About

Why did I choose Serendippity: (ad)ventures in poetry as the title and tagline of my website? Because serendippity is a pleasure to say aloud and has a light-heartedness I was aiming for. Because I’m continually being surprised by poems that end up far from where they began. Because the muse strikes when it will, and I follow where it leads. Because I’m a word nerd, and having that extra p in serendippity (for poetry) and those parentheses around ad tickles my fancy.

Even at a young age I loved words. In second grade, when asked to find shorter words in a longer word, I won so consistently that a fellow classmate asked the teacher if I could stop playing. (I countered with being allowed to play but letting the second-place winner get the candy prize.) Cryptic crosswords are my kind of relaxation, right up there with reading children’s fiction and adult non-fiction. It’s not unusual for my family to consult the dictionary at the dinner table, and some of our most enjoyable dinners involve lengthy verbal pun-ishment.

I’ve been a stay-at-home mom since my oldest daughter was born, but when I worked outside the home, I was an editorial assistant, handling copyright requests and proofreading textbooks for the distance learning division of a university.

Happy (ad)venturing wherever you find yourself, and may your days be filled with serendipity! Stephanie

Stephanie Malley, occasional poet and mother of four, writes from her home near Pittsburgh, PA.