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Hello!
Hi there! My name is Valerie Kemp. I write YA, and I mostly blog about writing YA and YA books. (Surprising, I know!)
This journal is mainly for posting at my collaborative short story community tangledfiction (you should check it out. no, really!) and commenting on my lj friend's blogs. My main blog is on blogger and you can find it here: I Should Be Writing ( Read more... ) -
My Tragic Youth
So, I wrote a letter to my teenage self for the awesome website Dear Teen Me and it's up today. If you're so inclined, you can read all about My Tragic Youth HERE. (And see some rather embarrassing photos of my "fashion sense" - overalls were in, I swear. I have no clue what was up with the hat, though!) And then read the other letters from some ( Read more... ) -
Filling In The (Fantasy) Gaps
I'm discovering lately that I seem to have missed out on the fantasy phase in my youth. (I was big on horror, sci-fi, and contemporary as a kid, like Stephen King and Christopher Pike.) There seems to be all these sort of common knowledge things for people who have read a lot of fantasy that I have no idea about and I don't like that. It's like I'm ( Read more... ) -
2011 Writing Goals and What I Learned In 2010
I don't make resolutions. (Um... anymore.) I think they're too broad, and they don't bend to real life situations. I'm the kind of person that needs to feel like they're making progress, and I work better when I have a set of conditions to meet, so for me it's all about setting goals ( Read more... ) -
Two-fer Tuesday
Just three days left to enter the giveaway at my crit group's blog Sisters In Scribe! We're giving away THREE signed brand new finished copy books! What can you win?
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Friday Five
1. It's individual short stories week at tangledfiction! 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:
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Sometimes Things Just Suck
It's only Tuesday and it's already been a week full of tragic computer meltdowns, hours of stress and fear, and lots of money I'd rather not spend being spent. (Not to mention a week full of writing goals not being met.) So today I present you with yet another chestnut from The Universe, whose perfect timing helped me make it through yesterday.
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Giving Thanks
As Thanksgiving approaches, I'm thinking of all the things I'm grateful for. Since this is a writing blog, I'll share some of the writing related things that fill me with joy and gratitude ( Read more... ) -
Save Some For Later
Now that we've been doing tangledfiction for a couple months now and I've had the chance to write two story starts for Natalie and Lacey to finish, I've made some discoveries about plotting and revealing information.
When you're writing something that someone else has to continue without knowing what's supposed to come next your first instinct is to put in ( Read more... ) -
Teaser Tuesday
It's Teaser Tuesday! I thought I'd post something for a change. Here's the first two lines from my opening of this week's tangledfiction short! (Did I mention we're doing them weekly now?)
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