VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

BTR’s World of Ink Network show: Families Matter with hosts Kecia Burcham, Irene Roth and VS Grenier. The Families Matter show airs live once a month on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 6pm EST - 5pm CST - 4pm MST - 3pm PDT The idea of this show on BTR’s World of Ink Network is to have guests and listeners (adults or kids) share information to help empower children and their families. Our August show topic: Parent Report Cards Educators exasperated by the need for greater parent involvement have persuaded Tennessee lawmakers to sign off on a novel bit of arm-twisting: Asking parents to grade themselves on report cards. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/10/parent-report-cards-are-novel-way-to-boost-support/#ixzz23l9QmcSG We invite our listeners to call-in or share through the chatroom questions or their stories. Learn more at the Families Matter blog http://familiesmatter2us.blogspot.com You can find out more about us at http://worldofinknetwork.com Listen to th

Sands Hetherington majored in history at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and has an M.F.A. in creative writing and an M.A. in English from UNC-Greensboro. When I asked him to share a bit more about himself, his response was, "I'm an old man living by a lake on the edge of town with two Saint Bernards, Dudley and Maggie. I go to a gym on weekday afternoons and the grocery store on Saturdays." However, don´t let Sands´ response fool you. He has a sense of humor, which is laced throughout his debut children´s chapter book series Night Buddies. The series is a straight-out fantasy, lights-out adventure that will delight young readers and middle graders who relish roller coaster fun, filled with unforgettable characters and an astonishing and inventive collection of magical whatchamacallits. Having said that, Sands shared, "I did have New York City in the back of my mind when I set them (the books) in the Borough." Of course, anyone who l

Come join host VS Grenier and Irene Roth on BTR’s World of Ink Network's The Stories for Children Show August 20, 2012 live at 2pm EST - 1pm CT - 12pm MT - 11am PDT We bring children's authors together with their readers. This week come meet author Alyce Joy of the fantasy children's chapter book adventure...KA-BOOM! Sprout is a fairy from Spritesville, Ohio. Her given name is Sprunetta Brunetta. She doesn’t like it, because she thinks it sounds too much like somebody’s wicked sister. Sprout is not a perfect fairy. She has a wild shoe fetish and is always getting into some kind of trouble. To say the least, it was an explosive meeting between Taylor and Sprout. Taylor’s dollhouse blows up and her wary investigation finds Sprout among its wreckage. The little girl obviously thinks Sprout is a bad, fibbin’ fairy and the fun is about to begin. Get a sneak peek of the book at http://youtu.be/Hq9sfmzH0-w Available wherever books are sold and online. A

As a mom of three kids I find myself always putting out some type of disagreement. I don't pretend to be wonderful at handling those situations and by the time I'm on round 5, 6, 7...12 my level of calm is pretty much out the door so when I saw this article I thought I would check it out. I'm not going to say I'll do everything they suggest or that I agree 100% but it was an interesting read and one I wanted to share. How to Stop Siblings From Fighting If I find any of this helps the craziness in my household of three kids (ages ranging from 16 to 2), I'll let you know.

Anyone that writes from home, whether for a living or pleasure, knows that some days are easier than other days. Sometimes you sit down and the words just flow so beautifully together that it seems as if it i s being channeled. Other times putting a simple sentence together is such a chore. This is especially true when you are writing at home and you have children. Writing at home with children, telephone calls, doorbells ringing, and one minor emergency after another can be very difficult. I am not sure how anyone else handles this as a writer. I am sure that everyone has their own ways and creative solutions for find time to write. Even other adults have a hard time with the fact that writing is work. The fact that you are home makes you easily accessible to phone calls and interruptions. I was reading an article about how many popular authors started in their careers. Many of them had similar situations, only finding time to jot down sentences here and there. J K Rowli

Title: Vin and the Dorky Duet Publisher: Halo Publishing Int. & MuseItUp Publishing (Canadian e-book publisher) ISBN: 978-1-61244-091-0 (paperback) ISBN: 978-1-77127-073-1 (eBook) Genre of Book: Children’s Chapter Book Adventure About the Book: A twelve-year-old boy named Vin, goes on a mission—reluctantly. He doesn’t share the optimism of the knights of old who embarked on impossible missions without a doubt they’d succeed. When m agnetic compost heaps, man-eating bubble baths and other disasters erupt, Vin comes close to packing in the whole ridiculous business. He calls it Operation BS, his code name for a mission to introduce his sister to a boy she has a crush on. He doesn’t want to play matchmaker, but Meg’s promise to reward him with a David Beckham autographed soccer jersey is a decisive incentive. Overall Thoughts: If you are a fan of the Captain Underpants or Whimpy Kid series then you'll like this chapter book by Maggie Lyons. The main chara

2012 HWG Fall Conference Hello Writers! As the president for this year’s HWG Fall Conference for writers, I want to encourage all of you to join us at this exciting event! Regardless of your level of writing experience—from the published author to the uninitiated, never-before-published authors!—this conference has something significant for every participant! On this page you will find a short description of our speakers and their topics for your information and planning! This year, because of the diversity of topics, the number of speakers I was able to procure, and trying to fit everything in during the two days of the event, we have break-out sessions during each day’s programming. I think we have prepared the sessions in such a way that everyone will be able to attend speakers who will be most helpful and informative. Don’t forget that our “Early Bird” registration takes place prior to August 20th, 2012. Take advantage of the significant savings as wel

Every good writer will always want to improve upon his or her work. Any good writer doesn't simply write for a living or want to write for a living; they want to write and love to write. What's better than loving what you do for a living! However, how can you get better? There are many methods that you can use and tips you can follow that can give you the edge when it comes to completing each and every piece of work. 1. Reread your existing work. The first step is to reread your own work. You may spot errors or areas that can be improved. This is unlikely if a deeper issue lurks underneath the surface, but surface errors are easy to spot. 2. Learn to critique your work. Critiquing your work is a good step to take if you want to improve because you can go through every piece that you have ever written and list areas of improvement for yourself rather than getting others involved. 3. Read articles that give you information on how to improve. There are many o

KA-BOOM! is about a little fairy named Sprout that runs into trouble quite often. She has a shoe fetish, but is one of the queen’s favorites because in the end she gets the job done. In the story, Sprout meets a little girl named Taylor after blowing up Taylor’s dollhouse. Sprout doesn’t give up trying to get Taylor to trust her as Taylor believes Sprout is a fibbin' fairy.  Sprout and Taylor finally become friends after Sprout shrinks Taylor and together they have a fantastic adventure. The message? Never give up. Title: KA-BOOM! Publisher: Halo Publishing Int. ISBN-10: 161244069X ISBN-13: 978-1612440699 Genre of Book: Children’s Chapter Book Fantasy Adventure Paperback: 46 pages July 2012 More about the book: Sprout is a fairy from Spritesville, Ohio. Her given name is Sprunetta Brunetta. She doesn’t like it because she thinks it sounds too much like somebody’s wicked sister. Since she is only four inches tall, all her friends call her Sprout.

Sands Hetherington credits his son John for being his principal motivator. Sands raised his son as a single parent from the time John was six. He read to him every night during those formative years. He and young John developed the Crosley crocodile character in the Night Buddies series during months of bedtime story give-and-take. Sands shared, “We always did bedtime stories and probably didn't miss a night for six or seven years. Stories were as essential as air and food.” It’s no wonder Sands loves to read and write, and is a big advocate in starting a reading schedule with young children. Sands majored in history at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and has an M.F.A. in creative writing and an M.A. in English from UNC-Greensboro. However, he started writing at a very young age. “I think it was 10th grade. I handed in some sappy poetical piece and the very cute student teacher gushed over it. Her name was Ellen and she was spoken for, but that did it