VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

Today we have Viji Chary, author of the picture book, Porcupine´s Seeds. Viji K. Chary lived in California nearly all her life. She went to school and college and also worked in the science field there. Chary and her husband raised their children with emphasis on science and music. In the process, she learned to be curious about various subjects, which later helped to spark her love for writing. "Now my two teenage children and two young nephews keep me busy. My nephews love to read. They keep me in touch with my target audience," shared Chary. She first became interested in writing in sixth grade when her English teacher asked each student to write a story. "At that time, I used to read the same books I loved over and over again. I found it hard to find other interesting books. I felt a story should have excitement. So, in my English assignment, the MC (main character) and her friend had a swimming race across a lake. While the MC was

Okay, so on Thursdays I was going to start sharing updates with all of you. I do have something to share and will get it up in a bit, but I had to share this first. I just love Donna McDine. Not only because we have known each other in the virtual writing world and have worked together at Stories for Children Magazine over the year, but also because she knows how to put perspective on things you normally don't as a writer. So I'm sharing her post from Writers On The Move (where we both contribute each month) as I felt this is something we all need...writing or not. HOW TO GET AND STAY ORGANIZED FOR YOUR FREELANCE WRITING CAREER by Donna M. McDine   You’re in the process of taking a writer’s course and the abundance of information thrown your way is filed neatly in your brain.   You wish you could say the same for your work space.   While all your notes, research, writer’s books, etc., are valuable for your writing career it’s a miracle you can even find your desk under

You may have thought from time to time that you’d like to keep a diary or a journal. You may even have started one...or two...or who knows how many, over the years. Perhaps you are one of those people with enough self-discipline to write briefly in a diary every evening, year after year, and start a new volume each New Year’s Day! In that case, you have a pretty good record of your doings and maybe even your thoughts about them over time.   There are, however, many possibilities for journaling using various "guided" techniques. To get you started, you may want to give some thought to what you want to get out of journaling. Do you just want to record your memories, as days and months go by? Then a normal diary, or journal, is probably just what you need -- that, and a pen. But if you want to get to know yourself better, find the source of some ongoing problem in your life, or give yourself a nudge toward doing some creative writing, then you might consider one

Come join host VS Grenier and Irene Roth on BTR’s World of Ink Network's The Writing Mama Show June 11, 2012 live at 2pm EST - 1pm CT - 12pm MT - 11am PST We bring authors together with their readers. This week meet author Laura Smith. She works as a medical coding and reimbursement specialist in Northern Minnesota. Her Book "In All Things" is an inspirational book surrounded by events from her own life. Laura Smith was married two weeks after her high school graduation. Three years and two children later, she was facing divorce and single parenthood. She moved to a college town in north central MN where she hoped to earn a degree and make a life for her and her two young daughters. There she met and married the love of her life. Together they embarked on a life together as a ready-made family facing all the challenges that comes with it. They had no idea that the life experiences they walked through early on and one life altering event would prepare them

Joining us today is Laura Smith, author of the inspirational book, In All Things: Giving Thanks When Hope Seems Lost. Smith was raised on a dairy farm in Northeast Minnesota. She married two weeks after she graduated high school. Four years later, Smith was facing divorce and single parenting. Three years and two children later, she was facing divorce and single parenthood. She moved to a college town in north central MN where she hoped to earn a degree and make a life for her and her two young daughters. There she met and married the love of her life. Together they embarked on a life together as a ready-made family facing all the challenges that comes with it. Smith shared, "We were looking forward to an amazing life together, another child or two only to be faced with disappointment, loss and heartbreak. Through it, we somehow managed to grow and strengthen our relationship and our faith." They had no idea the life experiences they walked through early on an

Viji K. Chary recently was a guest on my show The Writing Mama at BTR’s World of Ink Network. For those of you who missed the show, you can listen to the conversation about her recently released book and her journey as a writer along with some writing insights down that journey. Because I like to keep The Writing Mama show informal, I asked Viji to be my guest interview today here at The Writing Mama blog so to get things started, here is my first question. What do you do to help balance your writing life with your family life? Chary: At the beginning, balancing family with writing was difficult. I had stopped working to completely focus on my son. At that time, I’d write during his nap times and after he went to sleep for the night. Over time, I realized that a lot could be done away from the computer. While he was in story time at the library, I’d read children’s magazines or picture books. Washing dishes is mindless work when I would outline a story in my mind.

Brand Buzz Network part of In Charge Social Media, LLC http://brandbuzznetwork.com Atlanta, GA M E D I A   R E L E A S E CONTACT: Lisa N. Samples Title: CEO Email: Atlanta@InChargeSocialMedia.com Phone: (404)969-5472 For Immediate Release In Charge Social Media and Brand Buzz Network are excited to announce their newest members to the BBN Team   The Brand Buzz Network (BBN) is owned and operated by In Charge Social Media, LLC , a social media start-up and management company with offices in Atlanta, South Florida and New York. Originally founded by Lisa Samples, from Life with Lisa , BBN has been connecting brands and bloggers since 2009. Lisa Samples currently lives in Atlanta with her husband and two sons. With over 15 years working as an executive in "Corporate America" she finally left to pursue working her social media projects full time in January 2012. You can find her writing on  Life with Lisa about travel, Atlanta, food/rec

Viji K. Chary was born in India and immigrated to the United States at the age of two. Her passion for writing stories began in elementary school and has evolved from coaching children in various activities; including gymnastics, classroom activities and creative competitions. Her stories have been published in Highlights for Children, Ladybug Magazine, Hopscotch for Girls and many more. She will be joining us this coming Friday June 8, 2012 for an interview. Come learn about this children's author, what inspires her and how she balances her writing life with family life. Can't wait until Friday June 8, 2012...then listen to the Stories for Children Show on BTR's World of Ink Network. Viji K. Chary was the guest author on June 4, 2012. Producer Irene Roth and host VS Grenier chatted with Chary about her delightful children’s picture book, Porcupine’s Seeds that teaches about friendship and hard work . Chary also shared about her journey down the road to publicatio

When you hear the word “Marketing”, I’m sure you automatically think…social networking, but what about the other types of marketing, i.e. media releases, banner ads, blog talk radio, online networking groups to name a few. So let’s look at how you can use these marketing avenues outside of just Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Media Releases I’m sure some of you have at one time or another sent a media release. If you haven’t, it is time to start doing so. You don’t have to pay a PR firm to do this for you. In fact, you can easily do this every time you host a blog hop, guest interview or post, giveaway, and even if you’ve made some changes or updates to your blog such as a new look or addition. Releases are a great way to let local and online media outlets, publishers, companies, PR firms, buzz sites and more know about you.  You can post a media release free or for a small fee if you want to reach a bigger audience. Here are a few of my favorites: https://www.pr.c

Come join host VS Grenier and Irene Roth on BTR’s World of Ink Network's The Stories for Children Show June 4, 2012 live at 2pm EST - 1pm CT - 12pm MT - 11am PST We bring children's authors together with their readers. This week come meet author Viji K. Chary. She was born in India and moved to the United States at the age of two. Her passion for writing began at an early age. We will be chatting about Chary's picture book "Porcupine's Seeds" and its message about friendship and hard work. You can learn more about Viji Chary at http://WorldofInkNetwork.com under Authors On Tour section or at http://www.vijichary.com Want to meet more authors? Visit us at http://sfcmagazine.com and read interviews under our Featured Guest section. Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blog-Talk-Radio-World-of-Ink-Network/214781805221758 Click the link below to listen The Stories for Children Show 06/04 by WorldOfInkNetwork | Blog Tal