VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

Every New Year, people sit down and write out their resolutions on the things they want to happen over the next year. The lists can be long or short, it doesn’t matter. We all have done it, but how often do you complete the goals listed? Rarely in my case; so I spent all of January doing more than just writing my New Year Resolutions, I spent time thinking about what I really wanted to see happen in 2015 and then took it a step further by listing ways to make those things happen. I also looked long and hard at the things I have been working on and doing. I evaluated each of them and the ones that weren’t taking me where I wanted to be I dropped off my list of things to work on in the New Year.  Once I was happy with the list I had, I began looking at my time and seeing if there was enough time in my week and daily to work on each item. In some cases…I didn’t. I was right back to reworking my list and making sure I was putting goals in the right priority. A few things at ...

Facebook, Twitter, text messages, emails… all of these different communication forums have greatly increased our ability to connect and communicate with others, but they’ve also done our kids a huge disservice. Instead of focusing on well-written sentences and utilizing strong vocabulary, they’ve downplayed the necessity of writing and writing well, encouraging shorthand and poor sentence structure to get a message across to others in as few characters as possible. It’s no surprise that this type of poor writing has translated into how kids approach writing at school, and it’s up to us, as parents, teachers and caregivers, to encourage children to write and write well. We can do so by: 1.        Encouraging them to keep a journal. Starting at a very young age, encourage kids to keep a journal or diary that details their daily happenings. Getting into the habit of putting pen to paper every day can help foster a love of writing and translate into wr...

You may have thought from time to time that you’d like to keep a diary or a journal. You may even have started one...or two...or who knows how many, over the years. Perhaps you are one of those people with enough self-discipline to write briefly in a diary every evening, year after year, and start a new volume each New Year’s Day! In that case, you have a pretty good record of your doings and maybe even your thoughts about them over time.   There are, however, many possibilities for journaling using various "guided" techniques. To get you started, you may want to give some thought to what you want to get out of journaling. Do you just want to record your memories, as days and months go by? Then a normal diary, or journal, is probably just what you need -- that, and a pen. But if you want to get to know yourself better, find the source of some ongoing problem in your life, or give yourself a nudge toward doing some creative writing, then you might consider one...

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 ...

Join hosts VS Grenier & Marsha Cook on February 24th 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  Writing a book can be a challenge enough but when you're looking for a place to start when searching for a writing coach, editor, publisher and someone to help with marketing, the choice are endless and many cost more than you can afford. What is a writer to do? Marsha Casper Cook and Virginia (VS) Grenier have become experts on this very subject and both know there great new companies and people out there who can help. Between them, they have over 50 years of experience with the publishing and marketing world.  Call in, post your questions in our chat room or email your questions to us here at Blog Talk Radio. Call in number - (714) 242-5259 Info at http://www.michiganavenuemedia.com/ or Visit our blog and learn more abo...