Friday Five Summer Reads

What is this? Two posts in one week?? How can this be? I've been on a bit of a reading kick lately so I thought I'd share since it's been SO long that I've read voraciously.

Right now I'm into summer books. Every winter I crave summer stories, you know those books that take place on summer vacation and are filled with summer romance and summer angst and um, summer. And then I end up buying some, and don't read them. So I decided that for once, I'm going to enjoy some summer books in the summer! This is what I've read so far.

Jenny Han's Summer Trilogy





Such A Rush by Jennifer Echols - My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick - Unbreak My Heart by Melissa C. Walker

Up next are:

Moonglass by Jessi Kirby & Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

What are some of your favorite summer reads? I'm always on the lookout for more!

Friday Five

1. It's individual short stories week at Tangled Fiction! I posted mine today, and it's different from our usual stuff, so I'm a bit nervous. It's called LAST WINTER, and here's a teaser if you're interested:


“Come on, Avis,” he shouts at me over his shoulder. His breath is a thick white cloud against the night sky. “California hasn’t made you soft already, has it?”

“Ha. Ha.” I stick my tongue out at him and think how he’s got it backwards. He was the one that made me soft. California has made me strong.

Also be sure to check out Lacey and Natalie's shorts - (HERE on livejournal.) They're awesome!

2. In case you missed it, GLEE did a tribute to me this week by singing Valerie, at sectionals no less! Clearly, they've been following my blog. No video post today though, I'm saving it for Music Monday!

3. I rescued a cat today! He's been hanging out in the neighborhood for the last week or so and he's so sweet. Hopefully I can find him a good home!

4. I'm not sure if any of you noticed, but somehow, it's DECEMBER already! I have no idea how this happened!

5. I had a massive computer meltdown this week, but if there's ever a time to desperately need a new computer it's during the Black Friday sales!

That's all I've got this week. Hope your week was better than mine!

Friday Five

The first of our new weekly short stories at Tangled Fiction is complete! I posted Part 3 of IN THE CARDS this morning. (And at the Tangled Fiction Livejournal Community) Check it out and let us know what you think!

I decided to put NaNoWriMo on pause. I'm thisclose to finishing my revisions on IMAGINARY HEART and I don't want to lose the momentum. Once my revisions are done and sent off I'll think about my NaNo project. Good luck to everyone who's pushing through!

I know I need three more things but my brain is on my revisions and I got nothing. Hope you have a great weekend!

Friday Five - Big Changes

Exciting stuff this week!

One week ago today I was having one of those magic moments in a writer's life. I was meeting my critique partner Natalie C Parker in person for the very first time!


We met up at KidLit Con and she was every bit as AWESOME as I knew she would be. I've now been fortunate enough to meet 2 of my 3 CPs - watch out Kristi you're next!

I have TWO Tangled Fiction announcements.

First - The final part of our second story UNCHARTED written by Lacey is up!


When we last saw Alex he was faced with a choice. Go home, and leave one of his friends behind, or stay with the mysterious woman in the water and let his friends go free. What will he choose?

Second - BIG CHANGES at Tangled Fiction! We have gone from 4 writers to 3 (Anne Marie will no longer be posting with us.) And we're going to one short story a week! That's right. Tangled Fiction is starting November leaner and meaner, with shorter, faster short stories. Why wait a month when you can get a story a week? We'll be posting Monday, Wednesday, Friday from now on. With some other cool stuff. Read all the details on the Tangled Fiction blog!

I think I've settled (again) on a NaNoWriMo story idea, but I'm a bit fearful because I know so little about my characters and plot this time around. Not to mention I need to seriously research the world of my story. Last year I wrote IMAGINARY HEART, which had been marinating in my brain for several months. I was able to burst out of the gate with several thousand words. This month I think I will be doing a lot of exploration. If you want to be my NaNo buddy, I'm here: valeriekwrites.

Also, have you checked out Scrivener yet? I LOVE this program, and there's now a windows option that is free to use for NaNo! Plus the new Scrivener 2.0 for Mac. Check it out: Scrivener for NaNoWriMo

Friday Five

If you've noticed I've been posting less this week it's because I'm neck deep in revisions. I have a self-imposed deadline and I intend to meet it! Hopefully with something that makes sense. Cutting 25,000 words or so and adding 30,000 new ones hurts my brain. Anyway, onto the Friday Five!

- Over at my crit group's blog Sisters in Scribe we have an awesome guest post by Andrew Jacobson of the new Middle Grade Fantasy series THE FAMILIARS! Stop by and check out the post for a chance to WIN a copy of THE FAMILIARS! Ends October 30th.

- Next weekend I will be heading to Minneapolis to the Kidlit Con 2010! I'm especially excited because I'll be meeting 2/4 of the girls from Tangled Fiction there, Anne Marie and my CP Natalie C Parker! Are you going to be there? Let me know! I'd love to meet you!

- I LOVE this post by TH Mafi, which is so my life right now. 6 Things You Lose When Writing A Novel. Plus she's having a contest right now where you can WIN $100 for books! (No that's not a typo. That's one hundred dollars. For books!)So go check it out. And if you haven't been reading her blog regularly, you should be. It's hilarious.

- How awesome was it seeing all those miners pulled out of the mine? That's the kind of reality tv I like. I think I cried almost every time one of them came out. And I don't really cry much. I swear!

- The SCBWI conference I went to last weekend was AMAZING! I learned so much. This year's focus was on Fantasy and Sci-Fi and Cinda Williams Chima gave two awesome workshops on world-building, and hooking your readers. Once I finish my revisions I'll go through my notes and share what I learned, but in the meantime, you should totally check out her books. Her most recent is the second in her Seven Realms series The Exiled Queen. I got a copy of the first book in the series, The Demon King, signed and will be giving it away over at Sisters In Scribe.

Hope you have a great weekend! I'll be strapped to my macbook until I finish these stupid awesome revisions!

Friday Five

This week turned out to be a surprisingly good week for me!

I entered Nathan Bransford's Guest Post Contest and my post was selected! I will be guest posting on Nathan's blog this Sunday, October 10th at 10am PT in case, you know, you want to stop by and check it out. Just sayin'!


I finally got into a groove with my current revision. I'm back at that place where I feel like I'm creating again instead of just moving words around. I love that feeling! (Although, I'm thinking of renaming my ms EVERYBODY SHRUGS because that's what everybody does in it. All the time.)

I got a Shiny New Idea for NaNoWriMo! Be my buddy! (I can't believe it's less than a month away!)

I posted the opening for our new story on Tangeld Fiction.

Today is the first day of my local SCBWI's weekend long Fall Conference! A whole weekend with people who don't think it's weird to write and read books for teens. Love it!

What about you? Anything awesome happen for you this week?

Friday Faves - Jordan Catalano Forever!

There were many things I loved about this week's Britney episode of Glee, but this was my absolute favorite:


Why?
1. Aw... *sigh*
2. I love that song.
3. Finn got teary-eyed.
4. I am always in awe of the way Rachel can do the single tear down her cheek while she's singing.
5. It pays homage to one of my all time favorite moments on one of my all time favorite tv shows, My So-Called Life. See below. (The homage starts at 1:14 on the Glee video.)

Friday Five (minus four)

So yeah I could only come up with one thing for today, but it's a winner!


I think this might be the most awesome book ever. I'm totally going to use it to spice up my ms! Some of my favorites:

- "His gaze was as soft as a caress." (Who cares if it makes sense? It sounds pretty!)

- "The smoldering flame she saw in his eye startled her." (It would startle me too!)

(Thanks to Awful Library Books for making me aware that this book exists!)

Friday Five

I am addicted to starting my mornings with lots of coffee and Sugar Free French Vanilla Coffeemate. I ran out yesterday morning and I went to two stores and neither of them had the Sugar Free! I had to try Sugar Free Vanilla Caramel. It's just not the same. As you can see I live a difficult life full of trials and tribulations.

Tangled Fiction the short story blog I'm a part of launched this Tuesday! Catch up on part one of our story, The Importance of a Strawberry Tart, before I post part two on this coming Tuesday, September 14th!

I SO want to spend my weekend watching season 3 of the BBC show Ashes to Ashes but I have a revision deadline to meet. No tv this weekend for me. *sigh* I ♥ DCI Hunt.

I can't believe summer is over already! How did this happen?

Friday Five

I'm SO excited for Undercovers! I've missed Alias. Yay spy shows!

In case you missed it I've joined forces with 3 awesome YA writers to form a collaborative short story blog Tangled Fiction. The first part of our monthly story posts on Tuesday and it's pretty creepy!

I'm only slightly embarrassed to admit that I'm kind of excited that Camp Rock 2 premieres tonight. It's no Glee but it will hopefully tide me over til Glee starts!

Speaking of Glee, I'm SO HAPPY that Jane Lynch won the Emmy for her role as Sue Sylvester. I think she's genius.

The song I can't get out of my head this week is:

I Am - Christina Aguilera

Five Things on a Friday + WINNER!

First up: WINNER! - The winner of the signed ARC of RETURN TO PARADISE by Simone Elkeles is CAROLINA VALDEZ MILLER! Check your email, I will be contacting you soon for your mailing address.

2. The Apple Pecan Chicken Salad at Wendy's is my new addiction! If you love salads, you must try this! The Pomegranate Vinaigrette is amazing!

3. I'm not really a huge Katy Perry fan, but I can't stop singing Teenage Dream this week.


4. I'm STILL emotionally drained from reading MOCKINGJAY.

5. I spent ALL day Wednesday working on my new blog look! What do you think?