Bugga Boo

Working on my piece for SFC for the October issue. Likin' it!

This will be in the September issue of SFC :)

Starving Artist

I received and email from the art director at SFC (Stories for Children Magazine) and was asked if I could do a illustration to fill in for an artist who was unable to complete an illustration they were assigned. I am so glad it was today! I have a whole day to myself and my daughter is at her grandma's house. It was perfect timing!

So I glued myself to my laptop and my tablet and got to work. I didn't stop to check the time or even breathe until I was happy with it. I actually forgot to eat!! I didn't eat anything until 5 hours later when I was happy with the illustration and ready to send it off!

WHOO HOO for my first paying gig, and a salami sandwich I made when I was finished :)

The Gift That Keeps On Giving!

Well my poem "Oodles of Poodles" has been (1) My first publication, (2) My first award, and now (3) My first feature in a book! "Oodles of Poodles" will be in the Stories For Children Magazine Best of 2008 Anthology!!! Here is the email that stole my heart today:

Hello Shannon Griffis,

It is with great excitement I contact you today. After reviewing all the stories, articles, and poems published throughout 2008 and Stories for Children Magazine’s second year of publication, we finally have the results of our top stories, articles, poems, and crafts. So without further ado, here are your published titles from 2008 we would like to include in our second volume of Stories for Children Magazine Best of 2008 Anthology:

Title(s): Oodles of Poodles

HOW EXCITING!!

First Place!

I received an email from SFC Magazine on April first announcing that I had won FIRST PLACE in the Granny Awards for Poetry!! I couldn't believe it! Here is a link to the video where you can see my picture and here is my acceptance speech that is also posted on their site! Whoo Hoo! What a great surprise!

http://storiesforchildrenmagazine.org/2008GrannyAwards.aspx

“To receive this award is truly an honor. The people at SFC are wonderful and I owe them so much for being my first place of publication. I would like to send a big thank you to Virginia Grenier, Marie Letourneau, Gayle Jacobson-Huset, Angelika Lochner, and all the other wonderful people at SFC. You have all been great to work with! I would also like to thank my caring and supportive husband, Phil, who has been my biggest cheerleader all along. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my first grade class at Eaton Academy for providing the best inspiration I could ask for as a children's writer! I look forward to submitting many more poems and stories to SFC in the future.”

Been away - Updates!

Hello there! It has been forever since I posted so here are the updates. Oodles of Poodles was released in the December 2008 issue of Stories for Children Magazine. The illustration was done by Marie Letourneau and she did an amazing job!

My poem "Mail" was published in the February 2009 issue of Stories for Children Magazine. The illustration for "Mail" was done by Sara Barnes. She has a very unique style. I thought it was really cute!




I also received some good news from SFC just last week. I have been chosen to receive one of their "Granny Awards" for 2008. This award is given to the top three editor favorites in poetry, fiction, non fiction, and illustrations. I have a trophy on the way and a picture of me will be in their slideshow starting on April 1st. Though I dont know what place I won, I do know that it was for my poem "Oodles of Poodles" since it was the only thing I submitted to them in 2008.

All-in-all, life is good! I have plans to enter several writing contests over the next couple of months and I will be teaching some writing classes for 4th - 8th graders over the summer. I am going to do my best to blog more often and to get back into participating i IF. I really enjoy seeing what others come up with!

Thanks for taking the time to give this a read :)

Oodles of Poodles

Good news graced my inbox yesterday in the form of an acceptance letter! About 5 weeks ago I sent a poem entitled "Oodles of Poodles" to Stories for Children Magazine. I was surprised to receive a email only a couple of days later saying that I had passed phase one of the acceptance process! That alone was enough to make me do a little happy dance around the living room! I expected to wait at least a few more weeks before hearing anything about the second phase, but was suprised again only a couple of days later!! *Happy Dance Happy Dance* Just getting that far was a great boost in confidence. The second email said they could take up to 8 weeks to get back to me to tell me weather or not I had been accepted to the magazine. So I was not even expecting a reply so quickly! Only 3 weeks from the second email, I get this:

Dear Shannon,
Thank you for thinking of us and for being patient to hear back about your manuscript. We are always pleased to see new ideas and have completed our review of your manuscript. I am happy to inform you, Oodles of Poodles will be in our December 2008 issue. We look forward to working with you again in the future.

All the best,
VS Grenier Founder & Editor-in-Chief

I could not be more excited! I know that this is only the beginning for me!