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Alyssa's Weekly Wrap Up

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Family of missing Glendale girl demands attention Glendale-- The family of the missing 5-year-old Glendale girl, Jahessye Shockley, are planning to march to the Arizona Capital in order to demand attention to the case. The march is intended to get state officials involved in the search effort as the family feels more can be done to find Jahessye. A child's last wish turns into a childhood cancer support system Scottsdale- - A Scottsdale family recently unveiled a new website that offers a support system for childhood cancer after losing their own daughter to cancer earlier this year. This newly formed website provides families with the latest cancer information all in once place, which is update every 30 seconds, creating a one-stop resource and support system. 9-year-old's mission to improve a child's time at the hospita l Phoenix-- Valley resident, Emily Fawcett has made it her mission to take the scary out of childhood hospitalizations at only 9-years-old by providing ...

Alyssa's Weekly Wrap Up

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Finding a Great Pediatrician The right pediatrician makes all the difference when you have to take your children to the doctor-- for your children and your peace of mind. But, finding the right pediatrician can be difficult. I went through quite a few lemon doctors before finding the perfect pediatrician for my family. I quickly learned, you can't just point and choose one out of a phone book. I talked with other parents to see which ones they liked and which ones they didn't. I went to a doctor I had heard a ton of great things about, and ended up finding a doctor who works in his building was the perfect pediatrician for my family. Mom accused of beating 4-year-old with belt Phoenix-- 24-year-old, Jessica McKyle Adams, was arrested on Friday after police received reports that she beat her 4-year-old son with a belt out of anger and frustration. The child's grandmother called 911 after noticing bruising and welts on her grandson's back and face. Flooding i...

Alyssa's Weekly Wrap Up

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ASU students warned police are cracking down on underage drinking ASU students headed back to school last week with a new warning from police--they are cracking down on underage drinking. ASU is well known for being a party school, which includes excessive alcohol consumption by students, many of which are underage. For this reason, Tempe police are enforcing the legal drinking age in order to keep everyone safe. Pima County fighting obesity with a new ad campaign A new ad campaign in Pima County has joined the battle against the US obesity epidemic. The $2 million anti-obesity campaign launched in Pima County will focus on promoting a healthier lifestyle by making little changes to daily living. The campaign is funded by a portion of a $16 million federal grant. Author/Writer Website Tips You can't build a successful writing career without an author or writer website. A website allows your readers and potential clients to learn more about yo...

Alyssa's Weekly Wrap Up

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Phoenix school teaching mandatory English and Spanish When you think of public schools in Arizona, you often assume English is the primary language students are taught, with foreign languages being optional. However, this isn't the case with Squaw Peak Elementary, where the students are taught both English and Spanish in an effort to prove the importance of bilingualism. Half of the school day’s curriculum is taught in English, while the remaining half is taught in Spanish. Although many parents support the bilingual curriculum, it doesn’t sit well with some parents who feel schools in America should be English only. Police warn drivers to slow down near school zones Most Arizona schools are now in session for the 2011-2012 school year. Along with the new school year, police are warning drivers to slow down near school zones as they have stepped up their enforcement in these areas. The increased enforcement is strictly to keep Arizona children safe, not to haras...

Alyssa's Weekly Wrap Up

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Taking My Writing in a Different Direction After sitting back to reflect on how this past year has gone with my writing career, I've decided to take my writing in a different direction. Over the past several months I've been stuck in a rut. So I decided to reevaluate where my writing career is at and where it will be headed if I stay on this course. After careful planning, I've decided to go in a different direction. I feel as though I've wasted this year due to my own laziness, and it's time to get my butt in gear and make some changes if I want 2011 to become the year I dreamed of. At the start of the year, I said this is going to be MY year with big things in store, and so far it's not due to my own fault. Falling into a Routi ne You get to certain points in your life where you fall into a routine. At certain points you become comfortable and content with where your daily life is at. You flow with the steady rhythm of your life without a second th...

Alyssa's Weekly Wrap Up

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Is your web traffic irrelevant? Google’s new Panda platform now has people focused on their web traffic more than before. All website traffic is good traffic, right? Not always. Irrelevant web traffic can actually hurt your website. Basically, irrelevant web traffic is heavy or bulky traffic that goes to your site. Often, irrelevant traffic causes you to have a high bounce rate on your site. Some people actually prefer irrelevant traffic instead of relevant traffic because it means more visitors. However, in my opinion, relevant traffic is better because it means people are finding the information they want on your site and it’s of some value. Plus, you will have a lower bounce rate, which is great for search engine ranking. Chapters in Life Our lives are similar to books. On the outside, we have our hardcover that conceals our inner most thoughts and struggles, while revealing what we want others to believe our inner selves contain by the way we portray ourselves on the ou...

Alyssa's Weekly Wrap Up

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Google+: The new social networking empire? Recently, Google unveiled the new social networking site Google+. Finally, after a long wait, the new social network is available in a limited field. The functions Google+ has are very similar to Facebook’s functions, as far as the status stream and ability to share and view photos, videos and links, but Google+ has so much more. Living a Parent's Worst Fear Part 1: Alix's Story When you're pregnant with a child, you always have the fear something will be wrong with the baby when they are born. It's a normal fear to have despite everyone telling you it will be fine. You're just paranoid and the fear will ease as the pregnancy progresses. This is true in almost any pregnancy, but in my case, with my second child, even after the fear eased we faced this fear as a reality when my second son, Alix, was born. 5 Must Haves for Every Writer If you want to have a successful writing career and make your writing life easier...

Alyssa's Weekly Wrap Up

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The Truth about Book Reviews Every author knows the value that great reviews can create for their book sales. Not only are reviews helpful for authors, but they’re good for potential consumer as well. Reviews often sway a consumer one way or another when it comes to purchasing a book. Falling Off of the Face of the Planet Last week, I fell off of the face of the planet. I disconnected myself from my computer and my work to catch up on some "me time," and more importantly some family time. Originally, I intended to only take off a day or two at the most, but it ended up being 6 days. It's funny because normally I can't even fathom the idea of doing nothing, but I really enjoyed doing nothing for once. Normally, I can't sit still unless I'm doing something, but I really enjoyed not worrying about emails, looming deadlines and social marketing. 6 days later, I decided it was time to get back to work before I made it a habit of doing nothing. Writing Ha...

Alyssa's Weekly Wrap Up

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Book Trailers: A desperate attempt within the publishing industry? Book trailers are one of the latest waves of marketing techniques used to publicize books, especially among self-published authors. Even a few well known authors are using book trailers to spread the word about their novels. It seems like a great marketing move because trailers work well for movies, so why wouldn’t trailers be beneficial for books as well? 'Hannah' by S haron Poppen I don't really have a genre preference when it comes to reading. As long as it's well written, has a good plot and maintains my interest, I'll read just about anything. The book Hann a h by Sharon Poppen is the first western I've read. I wasn't too sure whether or not I would like it because I had the thought in my head all westerns were about wagon trails. But, this wasn't the case with this book. It was full of suspense set in a western environment. When Givin g Becomes too Much There are points i...

Alyssa's Weekly Wrap Up

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Random Thoughts of a Tangled Mind- The Book! My latest project over the past 9 months has been working on turning my personal blog, Random Thoughts of a Tangled Mind , into a book. It has taken longer than I expected, but I finally have a release date set- August 2011. I'm so relieved and excited that I'm nearing the release date. This project is one I've been thinking about for quite sometime, I just didn't have the guts to actually put it out there for others to read. With the book completed, I'm actually relieved I finally wrote it because I think I may be able to help some people who have been thru similar situations, or at least let people know they aren't alone. Are you scared of the Panda? You may or may not hav e heard about Google launching their new Panda system, but I'm sure you've probably noticed a change with your page views. Google's Panda has changed the way content is indexed based off of the new requirements Google has s...

Alyssa's Weekly Wrap Up

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We Are All Unique When we first created The WM Freelance Writers Connection, then known as Writing Mommies, I had just started my freelance writing journey a few months prior. At that time, I had no idea just how vast the freelance writing world is. Freelance writing is more than just a career, it’s a way of life for us that often doesn’t receive the credit it deserves. Freelance writers play a large role in every ones day to day lives, and most are unaware of where the content they read every day comes from. Google Panda: What does it mean for you? Have you heard about Google's new Panda? No, it's not a cute, black and white cuddly bear, but a new method Google uses to index websites and web content to produce a SERP ranking. Some of you may not have noticed the changes as Panda was put into place, but others may have noticed a drastic decline in site traffic and ranking. If this is the case, it's essential you become up to speed and learn how to get your site...