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

Crazy Weather and People?

Is it just me that thinks that people who believe in the apocalypse supposedly coming in 2012 are probably going nuts and have been for the passed year almost?

Mother Nature seems really angry, to me. Bad hurricanes and tornados, then even worse earth quakes (not to mention the oil spill, although I doubt Mother Nature would be behind that). Now a crazy ice and snow storm that covers over half the US followed by crazy winds causing way below 0 temperatures, a huge hurrican hitting Australia, and a obnoxious riot in Eygpt where the people have practically gone insane with rage.

Then all the crazyness inbetween. I mean, hello? If I believed in the end of the world next year I may just think it's starting. O.o

Other Blogs?

When I was messing around with this blog the other day, I got the idea for creating a blog that is like a novel. Each post tells the next chapter in the story but instead of one long document seperated by large chapters, it would be seperated by shorter posts.

Then an idea popped in my head and I couldn't shake it. I was immeadiately taken with the idea of this novel-blog, as I called it. It would be great!

So I got right to work starting up another blog under the same dashboard as this one, and started thinking of what the storyline could be and before I knew it there was a whole storyline starting to form before my eyes. I spent the passed three days getting it started and making the blog, and finally, less than half an hour ago, got the first post ready and put it up!

The idea is called Story of the Rose and deals with elves and a few other creatures here-and-there like Nymphs and Faeries. I won't post every day as I want to keep the story going for a while, plus theres still a lot of planning to do. But I just couldn't keep myself from starting it and putting up the first post because i'm so sure of how the beginnings going to go.

Now I better get back to planning further- as I only have it planned out to about three posts! But I can't help it. When I have a fresh idea I'm really excited about the sooner I start to tackle it the easier it is for me to stick with it before it starts getting complicated and I'm already sick of it.

I'd loooveee to hear some feedback on it and get some people reading. I don't want the posts to feel like they drag out forever so I'm keeping them relatively short, plus its easier for a quick read that hopefully will have you coming back for more.

Its also written in a bit different style than I've previously written in, so I hope it turns out okay.

The blog is StoryoftheRose.blogspot.com and I really hope I get some followers with it by the next post or two- otherwise I'll probably quit posting it as a blog and just turn it into a manuscript, eventually it may go on Inkpop.

So if you like Blogs, like reading, like something hopefully fresh, and you like some fantasy, then you should check out Story of the Rose!!





Sincerly,
Samantha-Aniwaya (Reader, Writer, and Friend)

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest

Incase you didn't know already, Amazon hosts a massive contest called the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award or ABNA for short. This year is the fourth anual year running, and I've decided to participate.



I first heard about the contest a few months back, I believe through CreateSpace (a self-publishing company). Well, I was totally prepared to go through a bunch of edits on my older novel, Life Living In A Hotel because I figured I it had a better chance than my more recently completed one, and then I was going to enter it. Well, I totally forgot and stopped editing it and screwed myself for entering that one completely.



But thats okay. I'm entering still. Or entered, as I already did.



Instead, I'm entering my NaNoWriMo novel called My Guardian Angel Book One: The Revengeful Fallen. I do hope it at least gets passed the first stage, but I really doubt it. I'm no good with pitches. This was my first NaNo and I just did it this past November (2010). But afterwards I was still in that "I-don't-hate-every-written-word-yet" stage, so I worked a lot on it after, giving everything at LEAST one good solid edit through.



So, as I said, I entered it.
























Wish me luck?


So for all of you who didn't know about ABNA, heres a little background info for ya. There are two categories (genres) under which you can enter your book. General Fiction and Young Adult Fiction. It must be a novel between 50-150K words. Under each genre they (Amazon) will except up to 5,000 entries (10,000 totall entries) or until the deadline has passed, which is Febuary 6th.

The first round of judging is on your pitch! After reading the pitches, the judges will allow 1,000 entries under each genre out of the original 5K to continue on. By the way, the pitch has a max of 300 words.

Next is the excerpts. This is a 3,000-5,000 excerpt starting from the beginning of the book, discounting title pages, acknoledgements, or any such thing. The first 3,000 at min and 5,000 at max words of your book. 250 entries only from each category will proceed to the next round.

Quarter-finalists round! You've made it! Now your excerpts and reveiws are posted for others to read, and Publishers Weekly now does the judging. Once they have completed judging, 50 entrants from each category progress to the semi-finals.

Semi-finals!! Pheww!! Can't believe you've gotten this far, have you? Out of 5,000 entries in your category, you've made the top 50! Big congrats. ;)
In this round, the top 50 entries are judged by a panel and they select THREE entries to proceed!!

Finalists!! Last round! Eeeeek! (If only I ever got this far.) Now, during this round the top excerpts for each category will be posted on the main ABNA page with links for the Amazon customer to vote for their chosen entry. Each contestant will also receive a review from a celebrity panel consisting of "at least one well-known author, one agent, and one editor."
Then the two winners, one from YA Fiction and one from General Fiction, are choosen.

But, Samantha, you haven't told us the prize yet!

Oh, whoops? Did I leave that out? Do you want to know? Reaaaallly want to know? Yes? Alright hold on 'cause you won't believe this. Each category winner gets a contract with the publishing company Penguin and a $15,000 advance. Yepp. You heard me right. An actual CONTRACT for your book! Congratulations, because apparently you have just made it out of a 5,000-person slush pile!

Yeah, so now you know. ABNA is an amazing chance for people to better their writing by hearing from professionals and having a chance at the gold medal. Which is obviously an actual published book by themselves. :P

I think I pretty much covered everything.. If you think you have a chance, sign up before its too late! Theres no obligation to publish with CS (CreateSpace) or pay or anything, its just sign up, write good, and have a little luck. The sign up process is very easy and there is even video tutorials on it, as well as a forum specifically for the contest if you have questions or need help.

Here are some links you might look at if you're interested, and I wish anyone luck whos participating this year or in future ones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Breakthrough_Novel_Award (If you just want some more info.)
https://www.createspace.com/ (Right on the homepage, top right corner, is a picture talking about ABNA. Click it and it takes you to the entry page and videos and all that, but you have to have an account first. Nothing to that but signing up.)
http://www.amazon.com/b?node=332264011 (Amazon's page announcing the event)
http://www.amazon.com/tag/amazon%20breakthrough%20novel%20awards/forum/ref=cm_cd_ecf_sap?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx6TTNZ0V5TDQ5 (Lastly, a link to the discussion page on Amazon specifically for the contest. You can also get to it on the bottom of the page provided with the previous link.)

Sincerly Reader, Writer, and Friend,
Samantha-Aniwaya

Book Reveiws?

This is going to be a fairly short post. I was considering to start reveiwing books I read from now on.

So I'm asking YOU (yes, you there! Right there! Reading these words and looking over your shoulder as if I'm talking to somebody there! No YOU! The nonexistent reader! Yeah, you!Sheesh, took ya long enough.) what you think about that there sorta-plan? Should I attempt to reveiw books I read? Ones I reread?

Questions about reveiwing, if I were to do so. Please comment with some replies :)

1. Should I reveiw ALL books I read?
2. Should I break my reveiws down into genre categories or some such way? Or just label it "book reveiws" haha.
3. What do you consider about/in books you are reveiwing?
4. Do you think there are "good reveiws" and "bad reveiws"? (As in the reveiw itself was written one way or the other, not its overall point was the BOOK itself was good/bad.)
5. What makes a good book reveiw? Anything specific?
6. Do you want more opinion (obviously it all is, but) or more "fact"?
7. Do you like specifically pointed out parts or general points?
8. Do you prefer book reveiws that do or don't give away anything in the book at all and stays very general?
9. Do you take notes or makr things down as you read that you'd like to bring up later?
10. Do you plan to read more of my blog?

Wait.. How did that last one get there? Hmm... *gives inconspicious look*

Anything else you'd like to adivse me about before I try and do some book reveiws?
So what do you think? Yay or nay shall I give mi lowly 'pinion on thee future books I doth read?

Thanks in advance!
Writer, Reader, and Friend,
Samantha-Aniwaya