VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

Mikey Brooks is a small child masquerading as adult. On occasion you’ll find him dancing the funky chicken, singing like a banshee, and pretending to have never grown up. He is the author/illustrator of several books including BEAN’S DRAGONS , the ABC ADVENTURES series, and author of the middle-grade fantasy-adventure novel, THE DREAM KEEPER . He spends most of his time playing with his daughters and working as a freelance illustrator. Mikey has a BS degree in Creative Writing from Utah State University. He is also one of the hosts of the Authors’ Think Tank Podcast . VSG: I want to thank you for being my guest here on The Writing Mama today. Mikey: It is my pleasure. I am happy to be on a show that helps promote writing for mommies and daddies. VSG : What do you do to help balance your writing life with your family life? Mikey: The best thing for me to do is remember that have more than one role in life and each of those roles requires my attention. Having

Today we have debut author Traci McDonald sharing her thoughts on writing, revision and critique groups.   A few years ago, I was listening to a series of audio books, while recovering from a kidney transplant. These particular novels were topping the best seller lists and taking the country by storm. I hated them. The characters were underdeveloped, the story line was too slow, and I was not engaged in the plot…blah, blah, blah. I can do better than this, I told myself. If I know what’s wrong with these books, then I can write better ones. Armed with my sure knowledge of how to be a great writer I set out to write a series of stories that would top this pathetic group I had been reading.  A year and a half later, I can’t read what I wrote; it is so bad. What was I thinking? Well, I was thinking that a little talent and determination are all you need to write good stories. While that may be true, being a great writer in your own head leaves your stories good for… on