Camp NaNoWriMo

What's that, you say? You're going to camp? And what does that crazy writing thing you did last November have to do with it?

Well, I'm not going to an ACTUAL camp, but I'd say this is better! :D

That's right, folks. Camp NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, if you'll remember. I DID post about that, didn't I?) has started it's second round and I'm participating this month! What did you say? You don't even KNOW what Camp NaNo is!?

Well, let me explain!

NaNoWriMo, if you do not know, takes place in November and the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. I know, I know, what crazy person partakes on something like that? As a matter of fact, thousands and thousands of people do every year! All across the globe. The atmosphere is great, it sparks creativity you didn't know you had or increases what you knew you did, there will be many laughs along the way, you're sure to make a friend or two, and in the end you have a novel to show for it! Something nobody else in the world has written exactly as you have, created those characters or that world, something totally and uniquely yours!

Well Camp officially started on August first (for this round, last month was the first and kind of like a beta/testing month) and today makes day three. Unlike last November when I did NaNo for the first time, I didn't start out writing like wild fire, typing out thousands of words each day and beginning way ahead of the game. As a matter of fact, I'm not even keeping up with the game!

But I am a looooong way from giving up, even if I never catch up.

I am also excitedly waiting to be placed in my Camp Cabin! Whoever I get placed with are sure to be the most awesome people on the planet- though I'm sure all my non-cabin mates are still just as cool!

For all you fellow Camp Wrimos, good luck to you this month. Never, EVER quit even if you believe you have NO chance of winning! Keep writing! Always remember to write, write, WRITE!

As for you non-Wrimos, try it. If not this month for camp (never to late a time to start!), then in November. Trust me you will absolutely not regret it. :D

NaNoWriMo.org
CampNaNoWriMo.org

Also, feel free to check out Script Frenzy (which takes place in April) and the Young Writer's Program!

Eagerly awaiting my Cabin,
Samantha <3

Shocked

I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. We'd already talked about it before. Both of us have considered it. But I feel like I'm going to throw up.

The guy who's practically my best friend, who I talk to almost daily, who I try to convince myself I don't have feelings for even when I know I do, who I've never even met despite being friends for five years, just told me he's joining the Army. For sure.

No doubts this time, no speculation, no "I could see myself doing it" thoughts. As in, meeting with the recruiter this coming week.

Sure, I've considered it myself. And quite seriously a few times. So I feel even stupider for feeling this way. I can't even really say I know him, seeing as we've never met, which adds on to the "feeling stupid."

But suddenly, the idea of him joining is much less appealing. I don't want to consider all the "what if"s. (Not that I can totally control my thoughts from doing so... obviously.)

I mean I'm proud of him and happy for him and all, very much so, but I'm still in the "freaking out" stage.

Ugh...

Harry Potter: The Final Release!

Tomorrow Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 comes out! I'm way excited, can't wait to see it. I'm sad though, too, because its the last one.

I was supposed to be seeing the midnight showing, but appearently not anymore. Sigh.... And for some reason, the AMC near me is playing it all day today as well? Ooookaaayyy then... I have no idea why. I'm kinda irritated at not being able to see it today, either way.

Bleh.

Well I hope it's good!! I'm sure it well be. What do you think? What scenes will have been changed/removed? What might have the added or expanded on?

!!!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!

That scene with the dragon in the bank looks like it'll be awesome and I can't wait to see how it plays out. The final battle scene I admit I AM worried about though. It looks like they changed how it happens!! And whats with the part where they jump off a building together? Voldy (hehe... Voldy's gone moldy. ahh how we love you Peeves) and Harry? I'm sure I didn't forget THAT happening in the book- I just reread the second half recently!

Also with the epilogue, I wonder how that'll happen. I sincerly hope they didn't cut out that. Many fans who just want that "happy ending" will be dissapointed. Espcially after such a long series, and if they read the books and already know how it ended.

I think I'm most anticipating the scenes where Harry watches Voldemort kill Snape and then sees his memories, and where he goes into the forest alone to have himself killed.

I'll probably cry when Freddie dies. :(

!!!END OF SPOILERS!!!

Well, however it works out, I can't wait! What do you guy's think? Expecting anything in particular to happen? Especially you fans out there who haven't read the book!! What do YOU think?

Love always,
Samantha-Aniwaya<3

Short Stories

Just read over a bunch of my short stories. Some only a few months old, some over a year old. I like how after so much time not looking at them and practically fogetting the whole story line while busying myself with my novels, I actually like them now.

I don't look at them and think this character seems boring, theres too much description, too much dialogue, I don't fully express things like I could- using the same old boring descriptions, this and that seems forced because it had to be added, that wasn't what I wanted but thought it worked better, and so on and so on.

I can just read the story like an outsider and appreciate it for what it is. I don't badger myself and think EDIT, EDIT, EDIT. I'm just reading it. Sure, I may fix a seplling mistake here or there. But I'm reading it just to look back on my writings.

I wish I could always look at my work like that, and not only months after I last thought about it! I have to admit, reading those, I don't feel like such a bad writer. I don't really give myself much credit because I never feel like I'm moving forward- I never feel like I'm improving. I feel like I make the same mistakes, use the same pretenses, boring characters, have the same bad grammar, and yadda yadda.

Sure someone else might look at them and still see that. But I have to say I'm darn proud of those short stories. I hope one day I can always look at myself like this.


Lots of love,
Samantha-Aniwaya

PS: I wonder if that just means I'm better at short stories. Hmm.

Nah!! I love novels too much!

Summer Job and Summer Fun

So at the beginning of this month I got a job babysitting. Its not "normal" babysitting, its more like being a nanny. The little girl's parents are usually home, they just need the time to do stuff around the house and sometimes do errands and stuff. Its especially hard because she has a disease that causes the nerves that control her lower half of her body to not work properly.

So she needs help walking, either with a walker or holding a person's hands or something. I was surprised at how good she does. She can sit fine, crawl, stand if she has something to help her up. She's mentally fine- actually shes really, really smart. She's really sweet.

Her name is Brianna and she's three. I get six bucks an hour to watch her, so its good money. I hadn't actually planned to do it for the money so its just a plus. One of the days I was watching her, we were playing with the camera on my phone and she kept wanting me to take pictures of her stuffed animals and her and stuff. It was funny. Heres one where she was petting her stuffed horse.. lol.

And another of her on our "picnic blanket/barn for the horses".

She's real sweet. Now to the summer fun part!

So for years I've been dying to go horseback riding. I've wanted to go for soo long. Well, I finally got to go!!! My grandparents took me and my sister (Abby, whose fifteen and my only sibling if I never said that before) to a place called The Wilds. One of the things you can do is go on a trail ride on the edges of the land they keep the animals on.

So we went up Friday and then when we got there went on the trail ride. It was me and my sister and grandpa, my grandma didn't go. My horse was hugee and his names was Gates. He was gorgeous though, brown and white, and very sweet. The ride last about an hour and twenty minutes and the guide that was leading us (there was also one behind us) was very funny. His name was Bill. I so can't wait to go horseback riding again.

Then the next day was our safari ride. It was 2 1/2 hours long and we went all aroudn the park. I took two rolls of color film with my awesome Nikon camera, one of the real old ones. I love that camera. The scenery there was beautiful, on both rides. It was really fun.

Almost the fourth- Happy Independence Day everyone! Also almost July, which means it's time for plenty of birthdays. My papal's, my dad's, my mom's, and then mine! Woooooot ;P

Actually this Saturday my friend's having a bonfire sorta for her birthday and that should be fun. Babysitting again tomorrow too, this time 3 1/2 hours. Phewww wish me luck lol. It would be different if it was normal babysitting, but my job is to interact with her because she needs the social time- so no sitting around watching TV or reading lol.

Take care,

Samantha

Life-like Baby Dolls.

Its that time... when dandelions are taking over yards and rains are pouring... and when I have to care for a life-like baby doll for parent and child development class. (The other class, Adult Living, still uses flour babies! :) )

You know... the ones that cry and need fed and held properly so you don't break their little necks? Don't forget the burping and diaper changing and rocking and the occasional cry for no reason. Yay!!

Sigh. I got her, Kaylee Elizabeth, at the end of school today. Went and picked her up before I left on the bus. So I've had her for... Approx. seven hours. She's cried, burped, and I swear she even farted. I just hope she doesn't keep me up all night!! Wish me luck.

PS- I don't have much faith seeing as she slept for two hours and as soon as I got in the shower- my sister comes in with a crying baby. Kaylee has horrible timing. I swear it couldn't have been more expected though. If I'd gotten in a half hour sooner, she still would have cried.

I'll post a picture laters.

-Samantha-Aniwaya<3

AAUSS

I always thought it would be cool to have a pen pal. Somebody to send letters back and forth with that you'd never met. With the internet thats a lot easier now, but it just isn't the same as using snail-mail and getting/sending those hand-written letters!

So I finally started to do some searching about three weeks ago (it was Tuesday, Feb. 8th). I'd heard about people who sent letters to Soldiers/Sailors in our military and thought: why not? Its perfect!

Then I found AAUSS- Adoptaussoldier.org

It seemed great. Nice people, simple, rewarding, reliable, and so on. So I read around, signed up, and read around some more until I was sure I wanted to do it. (Of course I was pretty sure in the first place- I signed up after about 10 short minutes.) The process of getting assigned a Soldier was easy, and all I had to do now was wait for it to move along.

Somewhere along the lines things got a little mixed up and it took longer than expected, but 8 days later I had my Soldier's name and info! I was so excited to write her! Heck, a day or two before I'd tried out writing my first letter, trying to figure out what I'd write.

Obviously I sent it out right away (I put it in the mailbox that night, to be picked up the next morning). I knew the mail was slow for one, second it would take even longer because of where it was being sent, and third I would more than likely not even get a reply for weeks or months, or even at all.

But was I discouraged? Heck NO! I was THRILLED. Me? Lil' ol' Samantha was trusted by our military to send stuff over seas to a military base? Given a Soldier's personal info to come into contact with (jeez makes her sound like an alien or something)? The address of where the base actually is? I was allowed to do this?

How. Awesome.

Well the first week came and went and it was time to write my second letter. I still felt like I was waiting to be assigned, rather than writing her again already. I sent it out and then decided- why not send an e-mail? Sure, this could be even slower than snail mail, given the fact that she probably has little or no internet access, but what if she read it? I still wasn't sure if she even had my first letter yet. So I e-mailed her.

I forgot to check my e-mail the next day, but it didn't really matter. Again, probably no reply anyway. I mean that fast? No way. The next day I had to check it anyway- whether I expected to see new mail or not.

Who would have guessed there would have been an unread e-mail I had gotten the day before? Not just any e-mail. Not just spam. It was the awesome e-mail I never would have expected. She had replied! Woohoo!!

I couldn't read it and shout to everyone in the house she'd replied fast enough. ;P

Two days later, another reply and she'd gotten my first letter that day. I was pretty happy.

What is the point of this post? Uh- JOIN! Seriously, you have to. Why are you still reading this? Go join Adopt a US Soldier already! You can really make someone else's day, even week, over there, make them feel connected to home and like people care. Do it!

AAUSS is just a sweet opportunity and I think everyone should do it. At least pas on the word and take a glance at the website. I would be much appreciated.

Have a nice day,
Samantha