As I’ve been a little out of touch, I thought I’d share a few updates, and things that have been happening during quarantine of late, starting with…
The Unnamed Boat
The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of excitement. On my birthday in mid-August, my husband surprised me by purchasing a boat. Our friends upgraded to a new vessel, and he bought their boat. As I had been out on their boat several times, it was a lovely, and completely out-of-the-blue surprise.
Since then, we’ve been spending as much time on the water as we can before the season ends. Growing up, my dad had boats. When I was younger, I would take his 18-foot boat out on the Magothy River. A lot of my friends had boats, too, so if we weren’t on our family’s boat, we were on other boats. Getting a similar 18-foot boat for my birthday brings me such joy. It’s making me feel like a teenager again and reminding me of an activity I loved so much. And now, I get the opportunity to share my love of the water with both my husband and my children. So far, I’m still getting reacquainted with the rules of the river, and I’m on a different river—the Severn River, which leads to the Chesapeake Bay and Annapolis. We’ve gone out with my parents, Captain Doug and Leni, and this past weekend, we took Mark and Jo, Anthony’s parents, for a spin. It’s all new and familiar at the same time, and it’s a wonderful thing to feel the air on our faces and enjoy the breezes, the views, and getting to know a new river. As many of my books feature boats and boating prominently in them, I suppose you could say I wrote about something I knew a little about; now, I hope to know much more about it as a boat owner.
Any ideas for a name for the boat?
A Different College Life
As a college professor, we have learned that we are teaching remotely for now. Having just come off teaching an 8-week online graduate course in Contemporary Communication, I just finished lecturing three straight classes online. It’s not awful, but it’s not how we teachers typically like to teach. Seeing students in person is always the best, but under these circumstances with COVID, we are making it work. As an inaugural Faculty Fellow for 2019-2021, this past summer involved a great deal of preparation and meetings to help faculty prepare for any circumstance that would come our way. From running workshops, to meeting weekly alongside the other four Fellows, to facilitating “drop in help sessions,” we have tried our best to make the transition from in-person learning to online learning as seamless as possible. It’s been an honor to work with my fellow Fellows—VJ, Aaron, Beth, and Maria—and I look forward to another productive year with them as we continue to plan faculty development workshops.
Both of my children are also college students, one junior and one freshman, who are both attending classes remotely from home. My son opted not even to move in to his university, and my daughter was sent home from her dorm last Thursday. So, here we are again, all working from our desk chairs all over the house as many of you are doing, too. It’s been an interesting dynamic, and one that so many of us are starting to get used to doing daily.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I have urged my children to write about this crazy time. Twenty years from now when they have kids of their own, they may want to remember more clearly just how this all happened. It’s amazing how our minds can forget, and writing things down in a journal or in a document on your computer, in essence keeping a journal, is the best way to catalog this time of our lives to share with future generations.
The Latest on My Work-In-Progress
My latest novel is sitting at 60,000+ words. I made good progress over the summer, but not enough to finish it. The story is about an empath and the lives she touches over the course of one full year. The idea came to me last year when I was trying to figure out how the story was going to unfold. It is set once again in my beautiful hometown of Annapolis, as I did with my first novel, Beneath the Mimosa Tree. I have a working title, but am not comfortable sharing it just yet. And in a new approach to writing, I have decided to query the hell out of literary agents this time instead of self-publishing from the get-go. If I have no luck, I will consider self-publishing again.
Let’s Connect on Instagram
Over the last several months since COVID, I’ve been so thankful to connect with more people—writers, artists, readers, students, filmmakers—on Instagram, and it’s why it’s my favorite social media outlet. From being able to share my writing progress, university updates, family, friends, and fun photos, along with fashion, it’s by far my favorite place to hangout and meet new people. And I’ve made several new friendships through this platform as well! Connect with me there, and I promise to follow back! I look forward to getting to know you!
stephanie.verni.author/instagram.
What I’m Watching – Person of Interest
After Game of Thrones ended, it was difficult for me to sink my teeth into anything new. As someone who came very late to the Game of Thrones party and binge-watched it before the final season, I was madly in love with the show and will go on record as saying it’s the best thing I’ve seen on television. I even watched it a second time through with my kids. I loved it just as much the second time around.
When selecting our a new show to watch, we took the suggestion of our friend, Craig, and began watching Person of Interest. I have to say, while it’s not GOT or anything remotely like it, it has been something fun to look forward to watching in the evenings. It’s got an interesting plot line, intriguing characters, and three bad-ass women who are good gals. It stars Jim Caviezel (Mr. Reese) and Michael Emerson (Harold), along with Taraji Henson (Carter), Amy Ackers (Root), Kevin Chapman (Fusco), and Sarah Shahi (my favorite, Shaw).
If you think your iPhone is listening to everything you say, you are most likely not wrong. And this series focuses on a government machine that spies on people. It’s fascinating.
What I’m Reading
I’m currently reading Coincidence of Coconut Cake. It’s mildly entertaining so far, but I’m not done. A book that I recently read, however, that I can highly recommend is How to Find Love in a Bookshop. That book was charming, albeit predictable, but it’s just a fun romp through Oxford and the Cotswolds with a wide range of characters of all ages that are charming. If you love books, reading, bookshops, and sentimental sweetness, this book’s for you.
That’s all for now, my friends. I hope you have a wonderful week, and I’ll check in with you later.
xx
Stephanie