Summer Camp!

Eight days in and I don't think I stand a chance on catching up on Camp NaNo.  I've only written something on one day, and even then it was only 500 words!

That's right, summer camp has officially started (for me)!  The kids all arrived yesterday, and my cabin are a lovely group of six girls aged 11 to 14.  My co-counsellor is from New Zealand, and she's lovely too.  It seems like we have a great group of girls, though I suspect there's potential for some serious attitude. Going to have to stamp all over that!

I'll be teaching archery this summer (for real this time, not like last summer where I got qualified and then switched out to Journalism!).  The activity leader was one of the youth leaders (known as a CIT - Counsellor in Training) last year, so it's pretty cool to see her as a full counsellor, and leading the activity that she helped out at most last year.  Another of the CIT's I knew last year is also a full counsellor now - she was my CIT almost every session, so I'm like a super proud parent.  One of my campers is a CIT this year, and I'm very proud of her too!  It's great getting to see campers I knew from last year, and realising just how many of them remember me.  I keep having to enlist assistance from people to sneakily find out names - I feel guilty that the kids know my name, and I don't always know their's!

It's not quite so hot in Indy this year, though it has its moments.  It's much more overcast and damp, which I think means more mosquitos.  Yuck!  My feet are already covered in bites, and my legs are looking pretty bad too.  I try and avoid walking through the grass as much as I can, but it's not always possible.  Tuesday night will be our camp-out night, so I'll probably get bitten up so bad, I'll not know what I was complaining about today!

Today was the first proper day, so it's hard to say how I'm doing, and if I'm getting back into the swing of things, but I'd like to think that I am!  I'm feeling pretty tired, but I didn't sleep too well last night so I'm not surprised. I'm a light sleeper, and I've stopped being used to sharing a room, so being in a cabin with six girls who snore, talk, and wriggle...Well it doesn't lead to a great night's sleep.  Hopefully tonight will be better.  The kids should be pretty tired, so should probably go to sleep and not be so restless.  They all woke up at 7am today, even though they didn't need to get up until 8am. I was laid in my bed like...go back to sleeeep!  I was wanting to nap on my break, but I don't have a device with an alarm with me (it's in the cabin). So frustrating!  Plus all my bedding is in the cabin too, not in my staff quarters...

I'm hoping that I get to go to Walmart (or Walgreens, or whatever, I'm not fussy about that!) sometime soon.  I'd like to stock up on snacks for when I'm being fussy about camp food.  I need to pay more attention to which Americans have a car.  The ones I know of aren't on the same break as me.  It can be quite frustrating not being able to get anywhere independently.  I'm used to having my own car and being able to go out on my breaks if I want to.  Last year I got to know everyone very well during staff training, so there was always someone with a car.  I'm sure I'll figure it out soon enough, though!

All the best,
Charli

Camp NaNo - Still not started!

Well, it's now Day 5 of Camp NaNo and that officially puts me 5 days behind. BUT I'm not worried because I'm at CAMP! Real camp, with cabins, camp-outs, s'mores, everything!

I had a lot of fun sat in airports people-watching. I even bought myself a notebook (which was annoying, as I had TWO in my suitcase) to write down my observations and some story ideas.

I arrived in Indianapolis late last night, and watched Fourth July fireworks the whole drive from the airport. I fell asleep to the sounds of nearby fireworks too, which was pretty cool.

I had a bit of a scare at immigration, where it looked quite likely that they'd send me home to the UK, but thankfully they let me through. Many thanks to the camp Program Director for taking a phone-call from them, and confirming that I am an unpaid volunteer!

I woke up at 8am, Indy time, absolutely wide awake and no jet-lag to speak of. WIN! I refused to get up then though, since I knew everyone else would still be in bed, so I dozed on and off for the next few hours. I then unpacked, got a nice hot shower, and generally felt much more human.

I've spent the rest of the day catching up with my camp friends from last year, getting up to date with my Facebook, etc. I probably could have spent that time doing some writing, but never mind! It'll get done :)

I'm now surrounded by Americans and New Zealanders, and am having trouble understanding half of what people are saying, but it's definitely good to be back. Bring on the kids!

Charli

Camp NaNo - Day 1

As expected, I'm already behind on Camp NaNo. This doesn't bode well for the rest of the month!

The drive to Cumbria was absolutely lovely, though. It was a 6 hour round trip - the furthest I've ever driven. The morning was spent trying to research travel insurance for my upcoming trip to Indianapolis.  I didn't get very far on getting the insurance due to quirky internet, but I'm working on it.

This evening my brain has been reduced to mush (as I said - furthest I've ever driven!), but I've been having fun researching more images for my story. That totally counts, right?!

Tomorrow I intend to get some packing done for real camp, buy my travel insurance, and get some writing done for Camp NaNo. You never know, it could happen!

I'm a little put out that my cabin group for Camp NaNo doesn't have ANYONE that I requested, and one of the campers has a character with a very similar name to one of my main characters. I'm already turning into a paranoid writer..!

Good luck to all my friends doing Camp NaNo, hopefully I'll get some writing done this month..! :)

Charli

Camp NaNo - Nearly Time!

First of all, where did June go?! I'm sure it was only recently I was celebrating my birthday, doesn't feel like 2 months have gone by!

Tomorrow is the beginning of Camp NaNoWriMo, and I'm already falling behind. Tomorrow I'll be driving my sister and her boyfriend to the Lake District for a holiday, which (along with other errands I need to run) writes off my whole day. No pun intended.

Then on Thursday I fly to Indianapolis for 5 weeks. I'll be up with the sun, toiling all day in sweltering, humid temperatures, running around after squealing children until late at night. That's right, I'm headed back to camp! I'm volunteering for 4 weeks, then have a week's leeway for possible travel. I've been invited to go to Kentucky to visit one of the friends I made at camp last year so I may do that. I go wherever the wind takes me, basically! If I get to tick off another state (I aim to visit all 50 - I'm approximately a 3rd of the way through) then all the better.

Basically, all this means that if I get ANY writing done (never mind hitting my target), it'll be a Camp Magic Miracle.

Wish me luck!

Camp NaNoWriMo - Preparation

I've been trying to get myself ready for Camp NaNoWriMo.  Unlike the last camp I went on, this isn't an actual, physical camp, so prep is a little different.  This year, I'm not packing a suitcase full of flip-flops and shorts.  Instead, I'm organising my proposed novel.

I've decided (for now??) that I'll be working on a fantasy novel.  This idea for this story came out of an activity in A215 (creative writing course), and I've been toying with it ever since.  I looked back on my notes (all in one Word document) and found it quite confusing scrolling back and forth through the pages.  Some of my novel writing friends recommended downloading novel writing software.  Two names came out of their recommendations - ywriter, and Scrivener.

Scrivener has a 30 day trial, but if you want to continue with it afterwards, you have to buy it.  It's not hugely expensive, but I'm a little unwilling to part with cash.  Especially if I don't know if I'll find it useful.

ywriter is free. Now that's my favourite word!  So, I've decided to start with ywriter, and see if the concept is something I can use.  If it doesn't do everything I need, I can always 'upgrade' to Scrivener.

Findings so far -

I've only really been using ywriter for a day.  I started with it last night, and have been busily loading my characters into the programme, along with my plot-outline.  This is quite a long, cumbersome process, but I imagine that will be the case no matter what programme I'm using.  Once I've got started, I imagine it will speed up considerably.

Now, I like to also find photos that inspire me.  This is one place where ywriter falls down for me.  It gives you the option to load a photo onto your character profile, which is great, but there's isn't one photo that represents my character.  I'm doing research, I want her hair, her jewellery, her clothes, her pets, her tattoos...I need a whole host of photos per character.  Pinterest is my "go to" for photos, but they all get jumbled together.  That's great for a quick overview, I can scroll through and get a feel for the whole setting, but I'd like to have it organised into subfolders.  I'm a little obsessive that way.  I've created individual character folders onto My Documents, but that seems a bit long-winded.  If I could have all those photos within the novel writing software, that would be fantastic.  I don't know if Scrivener has that option, but if it does, that might be the point that sways me.  We shall see.

Other than that, I'm enjoying ywriter.  I've not started writing yet, as I'm trying not to be a Camp NaNo "rebel", and don't want to start writing until July 1st.  I'll get all my planning done, possibly right down to individual scenes, but won't start writing the main content of the novel.

I'll keep you posted on how I'm getting along with ywriter, and might try out the Scrivener trial as well for comparisons sake.

Camp NaNoWriMo - July 2013

For reasons even I don't fully understand, today I signed myself up for Camp NaNoWriMo (July 2013)!  I've been taking a break from writing since I finished my Open University course, A363 (Advanced Creative Writing - level 3 course), but figured this would be a good way to get back into it again.  What can I say, I guess I'm a sucker for deadlines!

Plus, I'm used to working very long hours, and studying on top of all of that, so with a 10 week summer holiday stretching ahead, I felt the need to fill the time somehow.  So far I'll be doing Camp NaNo, and probably an online TEFL course.  And working, if someone will give me a job for the summer.  And spending time with my family, of course.  Yes, I suppose that will keep me just nicely busy!

I'm now in a flat spin about Camp NaNo though, what on earth do I write?!  I've been toying with the idea of a fantasy novel since A215 (Creative Writing - the level 2 course), but whenever I try and write it, it's just a bit...well...rubbish.  I could write about some of my wacky adventures from the last few years, so many people tell me I should, but I wouldn't know where to start.  Plus, it's all well and  good saying "write what you know", but that's actually really quite difficult!  Or it is for me, anyway.  If I don't do either of those things, then what?!

All I can say is - it's a good job I have a month to figure it out...

Almost there!

Today I submitted my final assignment for my Advanced Creative Writing course, through the Open University.  That means that my next course (Children's Literature, starting in October) will be my final course.

This time next year, I'll be submitting my last ever assignment as an undergraduate, and will graduate at last - after starting my degree when I was 18.  I just turned 24.

Over the last six years (seven, by the time I graduate) I have -

- Studied two years of Psychology at Bangor University
- Spent two years on a 'gap year', turning my life upside down
- Studied two years of Creative Writing through the Open University
- Eloped to Canada, got married, and been separated
- Gained a sister, and a lot of cousins
- Made new friends, and had to question old ones
- Worked as a waitress, a cleaner, a shop assistant, a bar-tender, a complaints handler, a camp counsellor, a photography gallery manager, and an assistant house parent
- Been on Job Seekers Allowance twice
- Moved out (and in again) six times - including once to the USA
- Visited twelve states in the USA

It's been one heck of a ride over the past few years, and I'll be glad when it's finally over.  I'm sad to no longer be a Creative Writing student, though.  I've made a lot of great friends over the last two courses, and wish you all the best with your future (and best-selling, I'm sure) writing.  Hope to see someone you on the Children's Literature course!

As I'm now so close to the end of a (very) long chapter, I feel this is a moment that can only truly be described through song.  Ahem.

I know exactly where I'm going
Getting closer and closer every day
And I'm almost there, I'm almost therePeople down here think I'm crazy, but I don't careTrials and tribulations, I’ve had my share
There ain't nothing gonna stop me now ‘cause I'm almost there
- Tiana, Disney's Princess and the Frog


Best wishes!
Charli