VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

I am very excited about the June 18-22, 2012, Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference in Sandy, Utah. This year WIFYR is offering its first annual fellowship of $1000! For all children's authors seeking to be published and/or improve their work, Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers is the conference not to be missed. This year the five-day conference offers nine morning workshops for the chance to get your manuscript critiqued by an experience author/illustrator/ editor faculty and afternoon classes. http://www.wifyr. com/ Check it out and register on line! This year the conference is sponsoring it's first-annual Writing Contest and Scholarship. Don't miss you chance at a $1,000 AWARD!!!! http://www.wifyr. com/blog/ 2012/03/09/ 1rst-annual- wifyr-writing- competition- and-fellowship- award/ " You know you want to register! You know you want the moolah! This conference is fantastic!

Join hosts VS Grenier & Marsha Cook on March 23 at 1PM EST – 12PM CT – 11AM MT – 10AM PST. This is a discussion based show. Marsha and Virginia will be happy to take your calls if you have questions. Call in number - 714-242-5259 This week's guest: Jo-Anne Vandermeulen a Canadian author , expert blogger , producer and hostess of “ Authors Articulating ” on Blogtalkradio, founder and marketer of the online marketing business—“ Premium Promotional Services ”. Call in, post your questions in our chat room during the show or email your questions to us here at Blog Talk Radio. Also stop by our NEW website http://worldofinknetwork.com and learn more about the hosts and our shows, plus services we offer. Listen to the show at the link below What Is Success Show with VS Grenier and Marsha Casper Cook 03/23 by WorldOfInkNetwork | Blog Talk Radio

Instead of the usual article, here are 31 story sparkers you can try out over the next several days. Have fun! First Lines Use these to start your story. 1. It was a gift her mother gave her on her eighteenth birthday. 2. The door slammed with finality. 3. Alice tried to remember who had given her the key. Cliche Starters Use these cliches to spark a story. 4. burn the midnight oil 5. bed and board 6. an idle mind is the devil's playground 7. the raw end of the deal 8. keep your fingers crossed Random Story Words Use each set of words in your story. 9. lab instructor, computer, garden, spinach 10. painter, cooking oil, hallway, cake 11. prisoner, ruler, stairwell, running shoes 12. flight attendant, torn page, river, cookie jar 13. security guard, broccoli, kitchen, hat Quick Prompts Use these to jumpstart your writing. 14. Write about how a first kiss should feel like. 15. What do you usually do on Sunday? 16. Write about what you'd cook for an enem...

Utah Children's Writers: What is Fiction with VS Grenier : I loved how the ICL broke down what fiction is to a writer when I first began my journey down the world of ink. They say, “Fiction is something made up—a story that originates in the mind of its creator and is then set down in writing. The whole idea is to use language in wildly creative ways, invent incredible worlds and develop wonderful—sometimes crazy—characters and plots.” Simply put, fiction is based on facts or circumstances from our everyday lives. You can use memories, real events or even elements of facts you have learned in school, from an article, documentary or book, however, fiction only has touches of truth. The rest of fiction is an altered reality that seems real, but isn’t. Things happening can be plausible or not even possible as long as you can get your reader to believe in what is happen and suspend their disbelief.   Read the full blog post at http://utahchildrenswriters.blogspot.com/20...

I was asked by a long time friend and writer to share a bit about my past and how I started out as a writer, editor and founder of Stories for Children Publishing. I welcome you to stop by and leave a comment. “SPECIAL GUEST POST”: Virginia Grenier – From Buyer to Writer I am so excited to be finally welcoming a very special guest whom I have known,  oh gosh!, for a few years now, since she critiqued a draft of my novel (still a work in progress), after I found her on the internet.  Very green and not knowing anything about how to approach editors or agents, or about writing in general,  I remember my email asking if she would take a look and tell me whether it was worth my while continuing or should we just bin my story.   Her warm and surprising email was the catalyst to my writing life today, and I still have that email.  She is also the angel who came to my rescue with a copy of the critiqued novel, on hearing my copy had been st...

Join hosts VS Grenier & Marsha Cook on March 9 at 1PM EST – 12PM CT – 11AM MT – 10AM PST.  This is a discussion based show. Marsha and Virginia will be happy to take your calls if you have questions. Call in number - 714-242-5259  Special Show with Meg LaBorde Kuehn (pronounced “keen”), Chief Operating Officer of Kirkus Media     Meg LaBorde Kuehn began her career in publishing almost 14 years ago as a literary publicist. She was executive vice president and then chief operating officer of Greenleaf Book Group and later served as deputy publisher at Bard Press. Meg has worked with more than 300 authors, launched multiple bestsellers and was profiled in Publishers Weekly’s “50 under 40” feature. Kirkus recruited Meg in February 2011 to the position of vice president of business development and then named her chief operating officer in January 2012. About Kirkus - Founded in 1933, Kirkus has been an authoritative voice in book discovery for almo...

Come listen to a special Writing Mama show March 5 , 2012 at 6pm EST - 5pm CT - 4pm MST - 3pm PT. BTR’s World of Ink Network: The Writing Mama show with hosts VS Grenier and Irene Roth will be chatting with author Magdalena Ball. Magdalena Ball is the author of the newly released novel (for adult readers) Black Cow, Sleep Before Evening, Repulsion Thrust, and a wide number of collaborations, anthologies and poetry chapbooks. Grab a a free mini flip book of Black Cow here: http://www.bewritebooks.com/ mb/BlackCow/BlackCow.html The Writing Mama show will air live, March 5 , 2012 at 6pm EST. You can listen/call in at (714) 242-5259. For more information on Magdalena visit: http://www.magdalenaball.com Learn more about The World of Ink Network, our shows, hosts and services at Our blog http://worldofinknetwork.blogspot.com or our NEW website http://worldofinknetwork.com Listen to the show at the this link The Writing Mama Show with Host VS Grenier 03/05 by Worl...

Writer, write with passion. The kind of writing you produce shall oftentimes reflect the current state of your emotions. Be indifferent and your writing will be indifferent. Be cheerful and watch the words dance across your page. Whenever you sit down to write, put your heart and soul in it. Write with passion. Write as if you won't live tomorrow. Writer, write with purpose. Be goal-oriented. Do you write everyday with the purpose of getting published tomorrow? Writer, write with awareness. Be alert. Be observant. Extraordinary things happen to ordinary people. Your job as a writer is to capture as many of these things and write them down, weave stories, and create characters that jump out of the pages of your notebook. Don't let anything escape your writer's eye, not even the way the old man tries to subtly pick his nose or the way an old lady fluffs her hair in a diner. What you can't use today, you can use tomorrow so it is good to store these in ...