VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

Do you keep or have you kept a journal or diary? If so, you probably already know some of the benefits of journaling because you've experienced them. You know that your journal helps you make sense of the senseless side of your life. A journal can be an emotional lifesaver when you go through a hard time. But did you know that scientists believe journaling can even keep you physically healthy? The release of pent-up emotions you pour into your journal every day actually helps reduce the symptoms of arthritis and asthma, and strengthens your immune system. This really makes sense if you consider that much illness is exacerbated by stress, and a journal is one of the best stress reducers out there. Journaling gives you a record of your emotional growth like no other. While it can be useful at times to be able to look back and see just when your neighbor moved in or when you started suffering from headaches, the intangible changes in you can be even more fascinating to look back...

In a lot of the writing groups and conferences I've been to the topic of research has come up from time to time. There are many different opinions on the subject, and many will tell you research is only necessary when you are writing about something you know very little to nothing about. But is this really the case and if it is, does your writing suffer from not doing research all the time? After writing many short stories and picture books for young readers, my opinion on doing research might be very different from yours. I have always felt research is critical no matter how much I know or don't know about a certain subject. There is always something I learn each time, even on topics I know a lot about as things are always changing, and changing fast sometimes these days. However, I thought I was just one of the weird writers out there feeling this way until I took a research workshop with James Patterson, who had this to say about research. "Research really he...

Jack Remick is a poet, short story writer and novelist. In 2012, Coffeetown Press published the first two volumes of Jack’s California Quartet series, The Deification and Valley Boy . The final two volumes will be released in 2013: The Book of Changes and Trio of Lost Souls . Blood, A Nove l was published by Camel Press, an imprint of Coffeetown Press, in 2011. VS: I want to thank you for being my guest here on The Writing Mama today. What do you do to help balance your writing life with your family life? Jack: I am married to a world class quilter, Helen Remick ( http://helenremick.com ) who understands the world of art and writing. We share a creative life that connects writing to family to quilting. I am fortunate to have this situation because I know a lot of writers struggle to find the balance. Without Helen to hold up half the sky, I wouldn’t be free to enter the novel world at all. VS: How long have you been writing? Jack: My entry into the writing u...

When most authors first start writing, they dream of entering bookshops and seeing rows of shelves full of books with their names on them. This is all well and good but not everybody is going to be able to get the first manuscript that they submit accepted by a publisher and in the meantime, aspiring authors still have bills to pay. Okay, so  J.K. Rowling  might have got the first book that she ever sent off picked up by an agent and gone on to become the biggest name in  children’s books  but stories like hers are few and far between. The reality is that authors often need to earn a living writing books that they get no credit for throughout the early stages of their career, which lots of people don’t particularly like but can mean the difference between biding your time until you can class yourself as a professional writer and making enough to get by whilst waiting for your big break. Finding Somebody to Write For   There are two ways that...