Verse & Vine Publishing

09/09/2025

🤔 Does Your Story Work?

You’ve got a story to tell—a story that matters.

But maybe something feels off. The flow isn’t quite right, or your idea feels scattered. You want your story to resonate, but first, it needs to hold together.

You're not alone. Every writer faces this. That’s why we created The Principles of Story—a 9-week workshop starting September 26, 2025—to help you shape your story from the ground up.

Whether you're just starting or refining a full draft, this hands-on workshop will help you build a strong structure and a clear outline that connects with readers from beginning to end. More than that, it'll help train your intuition to know when a story works.

What You’ll Gain:
✅ Clarity: Discover the heart of your story and shape it into a compelling outline
✅ Confidence: Build a foundation you can trust before you start writing
✅ Direction: Map your story’s journey so every scene drives the narrative forward

What’s Included:
🌿 Live Weekly Sessions (60–90 min): Teaching, feedback, and exercises tailored to your story
🌿 Private Discord Access: Connect with editors and fellow writers for support between sessions
🌿 Downloadable Resources: PDF guides + our exclusive V&V story outline form

🚨Spaces are limited, and we believe your words deserve to bloom.

Click the link to register now and begin crafting a story that feels honest, wholesome, and beautifully yours. 👉 https://verseandvinepublishing.com/principles-of-story/

Let’s bring your vision to life, one meaningful page at a time. ✍🏻📖

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"This workshop helped me stop obsessing over the details and finally move my story forward in a way that makes sense for both me as a writer and for my readers." —Tyler H.

"The Principles of Story helped me better understand the elements that shape and drive my story—and, more practically, it helped me discover its ending. I would absolutely recommend this workshop to any author who is struggling to put the pieces of their story together or who wants to be confident that their story is solid and will resonate with readers." —Joshua Guynn

08/09/2025

Oscar Wilde reminds us of the subtle magic of language—the way words give shape to what is otherwise formless. Maybe it's because it reminds us of our own Creation story, of the Word that brought form to all things, but at Verse & Vine, we cherish this alchemy, guiding words into stories that endure.

“Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel! One could not escape from them. And yet what a subtle magic there was in them! They seemed to be able to give a plastic form to formless things, and to have a music of their own as sweet as that of viol or of lute. Mere words! Was there anything so real as words?” — Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

04/09/2025

To Hell with AI...

I recently found myself in a strange and aching moment—one that many of you may recognize. I was preparing a writing sample for a potential opportunity, and the instructions were clear: any use of AI would disqualify the submission.

03/09/2025

You wrote the book. Now it’s time to share it with the world.

Too often, writers stall at the publishing stage—not because their story isn’t worth telling, but because the process feels overwhelming. ISBNs, editing, cover design, distribution… it can feel like a maze.

That’s why we created Publishing 101: A Roadmap to Publishing Your Book—a clear, step-by-step guide to move you from finished manuscript to published book without the guesswork.

Through five focused modules, you’ll learn how to:
✨ Identify the publishing path that aligns with your vision
✨ Prepare your manuscript and publishing assets with confidence
✨ Build a thoughtful pre-launch platform and marketing plan
✨ Navigate each step from upload to launch—and beyond

At Verse & Vine, we believe stories shape hearts, minds, and culture. Publishing 101 was built to equip independent authors like you to release work that is both meaningful and professional—crafted with excellence, rooted in purpose.

📚 Ready to take the next step? Enroll today: https://verseandvinepublishing.com/publishing-101/

03/09/2025

🌿 Season One Complete—and What a Blessing It’s Been!

We just wrapped up our first season of The Principles of Story workshop, and we’re so grateful for the community that came together to learn, grow, and share their voices. 📖✨

Want to know what’s coming next? This week’s newsletter has all the updates — new sessions, resources, and encouragement for Kingdom-minded readers and writers.

📬 Haven’t subscribed yet? No worries; we’ve made it simple.

Click the link below to join our mailing list and receive content that inspires, equips, and uplifts.

↘️↘️↘️

https://mailchi.mp/381178cb7261/landing-page-signup-form

02/09/2025

"I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice." - C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces

29/08/2025

📚 Ever find yourself buying a book that feels important, beautiful, or timeless, only to let it rest quietly on your shelf, unread?

There’s a Japanese word for that: tsundoku.

It describes the habit of collecting books and letting them pile up, unread—not out of neglect, but because each one holds a promise. A whisper of wisdom. A story waiting for the right season.

For those of us who love the classics—Lewis, Austen, Dostoevsky, Chesterton—it’s easy to feel like we’re curating a library for the soul. But what makes us actually read one book and leave another waiting? Is it the spiritual hunger of the moment? A recommendation from a trusted friend? Or maybe God nudges us toward the right words at the right time.

We’d love to hear from you: What helps you decide which books to read and which ones simply wait on your shelf like quiet companions?

25/08/2025

"The Crosse"

Since Christ embrac’d the Crosse it selfe, dare I
His image, the’image of his Crosse deny?
Would I have profit by the sacrifice,
And dare the chosen Altar to despise?
It bore all other sinnes, but is it fit
That it should beare the sinne of scorning it?
Who from the picture would avert his eye,
How would he flye his paines, who there did dye?
From mee, no Pulpit, nor misgrounded law,
Nor scandall taken, shall this Crosse withdraw,
It shall not, for it cannot; for, the losse
Of this Crosse, were to mee another Crosse.
Better were worse, for no affliction,
No Crosse is so extreme, as to have none;
Who can blot out the Crosse, which the’instrument
Of God, dew’d on mee in the Sacrament?
Who can deny mee power, and liberty
To stretch mine armes, and mine owne Crosse to be?
Swimme, and at every stroake, thou art thy Crosse,
The Mast and yard make one, where seas do tosse.
Looke downe, thou spiest out Crosses in small things;
Looke up, thou seest birds rais’d on crossed wings;
All the Globes frame, and spheares, is nothing else
But the Meridians crossing Parallels.
Materiall Crosses then, good physicke bee,
And yet spirituall have chiefe dignity,
These for extracted chimique medicine serve,
And cure much better, and as well preserve;
Then are you your own physicke, or need none,
When Still’d, or purg’d by tribulation.
For when that Crosse ungrudg’d, unto you stickes,
Then are you to your selfe, a Crucifixe.
As perchance, Carvers do not faces make,
But that away, which hid them there, do take.
Let Crosses, soe, take what hid Christ in thee,
And be his image, or not his, but hee.
But, as oft Alchimists doe coyners prove,
So may a self-dispising, get selfe-love.
And then as worst surfets, of best meates bee,
Soe is pride, issued from humility,
For, ’tis no child, but monster; therefore Crosse
Your joy in crosses, elso, ’tis double losse,
And crosse thy senses, else, both they, and thou
Must perish soone, and to destruction bowe.
For if the’eye seeke good objects, and will take
No crosse from bad, wee cannot scape a snake.
So with harsh, hard, sowre, stinking, crosse the rest,
Make them indifferent; call nothing best.
But most the eye needs crossing, that can rome,
And move; to th’others th’objects must come home.
And crosse thy heart: for that in man alone
Points downewards, and hath palpitation.
Crosse those dejections, when it downeward tends,
And when it to forbidden heights pretends.
And as thy braine through bony walls doth vent
By sutures, which a Crosses forme present,
So when thy braine workes, ere thou utter it,
Crosse and correct concupiscence of witt.
Be covetous of Crosses, let none fall.
Crosse no man else, but crosse thy selfe in all.
Then doth the Crosse of Christ worke fruitfully
Within our hearts, when wee love harmlesly
That Crosses pictures much, and with more care
That Crosses children, which our Crosses are.

-John Donne

24/08/2025

Every story unfolds in a place—and sometimes, the setting speaks louder than words.

The marina can become a sanctuary in the storm. Apartments dressed like castles can hide the truth of a dungeon. Even a bench beneath a mural-painted overpass can turn into a quiet act of defiance.

In memoir, geography isn’t just backdrop. It’s a character, a mirror, a witness—revealing the unseen layers of our stories.

✨ Explore how to let your landscapes carry meaning in your writing:

https://verseandvinepublishing.com/geography-in-memoir/

✨ Writers—how does geography shape the way you tell your story?

20/08/2025

You’ve written the book. Now comes the next step—publishing.

For many authors, this is where the questions begin:

✏️Where do I start?
✏️Which path—traditional, self, or hybrid—is right for me?
✏️How do I prepare my manuscript and assets with excellence?

That’s why we created Publishing 101—a practical, step-by-step course that guides you from manuscript to finished book. Clear, approachable, and designed to help you publish with purpose, not confusion.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Exceptionally informative. Samantha makes publishing understandable and empowering, giving me the confidence to take the next step.”

—Chris J.

Start your publishing adventure today:
👉https://verseandvinepublishing.com/publishing-101/

16/08/2025

What Stories—and Writers—Are Made Of -

Each month in this newsletter, we’ve been going through the Principles of Story, our workshop that we launched earlier this year which takes place over 8 sessions. These principles apply to any narrative in any genre—fiction or nonfiction, sci-fi or memoir. (We will be starting our next workshop...

14/08/2025

“To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man's life.”

― T.S. Eliot, The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism