Stephanie Verni's Blog, page 102
April 20, 2013
Morning Thoughts
Morning Thoughts In the quiet of the morning Yet not so quiet— The hum of 100 always awake— I sit and realize all is about to change. With change, comes good: Good for the soul; Good for the mind; Good for us all. To leave behind some ills Some love and wonderment and memories, Yet forge ahead to tomorrow. The dawn of a new day. Moving forward, yet going home. Finding a place to just Be. Filed [...]
April 19, 2013
Pink & Up
Today’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is to show a picture that means UP to you. With the ugliness of what’s happened in Boston, it’s comforting to know you can look up to the sky for some peace, beauty, and spiritual inspiration. In my novel, “Beneath the Mimosa Tree,” my characters comment on the pink sky that hovers over the Severn River in Maryland. I had to write about it because every time I see the sky this turn this remarkable [...]
April 17, 2013
Humor & Drama In Advertising
It’s that time of the year at our university…students are about to make their advertising pitches today through next week as we wrap up the semester. I’ve shown them a lot of ads over the course of the semester, and they’ve liked some of the older ads as well as some of the newer ones. Today, I’m featuring some of their favorites. The old Pets.com ad… Nike’s Find Your Greatness ad… Google’s Parisian Love ad… The old Mercedes Benz ad… [...]
April 16, 2013
Cry If You Want To
Yesterday’s explosions in Boston sent me into a tailspin. I remembered that feeling of sheer panic as we wondered where our loved ones were in New York on that fateful day in September of 2001. Nothing rocks your world like helplessness and uncertainty. And to our utter dismay, heartbreak, and true disbelief, my husband lost his first cousin in the Trade Centers that morning. The first call I made yesterday was to Jenny to see if her husband was okay. [...]
April 11, 2013
Please, Consider the Lobster
I feel it is my duty as a professor, reader, and lover of all things beautifully penned, that I share what could possibly be what will soon be called a classic in magazine writing. In 2003, writer and professor David Foster Wallace wrote a piece for the now defunct Gourmet magazine entitled “Consider the Lobster.” Tasked with attending and writing about the Maine Lobster Festival, Foster Wallace takes us on a journey there, but goes in a completely different direction. [...]
April 10, 2013
On slumps, in baseball and in writing…
Last night after my son’s baseball game and in the middle of a post-game, in-depth discussion about baseball bunting, I told my kids to hold it a second. “Let’s call Charles and ask him what he thinks about bunting.” I’m not a fan of bunting, though I do realize it has its benefits. I dialed Charles’s number, and he picked up. This, in itself, is miraculous. Sometimes he is just too busy to chat. Charles currently works for the Boston [...]
April 9, 2013
Beneath The Mimosa Tree’s Award Certificate Has Arrived…
Today I am sharing with you my “official award certificate” I received from Readers’ Favorite. “Beneath the Mimosa Tree” was tops in its category for contemporary romance. I’m still thrilled to pieces by the acknowledgement. If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, please do so! It makes a great summer read and perfect gift, especially with Mother’s Day approaching. I’d love for you to read it and share your thoughts with me. I’m also pleasantly surprised by the amount [...]
April 8, 2013
Pride of the … Teacher (not Yankees)
The last few weeks I have been watching my students step it up. From making public relations crisis communication plans in public relations class to making pitches in advertising, they have come a long way over the course of the semester. When you witness their growth as they go into high drive and succeed at real-world application exercises, there’s a sense of pride that comes with it. I think to myself these thoughts: I taught them how to do it, [...]
April 5, 2013
Sufferin’ Succotash
The above words can only begin to describe how I feel about my inability to write this week. I am experiencing a very extreme case of writer’s block. I watched cursors flash. I sat and stared at a screen, blindingly white. I couldn’t even come up with something clever to blog about. Nothing. Came. Out. Of. My. Head. I’ve never really had it happen to this extent before. I whiled away the hours looking at Pinterest and pinning home décor [...]
March 31, 2013
Which Bunny Are You?
Reblogged from steph's scribe: In honor of the recent movie “Hop,” and as the Easter holiday approaches this weekend, some folks may be stocking baskets with chocolate bunnies. Therefore, I thought we could play a little holiday game called “Which bunny are you?” There have been many tantalizing bunny/rabbit characters written for both literature and film, so I’ve picked six of my favorites and want you to you decide which one bunny shares some of your own qualities and characteristics. [...]
