VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

About The Book: A little bear named SugarPaw hopes to get rid of his babysitter, Bonnie Whiskes, by getting her into trouble after making changes to his rules chart. As the story unfolds SugarPaw learns about honesty and friendship, in this fun loving story. Babysitting SugarPaw, with its child-centered plot on getting to know others, is the perfect book for little ones scared of being left alone with a babysitter for the first time. This book will delight three-to-eight-year-old readers, especially those who like to create mischief. Read the full review at Hanging Off The Wire: Babysitting Sugarpaw

SFC Blog: Families Matter: Interview with Children's Author Sherry Ellis : "I want to thank you for being my guest here on the blog here at Stories for Children Magazine. What inspired you to write? I pretty..."

Below is an article (more of a mini writing workshop actually) that could help you jumpstart those creative juices.   And if you want 3 writing *sparks* delivered to you every day for 31 days, check out WriteSparks!(tm) Daily at http://writesparks.com/wsdaily.html for info on how to get started -- it's free! Thunder When the Universe Burps: A Creative Writer-cise Nature is a wonderful inspiration for any writer. In this mini writing workshop, we'll wax some poetic prose. First, pick a number from 1 to 7: 1. earthquake 2. sunrise 3. volcanic eruption 4. lightning 5. rainbow 6. thunder 7. hurricane Next, create 2 lists for the natural phenomenon you chose. Brainstorm for 5-10 minutes for each list. For List 1, brainstorm for action words associated with the natural phenomenon you picked. For instance, what do you see, hear and feel happening when it thunders? e.g., List 1 (action words): explode, clap, boom, crack, shatter, burst, break, detonate, bust, sha...

Tom Listul wrote Monkey Made Dream with his daughter, Heather Listul Hewitt, when she was eight years old. A farmer from southwest Minnesota, he is also a singer/songwriter. Listul made Monkey Made Dream into a children’s song and has sang it at numerous coffee houses and children’s classrooms. Hewitt is now a speech-language pathologist, who works for a school district with students of all ages. She enjoys helping children develop literacy skills and a love for reading.    VS: I want to thank you Tom and Heather for being my guests here on The Writing Mama today.  To get things started what do you do to help balance your writing life with your family life? Tom: I draw ideas from everyday activity and make mental notes to myself or I write down an idea that I have that maybe I can use later on.  I try to find some time each day to write down something. VS: How long have you been writing? Tom: I have been writing off and on since I was about 19 or 20....

      Donna McDine is an award-winning children's author, Honorable Mention in the 77th and two Honorable Mentions in the 78 th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competitions. Her stories have been published in many print and online publications and her interest in American History resulted in writing and publishing The Golden Pathway. Donna has two more books under contract with Guardian Angel Publishing, The Hockey Agony and Powder Monkey . She writes, moms and is the Editor-in-Chief for Guardian Angel Kids and Publicist for the National Writing for Children Center from her home in the historical hamlet Tappan, NY. McDine is a member of the SCBWI and Musing Our Children.                What excites you most about your book’s topic? Why did you choose it?       The Underground Railroad was a pivotal time in American history, one that should never be repeated. It is my hope ...

Utah Children's Writers: Setting Writing Goals : "We all know how important it is to set writing goals, but do we know how or what type, especially as a new or beginning writers? Goal se..."

Utah Children's Writers: Create an E-Book the Easy Way (and it's free!) : "by Scott Rhoades There is a very easy way to create your own e-book from any Word file. The Writer2ePub extension for OpenOffice (it also w..."

Dallas Woodburn's Writing Life: Book Promotion Tips: Guest Post by Karen Cioffi : "Book Promotion: Creating an Informational FunnelBy Karen Cioffi When thinking of book marketing, there are a number of rungs on the marketi..."

Irene Roth, Assistant Nonfiction Editor and Book Reviewer of SFC, is a freelance writer for teens, tweens and kids. She has published over 150 Ezine articles on different topics that are relevant to self-esteem and self-confidence for girls. She maintains four blogs, one writing blog, one adolescent blog, and two book review blogs (one picture book review blog, and one YA and Adult book review blog). She also is a book reviewer for Booksneeze, Tyndale Publishers, The Muse Book Reviews, and a Contributing Editor and Reviewer for The National Writing for Children Center. She is in the middle of writing three E-books for teens and tweens. She is a reviewer for Stories for Children Magazine, Booksneeze, Tyndale Publishers, and Voice in the Dark.              Irene S. Roth has an adolescent girl blog at http://adolescentgirlsblog.wordpress.com .          How many children do you have and w...

Health, Beauty, Children & Family: Monkey Made Dream by Tom Listul and Heather Listul Hewitt Review

I get to introduce you to one amazing woman. I say this because she is not only a professional musician, but has also self published two books and is a mother. Sherry is one woman who knows how to balance her life and see her dreams come true. Sherry Ellis is a freelance writer who writes articles for parenting magazines and children’s publications. Her first book, That Baby Woke Me Up, AGAIN , was published in 2005. Her second, That Mama is a Grouch , was published in May of 2010. It was honored as a finalist in the Parenting/Family category of the 2010 USA Book News Awards.  Sherry is also a professional musician who plays and teaches violin, viola, and piano. Ms. Ellis lives in Loveland, Ohio with her husband and two children.   VS: I want to thank you for being my guest here on The Writing Mama today, Sherry. To get things started, what do you do to help balance your writing life with your family life? Sherry: One of my biggest challenges is finding time to write...

It’s that time of month when The Old Silly features a fellow member of the Yahoo Group, VBT – Writers on the Move . Today it is my pleasure to present to you the talented, award-winning children’s author, editor, publisher, blogger, and social networking maven, VS Grenier . She put together this piece on social networking and I think you’ll find it an entertaining, informative, and useful read. Take it away, VS, with … You can read the post at http://theoldsilly.com/2011/03/07/special-guest-post-featuring-vs-grenier/

Listen to "RFK Stories for Children" with author Sherry Ellis on 3/7/2011 12:00 PMCST - Book Giveaway today! Listen in for details. RFK Stories for Children 3/7/2011 - Red River Radio | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio

Sarah P. has an online accounting degree but hopes to add a degree in social work to her resume. Distracted writing is often not good writing. As a consequence, a number of people have gone out of their way to develop software that makes it a fair amount more difficult to be sidetracked by the countless things that aren't word processing software available on any computer, regardless of platform. Here are a handful of them, where to find them and how they work:  FocusWriter   FocusWriter is a full-screen word processor intended to make the creative process as immersive as possible by making your typing appear at the very front of the screen, surrounded by nothing but a customizable theme or background. It offers a handful of tools and customization options only visible when your mouse is at one particular point on the screen, which then goes away when your mouse moves. The software provides real-time statistics about how much you've written and allows you to ...

Sorry guys, no interview this Friday with an SFC Team member. We're all really busy working on getting the April relaunch of Stories for Children Magazine. So instead, here is great writing activity from my weekly motivator Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ. Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, it's important to write with clarity, not with vagueness. By communicating yourself in concrete, specific images, you help your readers understand you (and your poem/story).   Today's activity has two parts. You may or may not do the second part, if you'd rather concentrate on the first part. Don't skip the first part, though, because the second activity relies on what you'll be able to concoct in the first.   So crack your knuckles, pull out your keyboard (or sharpen your pencils) and let's begin.   First, pick a number from 1 to 5:   1. cave 2. garden 3. backyard 4. kitchen 5. teacup   Next, you guessed it, pick another number from 1 to 5:   1. joy...