VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

Mayra Calvani is multi-genre author, reviewer and freelance writer. Her stories, reviews, interviews and articles have appeared on multiple publications both in print and online. Her nonfiction work, The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing (co-authored with Anne K. Edwards) was a ForeWord Best Book of the Year Award Winner. She has several novels and picture books out and is awaiting the release of several more titles later this year and the next. VS: Mayra, I want to thank you for being my guest here on The Writing Mama today. You and I have known each other via the internet for a few years now, but I am sure there is more to learn about you, as I have found out with others. Now I know you have a daughter who also writes, so my first question is do you have any other children and what are their ages? Mayra: First, I want to say thanks for having me on your blog, Virginia . I do have two kids: a girl (who is the writers) age 12 and a boy age 18 (he still counts as a kid for me!).

I have been working on a couple of manuscripts lately. Now these are stories I wrote about a year ago, but haven’t had the time to really sit down and do some revising. I’ve had my critique group look them over and give me feedback. I even submitted one of them to an editor’s critique at a SCBWI conference. But the one thing, which stood out to me after relooking at all the notes and the manuscripts themselves, is my character development. Now, I’m not saying I don’t love my characters in both these manuscripts. I do, but they are not fleshed out as well as they should be which is leading to the other problems my critique group found and the editor from the SCBWI conference. So how do I fix this? Well today, I am going to share a little bit about how we can make our characters more lovable by our readers. Many adults think children do not care about plot, setting, or a book full of suspense. Well they do, but only after the characters bring them into the story. Let us think abo

There are all kinds of writing tips floating around on how to do this or that correctly. Today we're going to take a different approach and focus on what NOT to do when writing an article. Lets face it article writing can be time consuming and sometimes even presents challenges that can be frustrating. As a result, you don't want your time and effort to be wasted when people don't even read what you wrote. What we're going to address here today is how to write an article that will not only ATTRACT readers but one that will also keep them reading. We're going to focus on subtle little habits that we may develop that actually sabotage our article writing efforts. Here are 7 habits that can actually repel readers that you will want to avoid when writing articles: Avoid UNPOPULAR Topics It is always a good idea to focus your efforts on topics that interest you. It certainly makes the article research easier to conduct and you are usually already somewha

When: August 14, 2010 9AM to 5PM Location: Will be given to you upon registration. Cost: $50. Includes free books and abundant materials. (Note: If you want to come, but can't afford it, you can help Rick Walton with one of his projects in exchange for workshop tuition. Email Rick at rick@rickwalton.com for details.) Faculty: Picture Book Workshop: Rick Walton is the author of 80 books for kids including several best selling picture books. He works with a wide range of publishers, and is friends with a number of agents. He teaches a picture book writing class and a children's publishing industry class at BYU. www.rickwalton.com Novel Workshop: Mette Ivie Harrison is the author of several best selling fantasy novels, including Mira Mirror and The Princess and the Hound . She has a PHD from Princeton and has done the Iron Man twice, including the one this year in St. George. She publishes with Henry Holt, Viking, Harper Collins, and Egmont. www.metteivieharr

Cheryl Malandrinos is a freelance writer and editor from Western Massachusetts . A regular contributor to Writer2Writer, her articles focus on increasing productivity through time management and organization. A founding member of Musing Our Children , Ms. Malandrinos is also the Editor-in-Chief of the group's quarterly newsletter, Pages & Pens . Cheryl is a Tour Coordinator for Pump Up Your Book Promotion , a book reviewer, and blogger. Guardian Angel Publishing will release her first children’s book, The Little Shepherd Boy, in 2010. VS: Cheryl, I want to thank you for being my guest here on The Writing Mama today. I know being a parent and writer can be hard and I find myself asking if I am giving my three children enough attention throughout the day. I am sure you have been in my shoes from time to time. So to start here is the first question, how many children do you have and what are their ages? Cheryl: Thanks for having me at The Writing Mama, Virginia. I’m thril

If you're involved in any type of article writing online or off you have undoubtedly encountered various episodes of writers block. Ugh! You know the feeling. Your thought process comes to a screeching halt. It almost seems like a form of 'mental quicksand' the harder you try to produce an intelligent verse the harder it gets. Well what can we do 'pre-empt' these periodic attacks on our writing skills? Let's examine some of the common reasons we all suffer from these disruptions in our article writing efforts. • Coming up empty when trying to compose the opening line. • The inability to maintain concentration • Not doing your 'homework' when preparing to write an article. You will find that this is usually the core of the problem. • Spending too much time 'getting ready to get ready'! Our own over analysis clearly indicates doubt. This doubt or fear is normal assuming you don't want your writing skills or content to b

Today's writing prompt is short, but fun. I would love to see what poems you came up with. I'm not much of a poet so I won't even try this one. Choose a poem you like. Take the last line and use that as the first line of your own poem. ( http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/# )

I hit this week hard to lose that extra pound I put on last week. Funny thing is, I totally forgot to weigh myself to see the results at my mom’s. I know why don’t I have a scale at home . . . because I would get on the darn thing everyday and just get depressed watching my weight take off like a rollercoaster ride. Anyway, I know I have lost some weight because I can feel it in my waistband. But as soon as I know where I’m weighing in, I’ll update this post. Actual weight on June 14, 2010 unknown Goal weight by December 31, 2010 130 Instead of me listing everything I have done throughout the week to help lose weight, I am going to post a link to a site I have been using to log my activity level and food each day. The site is totally FREE! You can join me on FitDay.com . Having a log helps you stay on track and really lets you see where you need to make improvements or adjustments to help shed those unwanted pounds. Here’s the lin

Frances Pauli was born and raised in Washington State . She grew up with a love of reading and storytelling, and was introduced to Science Fiction and Fantasy at an early age through the books kept and read by her father. Though she always held aspirations to be a writer, she chose to obtain her Bachelor’s degree in visual arts. The stories, however, had other plans for her. By the time she entered her thirties, they were no longer content existing solely in her head. Compelled to free them, she set aside her easel and began to write in earnest. Her original love of Speculative fiction combined with her covert excursions into the Romance section led her into the realms of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance, where she finds herself quite comfortable. Her fascination with Science Fiction and a growing passion for the NASA channel divert her happily into tales of the far future, alternate dimensions, and the wonders of space, usually with at least a touch of romance. Frances current