Penpals

Were you one of the lucky people who had a penpal during elementary school? I was. In fact, I still remember the names of my penpals (Lauren and Jamal) and kept their letters and cards, which are now safely housed in my memory box. I eventually lost track of Lauren and Jamal, but I still think of them often and wonder what they're doing now and if they have families of their own.

With the advent of the Internet, it is much easier to connect with new penpals and relive the experience. I prefer snailmail pals. Snailmail refers to an actual letter with stamps that gets mailed through the good old-fashioned post office. Yes, it takes longer to exchange than an email, but nothing beats the experience of holding a letter in your hand that has traveled halfway across the globe to get there. Plus, you can learn a little bit more about your penpal through their handwriting, the stationery and ink they use, or the way they embellish their paper and writing.

I have penpals from many different countries including Ireland, England, France, Italy, Sweden, Wales, and the list goes on and on. The best free website for finding penapls on the Internet is Interpals (www.interpals.net). There are various search options available to narrow down the profiles that may interest you. From there, you can introduce yourself to penpals around the globe. I've met many great people through this site, but you will also receive some strange requests, which are more than likely scams, foreign people looking for visas through marriage, or scum looking for hookups onlin.e So, just be prepared to click the delete button quite often. However, the rewards outweigh the trash.

Another great way to meet penpals is through International Pen Friends (http://usa.ipfpenfriends.com). This is a paid service, which for a fee, will provide you with the names of 14 potential penpals as well as submitting your name to 14 other penpals. The great thing about this site is you can submit your application online and pay securely through Paypal, but all other correspondence takes place through the postal service, which means no annoying scam emails to delete. Plus, because these people have paid a fee for their list of names, you know they are much more likely to be serious about writing more than one letter before falling off the face of the earth.

So, if you would like to connect with people around the world, I would highly recommend either one. I'm expecting my second list from IPF any day, and I'll keep you posted concerning my experiences with both sites. So far, I've met some very interesting people and can't wait to meet more.

I would love to hear from you on this topic as well. Feel free to comment and tell me about your own experiences with penpals whether past or present.

Until later,
Jamie

Time flies when you're having fun!

Summer classes finally ended, so I have few days off to kick back and enjoy before fall semester begins. Boy, have I been enjoying it! I went to Oklahoma for my nephew's first birthday. He's such a handsome little fellow and has five teeth. His mother was putting together a photo album and asked me to upload some pictures for her. I have 2000 pictures, and it's only year one. They don't call me Aunt Paparazzi for nothing!

I've finally had time to read for pleasure, and I started with Stephen King's Salem's Lot. I had never read anything by this author and thought it was about time. Suspenseful story but didn't want to make me hide in bed under the covers or anything, which was a little disappointing. I was looking for a good scare, and he's said to be the master of all things frightening. If you know of any truly scary books (not gory and disgusting), I'd love some recommendations.

Then, I head about the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon on the Amazon Kindle community board. I tend to avoid bodice-ripper romances like the plague due to the ridiculous nature of the sexual content, but these were set in the Scottish highlands. I'm a sucker for all things Scottish, Irish, or English for that matter, so I checked them out at the library. I've finished the first and started the second. Great storytelling so far, and I'm relieved to find that the sex scenes aren't too graphic or plentiful.

I've also been catching up on my TV watching. My favorites right now are "Ice Road Truckers" and "Pawn Stars". I'm also watching "Ghost Whisperer" from the beginning thanks to the Ion channel. All in all, it's been some delightful time off.

Only seven short days left.

Busy, busy, busy!

It absolutely feels like I no longer have time do anything strictly for fun. My second class of the summer just started (Audit), and it is going to be work, work, work. I have to carry a book around with me all the time just to snatch a few moments of pleasure here and there. Otherwise, I'm at a desk, in my car, or playing in the band.

Okay, enough whining! I am taking tomorrow off from work, school, and everything else to spend time with my girlfriends, Laura and Kathy. It feels like it's been forever since we had time to hang out, so we have a lot to catch up on, but first things first.

We're going to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince! I am trying not to get my hopes up too much because I was so disappointed in the liberties taken with the last one. I have avoided reading the books again like the plague so that I will have forgotten most of the plot, and thus, NOT BE FUMING MAD AT THE END! I've heard some great reviews, but I'm also scared by the fact that it appears there's only three mentions of the HBP, which WAS THE WHOLE PLOT OF THE BOOK!!!! Okay, calming down now. We'll see how it goes.

After the movie, we'll be taking Kathy to lunch for a belated birthday celebration. My stomach's already growling in anticipation because my girlfriends have great taste in restaurants. Yum!

As for Declaring Spinsterhood, sales are booming on the Kindle in spite of Amazon's doing away with the discount. Yeah! Now, if I could just get everyone to write a review, I'd be in a very happy place.

Kindle version of my book only $0.99!

Just wanted to let everyone know that if you have a Kindle or an iPhone, you can download a copy of my book for only $0.99. I dropped the price to generate some sales, and hopefully, some more reviews. I've sold 20 copies since!

If you've read the book but didn't buy it from Amazon, please feel free to post a review here by commenting on this blog. Otherwise, please post your review to Amazon.

Thanks to everyone for all their great words of encouragement and support!

Later,
Jamie

KTEN interview now posted!

In spite of my extremely slow internet connection, I finally was able to post the entire KTEN interview on my website (www.jamielynnbraziel.com). It took over two hours and kept crashing some program on my computer that I didn't even know existed. Anyway, because of the technical difficulties, I won't be posting it here on the blog; you'll just have to head over to my site to see it.

My brother and his family came down for a visit this weekend. My nephew is the most handsome and good-natured little fellow you'll ever meet. He's already wrapped his Auntie Jamie around his little finger, and from the looks he kept giving me this weekend, I think he knows it even if he is just nine months old. His little smile with those two wee teeth just lights up my world.

It was so nice to be able to do whatever I wanted to this evening without having to think about homework or studying for a test. I've spent all afternoon reading, which is a rare experience lately; I finished Sarah Dessen's first novel Someone Like You and started her second one, That Summer. She does such a great job of portraying teen girls and all their roller coaster ups and downs. It definitely brought back some memories from my own teen years. Boy, does that seem like a long time ago.

I feel so behind on things like new books and movies. There are so many different things I want to read or watch and so little free time in which to do it. When I find a spare minute, I usually spend half of it trying to decide whether to read, watch a movie, practice the piano, or exercise. Exercise always loses, the piano rarely wins due to the threat of disturbing others, so it's mainly a toss up between reading or watching. Books typically win out in the end because they rarely disappoint whereas movies so often do. I wonder why it feels that way? Maybe it's because the movies tend to leave little to my own imagination. Movies where I've already read the book are the worst because they rarely live up to the screenplay I've already seen in my head. They did a pretty good job with Twilight, but the last couple of Harry Potter movies ticked me off. I certainly hope they do better on the next one.

I did get to watch a couple of movies this weekend: Hairspray and August Rush. The first was completely corny, which I loved, and the second was just beautiful. What an interesting storyline, and I enjoyed seeing another side to the acting talents of Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as well as hearing his delectable accent.

Sorry for the ramblings, but that's all I'm good for today. The brain is mush!

Later!

New pics and video!

Hey, everybody!

Just a quick post to let you know that I finally posted the pictures from the book signing as well as a funny little video from that day on my website at www.jamielynnbraziel.com. Just click on Photos or Videos to see them, and let me know what you think.

Good news! The KTEN interview video has finally been edited. My guru is a genius and will be handing it over shortly for posting.

This semester's almost over, thank goodness, and I'll have a whole two weeks to blog like crazy before the summer semester starts, so be ready with your comments, questions, and/or suggestions.

I have the entire interview!

Just wanted to let everyone know I now have a copy of the entire interview that I did with Jocelyn Lockwood from KTEN News Midday. As soon as my techie is able to edit out the needed section, we'll post it on all my pages.

Don't forget the book signing is tomorrow at Hastings Entertainment in Sherman, TX from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. It sounds like we're going to have quite the party. Just a little disappointed that my brother and his family won't be able to be there due to a sick baby, but maybe next time. Get well, little guy, and tell your mommy to give you a great big kiss from Auntie Jamie!