DMV Shorts Magazine

08/27/2023

Howdy, everyone!

Today, August 27, is National Cinema Day! Throughout the Washington, D.C.metropolitan area, you can score $4 movie tickets from many local cinemas.

If you've been waiting tosee Barbie or Oppenheimer, now's your time! Or maybe Mission Impossible???

07/24/2023

According to my good friends at National Today, today is considered international self care day, which means it's not a national event (only in the United States) at all, but rather international (meaning: global).

That is cool, though I really don't think other cultures outside of the United States practice self care the way we do in the United States. Whatever the case may be, I am ALWAYS interested in a local perspective. How do people in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia practice self care?

What are their routines? What do they do to really take care of themselves while managing a family, job, personal goals? Tough question to answer. Send me a message if you'd like your answer to appear in an issue of DMV Shorts Magazine.

As always, back issues are available here: https://www.soccibooks.com/magazines/

07/01/2023

Psychology is a very important and useful exercise in terms of understanding people and actions. I have always believed the "whys" of peoples' actions explains so much. If you look at my design from yesterday, hopefully, you will see some intentional elements. I placed a prominent octagon shape in the middle, reminiscent of the STOP sign. Surrounding the central stop sign shape is a bunch of wavy blobs that purport to be an ocean or waves from and ocean.

This was my design to symbolize crashing waves or a tsunami coming in my direction and my active and persistent stop sign not allowing the tsunami to take over. It is meant to be a design symbolizing prosperity and victory over problems that threaten me. I am happy, blessed, and confident to return to magazine publishing!

💪

06/30/2023

I'll never get tired of thanking those who have stood by me since day 1 to wish me well in my artistic personal and professional endeavors. I created DMV Shorts magazine on a lark in July 2021. It is my baby and I take it very personally as the culmination of an incredible dream becoming a reality. I'm so grateful for so many great people continuing to stand by me and root me on and encourage me to get back on track. Here's to a great future in magazine publishing!

05/23/2023

Business is full of risks. If you think about every single business, whether it be a franchise of a popular business or a local mom and pop convenience store or even the hard-working solopreneur (like me) trying to bang it out and interact on social media, all moves are subject to scrutiny, and there are all kinds of risks to consider.

Putting myself in the public eye is rife with risks. It gets a lot of people in trouble, including me. But I still would not change a thing about my life or choices.

I am a firm believer in presenting myself as I am without filters or airbrushed anything. I also feel this way about my writing. When I write and you see the editorials I publish in DMV Shorts Magazine, you will see the authentic me in all four corners.

As I continue to take calculated risks and present myself the way I want to present myself, I really hope you will appreciate my level of creativity. There is a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears that goes into every issue.

05/21/2023

I can honestly say that 2022 was an excruciating year. I went through a personal situation that ended up affecting me in ways I had not predicted or imagined. Dealing with personal things has also affected me professionally.

I have not been able to publish DMV Shorts Magazine since last year. Catching up has been a bear. I find myself lost in moments of pause and reflection to really process things. Despite what I've been through and all the changes, there is always hope. It isn't how you fall, but how you get up that counts.

02/18/2023

Happy Random Acts of Kindness day - February 17! I would like to tell you what I do with DMV Shorts magazine.

I promote individual artists and entrepreneurs and small business owners for FREE all the time. That is as random as it gets!

I want to help everyone locally all the time. I want all business owners to succeed and I do it by posting stories highlighting different businesses every day.

02/17/2023

I've recently created a new platform that blends my writing, editorial, publishing, creative, and design pursuits all rolled into one. I will be posting original updates to that site that I will not post anywhere else. If you would like to support my writing and creative efforts through that space, I encourage you to follow me and subscribe as a member. Go to: https://ko-fi.com/amandasocci. (Also see the link in my bio.)

02/15/2023

I meant to post this yesterday, on Valentine's Day ... Just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your support. DMV Shorts magazine is a labor of love that comes from the heart. I created this magazine in 2021 and am deeply proud of everything I've accomplished. Operating your own magazine and doing everything involved to publish it independently is no small task. Love you all.

12/23/2022

Hanging out for Christmas fun at the Willard hotel in DC!

12/16/2022

I am SOUPS excited to be back with our awesome server Jack at the absolutely fabulous !!

12/07/2022

First time here in ages. Even a magazine publisher has to work out, right?

12/03/2022

Watch the camera closely as I focus on my oldest daughter dancing the "Spanish dance" as part of the Alexandria Nutcracker performance of local youth at . Yes, always keeps busy monitoring and enjoying great locals in District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.

11/30/2022

I discovered a gorgeous equine center in Leesburg, Virginia, located at the same venue as the Harry Potter Experience!

11/25/2022

So awesome meeting server Jack Marsh today. Super AWESOME and fun restaurant serving American comfort food!!

11/04/2022

Ever since I had my account hacked two months ago, I have been scrambling moving forward with DMV Shorts. It seems like there is always something going on.

And yet today, thankfully, I received mental clarity in a way I haven't had in a very long time. I don't know why, but it dawned on me to visit my sales page at https://www.blurb.com/user/dcwriter and make a very important change.

Many thanks to who mentioned people could read my content for free in the previews. Originally, I thought it was okay because I had faith people would buy, but over time, I realized my mistake.

It is a small step, but I have disabled the preview option. Want a looksie? Now, gotta paysie all the way around!

10/05/2022

Have you had a chance to take a look at our online store to purchase DMV Shorts magazines? We partner with third-party print-on-demand vendor Blurb Books to offer our magazines ready to print and mail to customers.

Check out the main link here: https://linktr.ee/amandasocci

09/22/2022

I've been working steadily on the new home for DMV Shorts magazine. TRying to integrate descriptions of each issue along with clear purchasing links. Clearl, design is of utmost importance to me.

Here is a sneak peak at my design choices.

09/22/2022

09/19/2022

I spent a good chunk of today building a little home for DMV Shorts magazine. This will be most helpful in marketing efforts and make it easier for people to buy copies of back issues. Stay tuned, please.

09/17/2022

Even though my original Instagram account was hacked and I've basically lost it (DMVShortsMag), I'm super happy to have my new account now (follow me on DMVShortsyaycool).

I may have gone through a fire, but it's time to rebuild. Life goes on.

09/17/2022

Folks, you're never going to believe this. My previous Instagram account "DMVShortsMag" (look at the picture) was hacked! A complete jerk with a phone number from Nigeria pretended she was my friend from D.C. and tricked me into gaining access to my account. It has been an administrative nightmare getting it back.

If you follow "DMVShortsMag" you must UNFOLLOW and BLOCK that account. Make sure you follow my new account !!

08/16/2022

It takes an extraordinary amount of work to produce just one issue of DMV Shorts Magazine.

This is the cover story for our July issue.

So gorgeous, so much work. Yet so important for the sake of creativity and the general public.

07/23/2022

No matter where I am or what I do, I’ve got to make the time to get my work done. While I wait for my daughter and her friend, I am comfortably seated doing a longhand draft of .

07/20/2022

Thank you so much, for treating me to a limited edition lemon cake today! A bit of a rough morning. You knew I needed the smile.

God bless you all and thank you so much!!

07/18/2022

Last week, I found out that celebrity food host is opening up a unique betting establishment on the second floor of the this fall.

Here I am right now at the arena, admiring its incredible expanse. Looking forward to the opening!!!

07/17/2022

Today's work involves writing, researching, and finalizing our story on the Washington, D.C. area's most well-known gardener, Kathy Jentz from .

I first learned about Kathy many years ago when I first moved to Washington, D.C., but we only met for the first time two months ago!

I'm now converting our full interview into a beautifully crafted story. Stay tuned.

07/16/2022

Are you familiar with Andy Warhol? Andy was a visual artist who specialized in pop iconography. He was most known for his unique interpretations of the printmaking and screenprinting art processes. He famously worked with a then little-known Marilyn Monroe and duplicated her image and added unique color blocks to make her image pop.

Andy Warhol passed away in 1987 and his connections were mostly in New York City.

If is all about the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, how do we connect Andy Warhol with what we're doing?

Well ... let's just say I found a fascinating gardener from Silver Spring, Maryland who might just be the modern female version of Andy Warhol. Working on this right now.

07/13/2022

I've been working on a curious project lately as I find myself working on the July issue of . It occurred to me I should be plotting ideas for future stories separately.

I think it's all a matter of maintaining order and figuring out a better system based on current needs. I actually have a pretty healthy pack of future story ideas and photos that I'm slowly starting to catalogue.

07/12/2022

So one of the things I do to complement my writing is to take photos. Lots and lots of them. Sometimes, I have other people help me take professional photos, as in this case.

Pictured with the attached image is a band called Chapter 11. I had the great fortune of interviewing the members of the band a few months ago. Still working through those interviews. Now, I'm figuring out which photos I'd like to use to go with the story.

Every stage takes time to complete.

07/11/2022

You still have a few hours left to visit your local 7-11 for today's free slurpee day. Throughout the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area, we have so many 7-11s everywhere, waiting to service you.

Probably one of my favorite 7-11s is the one located at Capitol Hill near .

Enjoy!

07/10/2022

In my quest to learn about different cultures and religions, I've discovered that today is an important celebration for Muslims. Today, July 10 is Eid Al-Adha, also referred to as Eid Mubarak.

On this important Islamic holiday, Muslims gather with their families to "commemorate the prophet Ibrahim’s readiness to sacrifice his son in order to demonstrate his dedication to God" according to a Yahoo news story.

Known as the festival of sacrifice, Eid El-Adha is celebrated by millions of cultural groups around the world, including those in Pakistan, India, and Morocco, and of course all over the United States and in our Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

To all those who celebrate, عيد أضحى سعيد!

07/10/2022

07/10/2022

07/08/2022

For me, success has always come in small increments. I am fine with that because it means I'm doing something right and people are happy with what I do.

It is a joy to research and write issues of each month.

I'm incredibly grateful when I look at my sales page and see a few sales here and there.

Have you purchased the June issue yet? It is a HUGE issue bursting with 76 pages of the most beautiful Pride Month stories from our local community. The link is in my bio.

07/05/2022

Hard at work on the July issue of . A lot of what I do involves research. There is a lot I don’t know about the topics I write about. The solution is to read, study, research, learn, distill, and write!

Working with dandelions today!

07/04/2022

What a great day it is today! Back in 1776, our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence, signifying the birth of American independence.

Since 1941, the Fourth of July has been an annual federal holiday, though this day has been celebrated since the 18th century.

Hope you have an shading 4th of July!!!

07/02/2022

It is with extreme pleasure and excitement to announce the June issue of is now available for purchase.

This whopper 76-page publication features a total of 7 unique stories about the local LGBTQIA community from the WAshington, D.C. metropolitan area.

I spent hours upon hours interviewing wonderful, brave people who went through adversity and came out on top with sheer determination and triumph.

The purchase link is here and in the bio: https://linktr.ee/amandasocci

06/25/2022

June is not quite finished. We still have a few days before the month is done to finish up our amazing Pride Month issue. Stay tuned!

06/21/2022

Hi there! We have been working so hard to improve our links. Please check out the new and improved LinkTree! Access through our bio and right here: https://linktr.ee/amandasocci