VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

Kris Quinn Christopherson is not only one of the many Stories for Children book reviewers; she is also a wife, mother, children's literature lover and reviewer, writer, and proudly known as “Kris the Reader” through weekly story times in her community.  A Southern-born girl who lives on a farm in the Midwest, she is raising confident readers who adore a good story, and working hard to create her own good stories.  Kris has edited and written for the National Military Family Association (NFMA) online publications.  She is a graduate of the Institute of Children’s Literature, and is a member of SCBWI.  Her essays have appeared on iParenting.com and cribsheet, an online column from the Minneapolis Star Tribune.  She blogs about her journeys in reading to and for others, writing what she knows, and raising her family…not necessarily in that order on http://kqchristopherson.wordpress.com/ . VS: I want to thank you Kris for being my guest here on The Writing Mama today. I know bein

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The Maggie Project: A Review of Little Shepherd : "Little Shepherd by Cheryl C. Malandrinos; illus. by Eugene RubleAges 4 – 8 Guardian Angel Publishing, ..."

I thought I would do something a bit different over the next few months. As you all know, I have reopened Stories for Children Magazine and have also added to the SFC Team at Stories for Children Publishing, LLC. Each team member at SFC has an interesting background, not just in writing, but in general and I thought how fun would it be to really get to know these wonderful people who help me bring Stories for Children to you. So to start off, I have asked our Assistant Nonfiction Editor Randi Lynn Mrvos to be the first SFC Team guest interview. Randi has been a contributor to Stories for Children Magazine since the beginning and I cannot tell you how exciting it is to be working with her behind the scenes now. She has shared some very interesting topics in the past with our readership and is one very talented nonfiction writer. Randi Lynn Mrvos writes for children's and writers' magazines. She is an award-winning picture book writer, a columnist for the writers’ newsletter

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 holiday