VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

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 writing much more than just the

Putting words together and making them sound nice is your ‘thing’. You are the go-to person for friends, families, colleagues and clients come to you to for writing inspiration. You know when you meet a comedian and ask them to tell you a joke and they stare at your speechless, well sometimes you are unable to perform because of writer’s block, and you have been put on the spot! Here are 5 activities writers can do to help them get over that pesky block.  Exercise: Shape up and clear your mind, it’s a win, win! Doing something simple as going for a 30 minute walk or joining an hour fitness class can help you. Exercise is good for increasing your heart rate, blow flow and releasing those natural ‘good feelings’ called endorphins. When that block stands in your way, grab your tennis shoes and head to the gym.  Nap: Sometimes writers get discouraged and find difficulty writing all because they are tired. This is a perfect time to take that catnap you daydream about it. The b

I want to encourage all of you to join us at this exciting event! Regardless of your level of writing experience—from the published author to the uninitiated, never-before-published authors!—this conference has something significant for every participant! Below is a short description of our speakers and their topics for your information and planning! This year, because of the diversity of topics, the number of speakers I was able to procure, and trying to fit everything in during the two days of the event, we have break-out sessions during each day’s programming. I think we have prepared the sessions in such a way that everyone will be able to attend speakers who will be most helpful and informative. Don’t forget that our “Early Bird” registration takes place prior to August 1st, 2012. Take advantage of the significant savings as well as helping us with the organization and planning. Also, the Lexington Hotel, the site of the conference, has reserved a block of

I teach writing for my local college's continuing educational program. I love meeting with beginning writers each week and sharing the basics. However, I'm always surprised to find many of them haven't even sat down to write the story building inside them or at least log the ideas they have for story lines. So my advice to you today if you want to start down the road of becoming a writer...The Time to Start Writing is Now! Some Idea Starters For beginning writers (and something I learned when I studied at the Institute of Children's Literature), I have found using visual aids to spark an idea is always a great way to begin the process of writing. You can do this to draft an actually short story or book for submission to just using it as a writing exercise.  Study the pictures I have below or pick one of your own from a magazine, old photo album, etc. Study the pictures and select one that appeals to you most.  Also, keep in mind your target readership with pi

Please join hosts VS Grenier & Marsha Cook on January 13th at 1PM EST – 12PM CT – 11AM MT – 10AM PST. 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. Producer J.D. Holiday will be working our chat room for any questions you may have. This show is a discussion based. You can call in, post your questions in our chat room or email your questions to us here. Call in number - (714) 242-5259 Info at http://www.michiganavenuemedia.com/ Listen live or on demand here What is Success show 01/13 by WorldOfInkNetwork

Whether you have lived a rough life or had a silver spoon in your mouth, it is normal to want to write your memoirs. This is especially true if you are getting up into middle age or beyond. Otherwise, it could be a pretty short story. Assuming you are ready to put 40 years or more down on paper, here are some tips for maximizing the effect of your finished work. First of all, give yourself plenty of time for a project like this. You are going to remember things as you work through the memories that are freshest in your mind. For this reason, it makes sense to give yourself lots of time, even as much as a year or more. Hopefully, you have a supply of old photographs you will be going through at the same time. But even if you don't, you can dig out those memories that are buried within. A good place to start is with a general time line of your life. You may find that you need to make more than one draft of this line, because you are likely to remember important

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