VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

Come read a great guest post on VBT - Writers On The Move: Editing—It Makes All the Difference

Writing articles can take quite a bit of time if you 'allow' the writing process to 'hold you captive' until you have finished your composition. For many it is common to sit down with the intentions of starting and completing the entire process in that one sitting. This approach contains some built in flaws which can result in adding more time to the writing process itself. The key to writing an article in a time efficient manner is to only invest your time when you have something to write. The point is most of the time invested in writing an article goes into idea generation. You need to determine your subject, the points you want to make and the angle you intend to take. This does NOT have to be done sitting there looking at a computer screen. Here are 5 tips you can use when you write an article that will allow you to be more productive and efficient in doing so. Pull Your Ideas Together Decide what it is you want to write about and jot down any ideas as t...

The One Zillion Books family has a set of books they have traditionally made sure to enjoy during the Christmas season: Hannah’s Christmas (a story about St. Lucia’s Day), The Night Before Christmas , T he Christmas Trolls , and Gloria the Christmas Angel . They will be adding Little Shepherd by Cheryl G. Malandrinos to that list.  They recommend Little Shepherd to any family looking for a fresh point of view in a familiar and beloved story. In addition, would you like to win your very own copy of Little Shepherd to share with your family?   Thanks to Cheryl G. Malandrinos, you can at the One Zillion Books site. Go to the link below to enter! http://www.onezillionbooks.com/2011/01/little-shepherd.html

Utah Children's Writers: The Two Most Powerful Words : "By Cheryl C. Malandrinos For a character driven writer—and reader—like me, a story idea begins with a character. I think about this ch..."

The Juggler—The World’s Next Superhero!  By Cheryl C. Malandrinos Telling people I am a time management expert sounds so boring. Wouldn’t it be more exciting if I told people I was a superhero? Superheroes have cool names. I would be The Juggler—faster than a speeding seven-year-old, more powerful than a mainframe computer, able to leap enormous laundry piles in a single bound… Okay, now that I have all the sillies out, let’s get serious for a moment. This is a topic that is close to the heart of many women. I’ve honestly never heard a bunch of guys huddled around the water cooler chatting about how hard it is to balance their personal lives and their careers. I think it’s that whole guilt thing. We women feel guilty when we spend time working instead of making Martha Stewart type treats and creating Currier and Ives picture perfect holidays. The only way I’ve found any kind of balance is to admit that I’ll never be Martha Stewart and to allow the edges of my picture perfect hol...

I'm happy to say the World of Ink Author/Book Tours that we started at Stories for Children Publishing have been pretty successful. We did two in December and now we have one going on this month as well. Both authors in the Dec. 2010 World of Ink Tours said they had a lot of traffic to their sites, sold a few books and felt they really made a dent in their online presence/social networking. For those who have been wondering if virtual tours help or not, I have to say they do help. But they are only one tool in your marketing plan. I also did a virtual tour last month for my picture book "Babysitting Sugarpaw". I sold a few copies, did a couple of giveaways on mommy blogs, but what I noticed was the traffic to my author site and the emails from schools for visits increased by 15%! That was really nice. I'm currently lining up some visits for the Spring, so I'll have to let you know how those turn out later. Anyway, if you would like to follow a v...

For Immediate Release Cheryl Malandrions Guest on RRRadio-RFK: Stories for Children –January 3rd   Blog Talk Radio’s Robin Falls Kids Show: Stories for Children with hosts (VS Grenier, D.M. Cunningham and Tiffany Strelitz Haber) will be chatting with author Cheryl Malandrions about her book “Little Shepherd.”   They’ll also discuss writing, the publishing industry and Cheryl’s experiences with virtual tours. Cheryl Malandrions will also be sharing writing tips, and trials and tribulations of the writer’s life. The show will be live, January 3, 2011 at 1pm EST (12pm Central, 11am MST, and 10am PST). Tune in at the RRRadio’s site at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rrradio or listen/call in at (646) 595-4478. (Note: The show is also available on demand at the same link.) In addition, Stories for Children Publishing will be touring Cheryl Malandrions’ book, “Little Shepherd” all month long. Find her World of Ink Author/Book Tour schedule at http://storiesforchildrenpublish...

Indecision by Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ  Indecision often times hinders us from achieving goals we have set for ourselves. Indecision  can cause regrets. How many times have you said to yourself, "If only I..." or "I wish I had..."  or "If I only did it another way, then..." Where there is indecision, there is no resolution. Instead of being convicted to a decision, a  stand or a principle, indecision causes us to 'swing' from one side to the other; to take one  step forward only to take two steps back. Indecision breeds reluctance. And where there is reluctance, there is a certain fear -- fear  of trying, fear of doing, fear of failing and yes, even fear of succeeding. This week, you will come face to face with your indecision. Freewrite for ten to fifteen minutes. Based on your freewrite, go on and craft an essay,  story or poem. ~ Monday: Think of something you wanted to do last week but did not do. What was it? Why did...

These 7 *sparks* to jumpstart your writing come from Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ, created WriteSparks!- a software that generates over 10 *million* Story Sparkers for Writers.     1. It was Erica Jong who said, "If you don't risk anything, you risk more." Write about what this means to you.   2. You come home and check your phone messages. You get your third message and freeze. Begin from there.   3. It was Herman Melville who said, "We become sad in the first place because we have nothing stirring to do." Write about what stirs you.   4. This dialogue must appear somewhere in your story: "You know what else her husband doesn't know?"   5. Use any or all of the following in a short narrative or poem: "as dense as a London fog," "a slate of solace," "like oil and water," "wound the clock," and "receding as you please."   6. Christina Cruz and Scott Peters meet after a failed experiment. O...