A Wayward Clump of Marl

I am back!
 I cannot vouch for the coherency of my speech, my thoughts, or my actions because I got an average of 3 1/2 to 4 hours of sleep each night and worked every waking hour but it was amazing. The mornings were spent in writing the daily newspaper for the camp. By the time I passed out Monday's paper to 170 kids at lunch, I realized that the whole facts part of journalism is not for me. Give me a specs sheet of a new class of submarine and tell me to write an article about it and I utterly fail. But if my assignments were to cover the presidential debate, press clubs, charity galas, etc. I was in my realm. It had to do with people. I can do people. I love people. Also, I learned a lesson in how disappointing it is to not write with my normal spirit. I had written up a rather prosaic newspaper for Monday and brought it to my superior, Jeremiah Lorrig, for him to proofread.
"It's an excellent newspaper," he said, handing it back. "But I expected more snark from you."
I looked over my articles and wholeheartedly agreed with him; one had been a pre-set deal I simply tweaked. Another was my own. So before printing the copies for distribution, I went back and snarked it up and upheld that new standard all week. Actually, some of the kids remarked that this year's papers were the best they'd ever read and more than one was begging to make extra copies so they could take them home. 

Lesson learned: always write hot. 

On Thursday night we had a game wherein each staff member was assigned a certain role to facilitate a 3-hour scenario scavenger hunt. I got the part of a Shakespearean actor and reenacted Act 2, Scene 1 from Much Ado About Nothing 17 times. Yes, that's right. I got to choose two guys and a girl to be Leonato, Antonio, and Hero while I played Beatrice ... 17 times. It was amazingly fun, though by the end I was exhausted. Also, who doesn't like to be given permission to speak in a British accent, flirt, and wear a Tudor-style dress? Well, some people might dislike it but I found it quite pleasant.

While at camp, I was sent an amazing look at the cover design for Anon Sir, Anon and that look is giving me inspiration to continue rewrites and edits. Jeegly clambake ... it's a long process. All that aside, I am glad to be home for five days, though two of those will be work days. Thus runs the course of a busy life! Thanks to everyone who has entered Chatterbox this month. :)