or any other destination that they…

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  • Take Me To Portwenn…Doc Martin’s Village

    September 27, 2018 /

    If you picked me up today and plucked me in the picturesque and intimate village of Portwenn, the fictional Cornish fishing town depicted in the British television series Doc Martin, I would be able to converse with the locals, know where to eat, visit Mrs. Tishell to purchase my vitamins, and, if I ever fell ill, be in the good hands of Doctor Martin Ellingham. I would wind my way up and down the streets and descend the hills to the waterfront area, replete with fishing boats, restaurants, and benches to catch a glimpse of the sunset. Admittedly, I was hesitant to begin this quirky series that takes several episodes…

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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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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. It’s one of my mother’s favorite mantras: Don’t let other people define you. I couldn’t agree more. 🌸

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