VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

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...

Award-winning author Hope Irvin Marston recently release her newest book Eye on the Iditarod: Aisling´s Quest, which is a biography written as an autobiography and published by Windward Publishing (An imprint of Finney Company). Eye on the Iditarod: Aisling´s Quest is Marston´s thirty-second children´s book. "It´s a biography of Aisling (pronounced "Ashley") Lara Shepherd whose goal is to some day run her own dogs in the famous Iditarod sled dog race held each March in Alaska," shared Marston. "Born legally blind, from the time Aisling was three she loved watching sled dog racing on television. My book, written from information Aisling shared with me in hundreds of e-mail letters, follows her through the mushing season the year she is eleven. That memorable year she conquered obstacles, dealt with heartbreak and loss and achieved victories, while keeping her eye on the Iditarod." In 2008, when Aisling was ten y...

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...

Hope Irvin Marston is a member of the New York State Retired Teachers, the Greater Thousand Islands Literacy Council, the Jeff-Lewis Librarians Association, and the Adirondack Center for Writing, the St. Lawrence County Arts Council, the North Country Arts Council and SCBWI. She organized the Black River Valley Writers Club and served as its leader for several years. In addition to writing 32 children’s books and several adult titles, Hope has been on staff for Christian Writers Conferences at Hephzibah Heights (MA), Montrose Bible Conference (PA) and at St. Davids Christian Writers Conference at Beaver Falls, PA. She has taught creative writing workshops at Jefferson Community College, the Jefferson-Lewis Teacher Center and the North Country Arts Council. Her picture book series, MY LITTLE BOOK COLLECTION (Windward), has grown to eight titles thus far and has 125,000 books in print. She has a new release, Eye on the Iditarod: Aisling’s Quest, which is suitable fo...

Come join VS Greiner each Monday on BTR’s World of Ink Network's The Stories for Children Show. Airs live 2pm EST - 1pm CT - 12pm MT - 11am PST The idea of this show is to bring children's authors together with their readers. Each show our listeners will learn about a new or award-winning author, their books and the inspiration behind their writing. This week Kasey Crawford Kellem, creator of the Mind Over Matter (M.O.M.) Books will be joining the show. Kellem, a School Counselor and former Special Education Teacher, has devoted her life to helping children facing adversity. She has earned a Bachelors Degree and Masters Degree in Special Education and an Educational Specialist Degree in Counseling.  The Mind Over Matter Books are geared towards young children to help them learn how to be resilient. These books are designed to also serve as decorations in a child’s bedroom or playroom on book shelves, nightstands, or desks. BELIEVE is the first of five b...

Kasey Crawford Kellem, a School Counselor and former Special Education Teacher, has devoted her life to helping children facing adversity be resilient. Kasey created Mind Over Matter (M.O.M.) books to teach children skills to overcome life’s challenges. She has earned a Bachelor’s Degree and Masters Degree in Special Education and an Educational Specialist Degree in Counseling. She is a devoted wife, stepmother, sister, daughter and counselor. Kellem is touring her first book in the Mind Over Matter (M.O.M) Books, BELIEVE , which just released and is the first of five books emphasizing the important factors for resiliency. In this book, children will learn to BELIEVE in their possibilities. You can get a sneak peek of the book BELIEVE and listen to an interview with Kasey Crawford Kellem at http://youtu.be/L_PPnSHXzzY .   The additional M.O.M Books are due to release soon later in 2012: LOVE ; LAUGH ; RELAX and DREAM . VS: Kasey, it is wonderful to have you here with us t...

Kasey Crawford Kellem, a School Counselor and former Special Education Teacher, has devoted her life to helping children facing adversity be resilient. Kasey created a series of book for kids titled Mind Over Matter (M.O.M.) Books to teach children skills to overcome life´s challenges. She has earned a Bachelor´s Degree and Masters Degree in Special Education and an Educational Specialist Degree in Counseling. Many may wonder if this counselor turned author truly follows what she teaches others. Kellem shared a little about the process of finding publisher. She said, "I followed my own resiliency philosophy of BELIEVING I will find someone who believes in me! After one publisher declined my book despite a few months of correspondences, I simply put out a facebook post and one of my former students set me up with his sister´s publishing company. Lisa Mina from Halo Publishing International loved my books and their purpose! She focuses on children´s books, Christian bo...

Kasey Crawford Kellem is a school counselor and a former Special Education teacher. She has recently devoted her life to helping children who face adversity to be resilient. Kellem created a series of children’s books titled Mind Over Matter, or M.O.M Books, to help teach preschoolers to be resilient. Kellem believes by starting at a young age we can teach our children the skills to overcome life’s challenges. “Everyone faces tumultuous times in their lives,” Kellem shared and this couldn’t be more true. Kellem said she grew up in a traditional nuclear family that included her mom, dad and three sisters. She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Special Education. She also has an Educational Specialist Degree in counseling. While growing up, Kellem said, “I played a lot of sports and percussion instruments in band. I was pretty much the class clown. I knew then laughter helps people get through some rotten times.” Read more:   http://blogcritics.org/books/article/intervi...

As writers, we write to be understood. To get our message across without any hitches. To express what we really mean in clear and un-vague terms. That's why we have to use precise words. And this is achieved by using accurate and expressive words. When someone asks you, "How are you?" What's your normal reply? You probably say, "I'm OK." OK, well, most of us tend to give a reply along that line. But the thing is, with that kind of reply, do you think the person who asked you will have a clear idea of how you really are? I mean, if someone sincerely wanted to know how you are, she would expect a clear answer. Let's face it, "OK" is a vague term. How OK are you exactly? OK as in really great? OK as in, "I'm getting by..."? OK as in "Gosh, I'm dying here!" Well, you get the picture. People tend to be lazy to express exactly what they mean. Words like, "OK," "Nice," "Fine,...

Hope Irvin Marston is a member of the New York State Retired Teachers, the Greater Thousand Islands Literacy Council, the Jeff-Lewis Librarians Association, and the Adirondack Center for Writing, the St. Lawrence County Arts Council, the North Country Arts Council and SCBWI. She organized the Black River Valley Writers Club and served as its leader for several years.             In addition to writing thirty-two children’s books and several adult titles, Hope has been on staff for Christian Writers Conferences at Hephzibah Heights (MA), Montrose Bible Conference (PA) and at St. Davids Christian Writers Conference at Beaver Falls, PA. She has taught creative writing workshops at Jefferson Community College, the Jefferson-Lewis Teacher Center and the North Country Arts Council.             Her picture book series, MY LITTLE BOOK COLLECTION (Windward), has grown to eight ti...