VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

The Writing Mama show is on Mondays and hosted by Mom's Choice and Award-winning Author Virginia S Grenier, who is joined weekly by guest authors to talk about the writing and publishing industry, and their books. This week on Monday June 9, 2014 our guest is Dorothy Smaniotto, whose son Alex created and illustrated the Buhdeedoo. Alex is a young man with Asperger's Syndrome. He was diagnosed at the age of 6, but has never let that diagnosis slow him down. As Alex puts it, "I embrace my Asperger's rather than look at it as a disability." Dorothy is the author of her own book called "The Burgundy Journey: Using Hope, Humor & Faith To Conquer Adversity--No Matter What." The book tells the story of her struggles with a rare, incurable autoimmune disease that has caused numerous health issues. It also details how Alex was physically attacked by classroom aides in his previous public school and the emotional scars left with him. For...

Inspiration for writing Gabriela and The Widow by Jack Remick In one way or another, fiction is autobiographical but the story doesn’t have to be, as they blare out on TV, “based on a true story.” It’s the other way around—the novel, the fiction becomes part of the author’s autobiography. The novel is an expression of being. The author puts a writer into every story and that writer is the narrator. For Gabriela and the Widow, the autobiographical stimulus, call it the impulse to write, came when I visited my mother to celebrate her 92 nd birthday. For the last few years, my mother’s caregiver has been Gabriela. I watched as Gabriela fed her, dressed her, bathed her, combed her hair and put her to bed. But for Gabriela, this wasn’t just a job. She had a connection to my mother that was true, real, and honest. She didn’t change her behavior for my visits. She didn’t coo and perform, so I knew that what I saw was the real Gabriela and the real Mother. And there was somet...

Sometimes not only your heart is blind, which happens to be situation with Cassie Taylor, the heroine in this non-stop suspenseful romantic thriller. About the Book: Killing Casanova is based in the small ranch community of Lindley, Nevada where Jake Caswell claims the skills and reputation of infamous womanizer ‘Casanova’, until he meets Cassie Taylor, who is seemingly oblivious to Jake’s irresistible charms. Jake determines to add Cassie to Casanova’s list of conquests and unknowingly pulls her into his troubled life. Cassie uncovers old tragic wounds and a world of violence she did not expect, and her own life is at risk from Casanova’s enemies. Worse, she fears the truth about him will leave her heart as the next victim of Casanova’s flawed perceptions. Will Cassie be able to uncover the man behind the mask amidst the threat of peril? Is there hope for love in a tangled web of danger    and blind distrust? Overall Thoughts: I really enjoyed Killing Casano...