VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

When I started this blog in 2010, it was a way for me to get myself back into writing after having my daughter and closing Stories for Children Magazine after a successful run. I did a lot of different type of blog posts and then I got busy with other things and didn't keep up with blogging the way I had when I first started out. Fast forward to six years later and I'm coming back to the basics of what this blog is about with a few new twists.  Frist, I'm a mom. I love being a mom and I love doing things (even crazy things) with my kids. My two girls are starting to get into YouTube and are making videos, which I produce for them. So you may catch one of their videos on my blog from time to time. Second, I'm an author. I love to write books for kids and teens. I may one day try my hand at adult novels, but for now, I'm writing what makes me happy. I'm working on a few different stories and it is tough to find the time to write, but I'm making that ti...

I know I haven't been the best lately with sharing about my writing course with James Patterson and also my reading challenge for 2016. Life just seemed to get in the way, and I found myself off track and not writing like I've wanted to. So here I am trying to get myself back on a schedule of some kind and making time to write not only on my blog but also my books. I am happy to say that I have completed one of my novel outlines. I'm in the final stages and ready to begin the writing process. I'm really happy with how the outline turned out and I feel it was a great way to begin as there were things I didn't even think about putting in the book and things I just didn't see or notice until I went back through the outline and saw how they did or didn't work. Outlining is key I think for any writer and something all traditional publishers and agents ask to see before taking on a new author or when working with a new author after signing them. Hopefully, t...

Okay, I'm still plugging away for NaNo. Here is the opening of the book. Let me know what you think. Remember, we are supposed to type and not edit along the way as it slows you down. So this is first draft and very rough. The chill air burned with every intake, sweat beaded at her hairline and moistened the back of her neck. The thudding of each heartbeat blocked all other sounds. She paused to listen. The night was calm, no sounds. The eerie silence made the hairs on her arms stiffen. Where was he? He was close; she knew it—but where? A snapping twig caught her attention. Pushing her dark brown wavy locks from her hot, flushed face, she cranes her head to strain her ears for sound. She shivers, but not from the cold night air. Hot foul breath brushes by at the base of her neck. She turns to face him. His eyes are dark, unmoved and filled with something she has never seen before, yet cannot describe. “Why are you doing this? Please, just let me go home.” The words ba...

I decided it was time to take my outline and short scene I did for a writing workshop and finally make it into the novel I've talked about for many years. What makes this novel so special to me isn't the fact I'm doing it for NaNo, but the fact it is based on true events from my junior year of high school. The main character is a mirror of myself in that year. The emotions I felt when I lost my best friend have never wholly been shared. I have rarely (and very lightly) talked about this event to anyone. I have never faced down this time in my life and I hope during this process I finally heal completely. A few words to my dear friend: Dear Jennifer, This is the first time in 20 odd years I have opened myself up since your passing. I think of you often and I have never forgot all the times we spent together. You truly were my best friend even though you left us all at such a young age. You were just stepping onto the path of life when it was suddenly and tragically...

It's Saturday October 19th and the St. George area community begins making its way into the Lexington Hotel Ballroom. It's still early as authors are setting up their tables to greet, talk and sign books for eager lovers of the written word...and it's only 9am. The day is just beginning. David W. Smith and VS Grenier welcome those who have begun to show up. It's time to get the Book Expo underway and all the exciting events Smith and Grenier have planned for the day. Guest speaker John Sebba shares some poetry with our gathered audience before winners of the 2013 Youth Poetry is announced. Author and poet Lin Floyd steals the show as she announces the 2013 Youth Poetry winners. Many of the winners are present to not only receive their award, but also to read their poems to all in attendance. Now for a bit of fun. David W. Smith and VS Grenier have added another fun treat to the St. George Book Festival this year beyond the Charity Dinner Friday Night (Oct....

  I have been working over the last few months, along with my co-chair David W. Smith, on the relaunch of the St. George Book Festival. It's been a lot of work and I've enjoyed every minute of it. I have been interviewed, quoted, etc. ever since October hit and as the week came closer to the big event (Oct. 14-19, 2013). What I didn't expect was making the front page as the lead story in my local paper.  You can imagine the shock and surprise I felt as I walked into the ballroom of the Lexington Hotel on Saturday October 19th for the final and biggest event of the book festival week...the Book Expo where we had over 30 authors there to talk, sell an autograph their books for Washington County, Utah community for free, to see many of the authors holding up the front page of The Spectrum where I was not only the lead story but also half the page had this picture above printed with it.  I don't think we are ever prepared to see ourselves in the spotlight as an a...

David W. Smith and I as co-chairs of the St. George Book Festival were interviewed for this Sunday paper. We are both really excited about the changes we have made and bringing back some of the things our community loves from this festival that is state wide in Utah. The blurb and article link are below. We invite all those living close or who can travel to join us Oct. 14-19, 2013. The deadlines to RSVP and get a booth have been extended to Oct. 16th. A new chapter: Book Festival returns with 2013 Utah Poet of the Year and charity dinner in St. George, Utah. Read more at http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20131012/LIFESTYLE/310120007/A-new-chapter-Book-Festival-returns-Utah-Poet-Year

Speakers & Events 2013 St. George Area Book Festival October 14th—19th, 2013 Jon Sebba, 2013 Utah Poet of the Year Recipient, was born in South Africa. As a student in Jerusalem, he worked cataloging 19th Century medical journals, as well as at the Hydrology Institute. He also worked as a laborer in the construction of Jerusalem apartment buildings and of evaporation lagoons at the Dead Sea (1400 feet below sea level) with summer temperatures topping 115°F. When the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six Day War began, he was married with one child. As a reservist, he was mobilized to fight in Jerusalem. Among the things he learned from that experience are: death in war is random; wars should definitely be avoided; and given the choice, few soldiers would ever start one. In 1968, Jon immigrated to the US to study civil engineering, arriving the day before Rev. Martin Luther King was assassinated. En route, he worked as a lorry driver in London for four months. He has ...