VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

The Month of October is finally here and with it comes not only National Book Month...but the St. George Book Festival! I have been director of the book festival for the past three years and even though I don't get to be involved like all the other authors, poets, readers and families get to, I still enjoy this festival more than any other event in my hometown. Why? Book festivals, conferences and writing workshops are a time for those who love to read and write to network, shine and just enjoy the joys of literacy. The month of October is one of the busiest months with so much to offer all around the United States. Just hop online and Google "book festival" and see what pops up. You'll be surprised at the list and list of events all over. There is so much to do during the week of October 19th thru October 24th in St. George during our book festival from Author appearances, Speaker Panel Discussions, a Poetry Slam, Contests, Writing Workshop, Performanc...

Today's post comes from Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ, WriteSparks! creator Write Possibilities We writers are a powerful lot. We control time. We dictate actions. We control destinies. We can make two completely opposite people fall in love with each other, and we can create family feuds that can last for centuries. We can make our heroine travel back in time to rescue her soulmate, and we can give the most villainous person the punishment she deserves. We can take our characters to the most exotic places and give them their own adventures. Simply put, we writers can create our own possibilities. In our world, nothing is impossible. Try creating your own possibilities using the given prompts below. There are 4 givens: theme, setting, character and key object. Randomly pick 1 from each and use these to start off your piece. Themes : deception, irony, love lost, infidelity, rejection Characters: chemist, divorced woman, doctor, teacher, singer K...

WOI: Hear My Heart Books Owner Fawn Nielsen Speaks on Children in Crisis 08/26 by WorldOfInkNetwork | Family Podcasts Welcome to the featured World of Ink Network here on BlogTalkRadio Wed. August 26, 2015. The World of Ink Network brings you shows each week on topics such as books, writing, author interviews, self-help and much more. Your hosts today are Virginia S Grenier and Marsha Cook. Today's show is about children and youth in crisis, the spirit and possiblilites for children and youth; as well as parents and teachers. We will also touch on bullying and its impact on society with Fawn Einarson-Nielsen, President of Hear My Heart Books Inc. (HMHB). Hear My Heart Books Inc. is incorporated in the province of Saskatchewan to focus on social entrepreneurship initiatives. Learn more at http://hearmyheartbooks.com Fawn is also the author of the children's book, " Spots, Dots...and the Nots?! " Our show will air live at 1pm Eastern - 12pm Centr...

Award-winning author visits the St. George Children’s Museum to encourage healthy eating habits : Come meet Virginia “VS” Grenier at the St. George Children’s Museum on August 21 and August 22, 2015 at 11am on both days.   ST. GEORGE, Utah – Virginia “VS” Grenier is an award-winning author, Mom’s Choice Honoree and director of the St. George Book Festival. She has been writing since moving to St. George, Utah a little over 10 years ago. “I never thought I would become an author when I moved to St. George. My husband and I made the choice to come here so we could raise our children in a place we felt was safe and had good people surrounding them,” said Grenier. “I fell into writing as a hobby since I wasn’t used to staying home full-time after working in the fashion industry for so many years in the Los Angeles area.” Grenier’s latest picture book, “Whistle Beans” is based on the family secret of how to whistle. A family fri...

A family friend shared a secret with VS Grenier when she was little. The secret was how to whistle. However, she only shared it with her children…until now! Children have a hard time learning to whistle. However, there is a secret and VS Grenier shares it in the latest SugarPaw adventure picture book, “Whistle Beans.” But how can vegetables help and what do they have to do with whistling?  “When I about four or five, Charlie Baker, a family friend, told me that if I ate Whistle Beans , I’d be able to whistle just like him,” said Grenier. “Charlie was like my second dad when I was younger. He taught me how to fish, ride a horse and much more. So it only made since when he shared the secret to a good whistle, it had to be true. Only problem was… Whistle Beans are a part of the vegetable family. I soon got over this little fact and I’ve been able to whistle good and loud ever since.” Children will get to go on another adventure with SugarPaw and Bonnie Whiskers, ...

Justin Osmond, son of Merrill Osmond has been on an intense training schedule since September of 2014 to run the biggest & longest trek of his life. He isn’t running for himself, he’s running 250 miles to raise awareness and financial support for 25 deaf children living in Southern Utah who will be receiving the gift of better hearing. This Run 4 Hearing event will kick off the start of this trek on Saturday May 2nd starting in Justin’s hometown of Ephraim, UT located at: Canyon View Park, 650 S. 100 E starting at 9 AM. This will begin with a press conference at 8:45 AM and then a 5K Fun Run (open to the public). This will also kick start Justin’s 250 miler to St. George where the kids will be anxiously waiting to receive their new hearing devices. On Saturday May 9th at the finish line in St. George (location and time TBD), there will be another benefit run entitled “Super HEAR-O 5K Fun Run.” A grand celebration will take place as family, friends, and many community members wil...

LITTLE GREEN – Little Green Frog wants to be special, and he hops out of the swamp, asking “Isn’t it possible?” he could be a goose, horse or kio. While the reader learns about animal groups, skills sounds and traits, Little Green learns it’s important to be himself.   Arnold Rudnick has a gift for creating fascinating stories to challenge children toward self-improvement and self-esteem. In LITTLE GREEN he introduces a little green frog (beautifully realized by illustrator Marcelo Goreman) who has big dreams to be special.  ISBN: 0981587976 Publisher: Paraphrase, LLC Overall thoughts: This is a really cute picture story book written in rhyme and teaches children it's is important to learn who they are before they run off into the world trying to be like somebody else. This isn't a book for beginning readers, but it is a great bedtime story for younger children. Children who are becoming better readers would be okay reading along with an adult. There is ...

Welcome to BTR's featured World of Ink Network. On today's Stories for Children show, listeners will get to meet Christa Pierce, a 24-year-old author and illustrator making her literary debut with Did You Know That I Love You? , published by HarperCollins, which Publisher’s Weekly calls a “sweetly assuring ode to unconditional love” and Brooke Shields raves, “I can't wait to read this to my girls. It so sweetly exemplifies the countless ways in which love is given.” The show will air live on Monday March 23rd at 4pm Eastern - 3pm Central - 2pm Moutain - 1pm Pacific Did You Know That I Love You? was originally written as a letter to her mother during a difficult time in their relationship, offers a heartfelt story about the importance of expressing your feelings to those you love. The World of Ink Network is more than just a blog talk radio show network, it also offers writing and marketing help. You can learn more about WOI at http://worldofinknetwork...

Lawrence Elliott was born in one of  the beautiful islands of the Bahamas called New Providence. He is married to a lovely lady named Deborah. His passion is to teach the laws of life in a practical way. Presently, he volunteers teaching junior high school boys the word of God, in a group called the Christian Boys Movement. Additionally, Mr. Elliott volunteered teaching ‘at risk’ high school boys, the principles of life at a special institute designed for them. VS: I want to thank you for being my guest here on The Writing Mama today, Lawrence. So let’s get things started for the interview. What do you do to help balance your writing life with your family life? Lawrence: I tend to write in the mornings after my children go to work and my grand children go to school. Only my wife and I are home during this time. My wife has a physical challenge, so she is unable to work, my job know is to take care of my wife. During the day I write and take care of my wife. In...