Guest Post – Camp Fail

Our version of Tetris!

Hey all, I know I have been gone a few days, sorry about that.  I was out helping my sister move! Lots of work and then no interwebs at the new place!  I am home, but beat, but I have a GREAT post to share with you all!  My great friend and cabin mate, StoryCoat, has some wonderful words for you, so here she is!

Camp Fail

Well, unlike my lovely cabin mate Ravyn, I did not make winner this year at camp. As I packed my proverbial bags to go home I wiped away tears of disdain at my camp fail! I nearly tripped over my lip as I headed out the door and down the trail to get on the last bus leaving camp. The bus for losers.  Ravyn bless her pea pickin’ heart, was long gone in that decked out bus for winners, banners flyin’ the whoops and hollerin’ lasting for miles down the road.
As I boarded the bus I nearly slipped on the puddle of tears dropped by others who failed to get their word count goal. I mounted the steps and stood looking at the bus full of heads hanging low, lower lips flowing over laps touching the floor of the bus. Whimpers coming from the mouths of those who had failed along with me. The bus was full, almost standing room only. (I’m also slow) Then it hit me. My lower lip zapped back up so fast it nearly bruised my teeth! We aren’t losers! We didn’t fail!! Heck! We’re on the bus!! WE ARE ON THE BUS!!! That means we took the time to at least make the effort to try. “WE ARE ON THE BUS!!” I shouted, “WE AIN’T LOSERS, WE ARE TRIERS AND WE TRIED!! WE GAVE IT A SHOT!!”
Then some little green kid looked up with teary eyes and said, “Yeah, but . . . there is no try. There’s only do or don’t do.”
“Okay,” I said. “So everybody who wrote something – anything at all for Camp NaNo raise your hand.” Every hand on the bus when up, including the little green kid’s. “Well then,” I said, “We all done did!! Maybe we didn’t do as much as we planned on doing but we did something which is a damn sight better than the millions who stayed at home doin’ nuthin’ sayin’ ‘oh yeah, dude that Camp NaNo sounds like fun. I’ma do that one of these days.’ By golly, WE got ON the bus, we came, we saw, maybe we didn’t conquer but we did a little bit and now we can go home proud of the fact that despite all the adversity we faced in the month of July, we wrote sumpthin’. Whatever it was, it counted. IT COUNTED PEOPLE!!”

You shoulda been there to hear all those long faces zapping back up to where they belonged. Even the little green guy got happy! The shouts of joy echoed for miles and miles. Sometimes it’s not whether you win or lose. Sometimes all that matters is that you made the effort!

Thanks, StoryCoat, for those amazing words of truth!  So long as you have even one word, it is one more word than you had before setting out on this Camp experience!  How about everyone else? Was camp a fail? Or did you manage to do “something”?

Letters from Camp: Last Letter!

I can’t believe it, today is my last letter from camp.  I was going to tell you all about this great holiday that happens to be today, Uncommon Instrument Awareness Day, but… I am all sad.  I can’t believe that today is the last day of camp.  I have to tell ya though… I had a six thousand word day on Wednesday!!!  I couldn’t believe it!  I was super excited about that!

Oh, and about that Uncommon Instrument Awareness Day… well, not many people know this, but I play the harp!  I was going to post this great picture of my harp for you all, but I am away from home and I totally forgot to take a picture before I left.  But I might just add one in later, when I get home next week!  I also play the penny whistle and accordion!  I have a real love for different instruments and if I could have one of everything I totally would.  Someday I want to have a full size floor harp, a violin and I would like to also learn to play the bagpipes!

What about you?  Do you play any interesting instruments?  Share  unique fact about yourself with us!

Letters from Camp: Paperback Book Day, “Squee”

Let’s be honest here people… If you are a reader (and of course that is a big assumption on my part, but if you are following my blog I gotta believe you have some kind of like/passion/love for the written word) any time you walk into a bookstore, it is almost as if you are a 14-year old fangirl/boy!

I know that when I am around books, I am all like:

“my precious”

Well, today is going to be a rush, I am going to be gone for another weekend… You know, at that party camp!  (Ok, maybe it is just my sisters house, but still!)  So, since I am so behind and Camp ends in just a couple days, I am going to shoot for getting finished today and tomorrow morning!  Let’s see if I can!!!

What about you? Do you have that same response to books?!? What makes you “squee” like a little teenage fan?

Letters from Camp: International Tiger Day!

Lions and tigers and bears, nope just tigers!  Today is International Tiger Day, and seeing as I love all the big cats, I thought I would share this grand day with you, along with some images from one of my dear friends and an amazing photographer!  Please check out her site and buy some prints!!!

Letters from Camp: One Day, at NaNo Camp…

First a quick update… I have to say I sadly did not manage my 5k day, but I did manage over 1k!  So that is something, there is still hope! I know that I can do it! Maybe tomorrow I will hammer out enough to get more caught up!  Now, here is an idea that was tossed at me, and this is my attempt. I know that there could be more, and that this can become “something” so let me have it!

This one time at NaNo camp, there was this inappropriate comma! And don’t get me started on the ellipses, stuck where one should never go. The fragments that leave you hanging! Feeling oh so unfulfilled! Or the sentences that seem to go on and on and on and on. The repetition, same words, phrases, and the like, abusing our minds in a manner most unbecoming!  And what is with that exclamation point, or is it mark… really, why can’t it stick with the point!  I have ta say… really and truly, why can one never get what should be where?!?

I have a few ideas for adding in the dash, question mark, colon, those could all be added, and I would like to think up a few more different grammatical type things.  Maybe even create a second little story! What do you think?!?  What more does it need? What would you want to see in there?

Letters from Camp: Back Where I Belong, For a While…

Well, after a fun filled weekend gallivanting around the countryside.  Seeing things from another point of view and even checking out how other camps work, (alright, maybe I was just visiting family, but that doesn’t sound nearly as fun, now does it?!?) I am finally back home where I belong.  At least for a few days.

For your viewing pleasure, here are a few images from my wonderful weekend, more to come on the musical I was blessed to see!

Wind Up Car! (now the wind up is not really how this works, but it sure is cute isn’t it?!?!

Garbage Can Car (I actually saw this driving down the road, it was just epic!)

 

Most of the cast for Mary Poppins!

I love classic cars!

Just me, what more did you expect?!?
















Well, I hope your weekend was as amazing and fun-filled as mine!  What did you get up to? Please let me know! I want to hear all about it!

Letters from Camp: The Mosquito!

I have a tale to tell… of a lonely little mosquito.  One who was so lonely in fact that he decided to… oh, wrong story!

This story, is really in fact about that pesky mosquito swarm!  You know the one. It follows me all around camp! I can’t go anywhere, or get anything done!  For some reason it would seem that anything I do manage to get done, gets all the life sucked right out of it! I don’t really know how, but I know that durn mosquito swarm is behind it!

You have StoryCoat to blame for this sordid and infamous tale!  What about you? Is your camp journey going where you want it to? Is there a mosquito swarm fallowing you around, sucking all the life from your tale?

Letters from Camp: Homesick!

So I gotta say, visiting this other camp sure has been fun, seems they do a lot of partying around here, but boy does it make me homesick for Camp NaNo!  I miss my wonderful top bunk, and my great cabin mate StoryCoat!  She always has a ready smile and creative ideas when the juices aren’t flowing!  I want my little writing cubby back.

some of the mischief we get into!

The only thing making it worthwhile is time spent with some great new friends! (Ok, maybe they are not so new and maybe they are even the whole reason why I am away from camp NaNo, and just maybe they are even family!)

I can’t believe there is only one week of camp left! So many words to manage and so little time! I hope when I get back from my field trip my story loves me just a little more and the characters start speaking to me, so that I don’t fail camp this summer!

What about you? Have you had any excursions from camp? Do you find yourself homesick when you step away from camp for a little while?

Letters from Camp: Why I Do NaNoWriMo!

Everywhere you look these days you see writers either loving or hating on NaNoWriMo, in its various forms. I genuinely think they don’t understand the true nature and idea behind why it exists.  There are those who believe that it is ruining writing, well I can’t imagine anything further from the truth!  So, here is my list of reasons to participate in NaNoWriMo in all its glorious forms!

1. It lowers my expectations on myself!  Ultimately it is all about getting the words down, on the page!  So that means that I give myself permission to not always write perfectly, which gives me more creative freedom to explore and express ideas in ways I may otherwise never think of!
2. It has taught me that no matter how busy life gets, we can always make the time for what matters to us!  You may want to say, yeah but… Well I say, no wild YeahButz allowed!  Do you want to know why?  Ask me sometime about my first ever NaNo experience… while I was getting married (a do it yourself wedding with no help), and going to Mayo Clinic several times, not to mention a week long honeymoon, oh and did I mention said wife’s birthday!  So, yes, it can be done, no matter how busy you might be!
3. I have learned something new about how writing works for me!  Like, I learned how to “outline”, at least so far as the format that seems to work alright for me! I also learned what a scene/chapter is! Oh sure I know what it is!  but I learned how they work for me! These were big deals! And I always learn something new each time!
4. It prevents writing from being this static environment!  I can’t write alone. Strange I know right? But there it is. If I am not chatting with a couple friends, and occasionally bouncing ideas back and forth, I can just sit and stare at my work for hours!
5. The last thing I am going to leave you with is this.  It gives me a deadline! You know… an actual reason to get the words on the page. More than… yeah I want to do that! There are tons of other people also doing it, and I want to be in the winners circle at the end!

There you have it folks, just a few reasons why I love NaNoWriMo!  I will continue to participate, until for some strange reason the well of stories in me dries up.  Considering I have new ideas every week I am sure that will never happen!

What about you?  Do you love it? Hate it? Swear by it?  Tell me your story!

Letters from Camp: Gorgeous Grandma Day! What?!?

Back in 2011, in a hotel lobby in Rochester, on one of many trips to the Mayo Clinic for my wife!

I don’t have a whole lot for ya today! I am out and about, with a Camp field trip, visiting another camp! (shhh, its a secret, not really though).  So I thought I would share a great holiday with you, Gorgeous Grandma Day! Why may you ask?  Well, the answer is simple, cause I have an amazingly epic grams, who, just my luck (or maybe that is curse), is also my mom!

What about you?  Are you going to celebrate this holiday?  Say hi to your grams, or remember her with a recipe that was passed down, or write her a letter!  What are you going to do?