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How Debbie Macomber Inspired Me
Last week, at the last minute, I signed up to join a Zoom call through the Baltimore County Public Library with author Debbie Macomber. It was the best thing I did for my writing career last week, and I’ll tell you why. If you don’t recognize the name Debbie Macomber, you may in a minute. She’s a bestselling author. Her genre is women’s fiction/romance. Her stories have been picked up by the Hallmark Channel (if you watched Cedar Cove, that’s Debbie’s brainchild, as are some of the Christmas movies on the network, including Trading Christmas, Mrs. Miracle, and Dashing Through the Snow). Her books can be found everywhere—at libraries, bookstores,…
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What I’m Writing Now (or my current WIP)
* Currently, I’m not writing anything, but next week, I will begin to dive deeply into novel number five, picking up with Chapter 3 where I left off before coronavirus intensified the nature of my working life. The novel is still to be named, which I hate, actually. I typically have to have a working title, but now that the premise of the book has morphed into something different, the working title “Four in a Year,” is just, well, not working. Wrapping up the semester leaves me time only to write this short blog post before getting my grades finalized and uploaded. I shouldn’t even be taking time to do…
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An Easter Contemplation About Grandparents
* Two days ago, my aunt posted the above photo of my grandparents on Facebook, wishing my grandmother (we called her Nanny) a happy birthday in Heaven. She’s been gone from us for quite some time, but seeing the photo, while we simultaneously fight this coronavirus pandemic and Easter is upon us, made me contemplate my pretty blessed life thus far. While no life is perfect, and my own family’s past year and half has been beyond weird and strange and sad and disruptive, I look back with joy on all that we have been blessed with in our lives. I was very fortunate to have all of my grandparents…
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Unlost – Sharing a Short Story from The Postcard
Today, I’m sharing a short story I wrote that was published in my book of 2018 titled The Postcard and Other Short Stories & Poetry. It’s set in London, a place I’ve only visited once, but loved. In striving to write about female friendships as I did in my new novel, Little Milestones, I guess you could say I practiced with this very short story. I love writing short pieces of fiction, as they test both your ability to tell a condensed story, as well as test your proclivity for further expanding the story. This one stayed put as a short story, but another one I wrote for that collection, Life with Nan, turned into…
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Teaser Ads for LITTLE MILESTONES and a Bit About the Novel
Set in beautiful St. Michaels, Maryland, my newest novel delves into the notion of the importance of family, friendship, moving on, and starting over. The idea of bringing in some of the characters from Inn Significant into this new story was an absolute thrill for me, and I did my best to do so for those who loved my previous novel. However, Little Milestones can be read alone—as a stand alone novel—without having previously read Inn Significant. These teaser ads below reflect the style of writing you will find in the book. As a writer, I try to write as realistic fiction as I can, borrowing from people and situations…
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Coming in February: Inn Significant, A Novel
*** INN SIGNIFICANT by Stephanie Verni…Coming in January. What if three weeks after suffering a miscarriage, you faint and find yourself on the floor of your own home’s cold foyer, and as you regain consciousness, you have to acknowledge the horrible news that was relayed to you moments ago by two police officers: that your husband of ten years—the love of your life—was tragically killed by a tractor-trailer on the slick, rainy interstate? 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…
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Endorsements for Baseball Girl
Today, I’d like to thank Dr. Charles Steinberg of the Boston Red Sox and Jack Magnus of Readers Favorite for their kind commentary about Baseball Girl. Dr. Steinberg endorsed the book, which you can see showcased on the new cover, and Jack Magnus gave it a 5-Star Review. As for sales of this independent novel, they are steady, and I’m pleased with its progress without having executed a full-blown marketing campaign. Word of mouth seems to be helping it along, so if you’ve enjoyed reading it, please consider recommending it to someone or writing a review for it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. I can tell you only that…
