VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

Alyce Joy was blessed with four children for whom she composed bedtime verses every night. That inspired her to publish a children’s book of prayers, entitled, “Priceless Gems.” When her children were grown, she began to write stories for her grandchildren. Always fascinated with arts and crafts, she taught herself the art of pyrography. This fired her imagination, and she started burning life-sized pictures of wildlife onto all the doors of her home. Her wood burnings are scattered through the U.S. and Canada. After deciding to put away her burning tools and torches, she enrolled in, and graduated from the Institute of Children’s Literature. VS: Thank you for taking time to be here today, Alyce. To get things started is your family supportive of your writing? Alyce Joy: Very! When I enrolled in the Children’s Institute of Literature, it was near Christmas. My goodness, they bought (My Family) me everything I could possibly need.   A friend gave me her old com...

BTR’s World of Ink Network show: Families Matter with hosts Kecia Burcham, Irene Roth and VS Grenier. The Families Matter show airs live once a month on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 6pm EST - 5pm CST - 4pm MST - 3pm PDT The idea of this show on BTR’s World of Ink Network is to have guests and listeners (adults or kids) share information to help empower children and their families. Our August show topic: Parent Report Cards Educators exasperated by the need for greater parent involvement have persuaded Tennessee lawmakers to sign off on a novel bit of arm-twisting: Asking parents to grade themselves on report cards. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/10/parent-report-cards-are-novel-way-to-boost-support/#ixzz23l9QmcSG We invite our listeners to call-in or share through the chatroom questions or their stories. Learn more at the Families Matter blog http://familiesmatter2us.blogspot.com You can find out more about us at http://worldofinknetwork.com Listen to th...

Sands Hetherington majored in history at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and has an M.F.A. in creative writing and an M.A. in English from UNC-Greensboro. When I asked him to share a bit more about himself, his response was, "I'm an old man living by a lake on the edge of town with two Saint Bernards, Dudley and Maggie. I go to a gym on weekday afternoons and the grocery store on Saturdays." However, don´t let Sands´ response fool you. He has a sense of humor, which is laced throughout his debut children´s chapter book series Night Buddies. The series is a straight-out fantasy, lights-out adventure that will delight young readers and middle graders who relish roller coaster fun, filled with unforgettable characters and an astonishing and inventive collection of magical whatchamacallits. Having said that, Sands shared, "I did have New York City in the back of my mind when I set them (the books) in the Borough." Of course, anyone who l...

Come join host VS Grenier and Irene Roth on BTR’s World of Ink Network's The Stories for Children Show August 20, 2012 live at 2pm EST - 1pm CT - 12pm MT - 11am PDT We bring children's authors together with their readers. This week come meet author Alyce Joy of the fantasy children's chapter book adventure...KA-BOOM! Sprout is a fairy from Spritesville, Ohio. Her given name is Sprunetta Brunetta. She doesn’t like it, because she thinks it sounds too much like somebody’s wicked sister. Sprout is not a perfect fairy. She has a wild shoe fetish and is always getting into some kind of trouble. To say the least, it was an explosive meeting between Taylor and Sprout. Taylor’s dollhouse blows up and her wary investigation finds Sprout among its wreckage. The little girl obviously thinks Sprout is a bad, fibbin’ fairy and the fun is about to begin. Get a sneak peek of the book at http://youtu.be/Hq9sfmzH0-w Available wherever books are sold and online. A...

As a mom of three kids I find myself always putting out some type of disagreement. I don't pretend to be wonderful at handling those situations and by the time I'm on round 5, 6, 7...12 my level of calm is pretty much out the door so when I saw this article I thought I would check it out. I'm not going to say I'll do everything they suggest or that I agree 100% but it was an interesting read and one I wanted to share. How to Stop Siblings From Fighting If I find any of this helps the craziness in my household of three kids (ages ranging from 16 to 2), I'll let you know.

Anyone that writes from home, whether for a living or pleasure, knows that some days are easier than other days. Sometimes you sit down and the words just flow so beautifully together that it seems as if it i s being channeled. Other times putting a simple sentence together is such a chore. This is especially true when you are writing at home and you have children. Writing at home with children, telephone calls, doorbells ringing, and one minor emergency after another can be very difficult. I am not sure how anyone else handles this as a writer. I am sure that everyone has their own ways and creative solutions for find time to write. Even other adults have a hard time with the fact that writing is work. The fact that you are home makes you easily accessible to phone calls and interruptions. I was reading an article about how many popular authors started in their careers. Many of them had similar situations, only finding time to jot down sentences here and there. J K Rowli...

Title: Vin and the Dorky Duet Publisher: Halo Publishing Int. & MuseItUp Publishing (Canadian e-book publisher) ISBN: 978-1-61244-091-0 (paperback) ISBN: 978-1-77127-073-1 (eBook) Genre of Book: Children’s Chapter Book Adventure About the Book: A twelve-year-old boy named Vin, goes on a mission—reluctantly. He doesn’t share the optimism of the knights of old who embarked on impossible missions without a doubt they’d succeed. When m agnetic compost heaps, man-eating bubble baths and other disasters erupt, Vin comes close to packing in the whole ridiculous business. He calls it Operation BS, his code name for a mission to introduce his sister to a boy she has a crush on. He doesn’t want to play matchmaker, but Meg’s promise to reward him with a David Beckham autographed soccer jersey is a decisive incentive. Overall Thoughts: If you are a fan of the Captain Underpants or Whimpy Kid series then you'll like this chapter book by Maggie Lyons. The main chara...

2012 HWG Fall Conference Hello Writers! As the president for this year’s HWG Fall Conference for writers, I want to encourage all of you to join us at this exciting event! Regardless of your level of writing experience—from the published author to the uninitiated, never-before-published authors!—this conference has something significant for every participant! On this page you will find a short description of our speakers and their topics for your information and planning! This year, because of the diversity of topics, the number of speakers I was able to procure, and trying to fit everything in during the two days of the event, we have break-out sessions during each day’s programming. I think we have prepared the sessions in such a way that everyone will be able to attend speakers who will be most helpful and informative. Don’t forget that our “Early Bird” registration takes place prior to August 20th, 2012. Take advantage of the significant savings as wel...