Summer Camp for Writers

Send yourself to summer camp to share your writing path experiences

I've been to summer camp once. My brother and I went to a small parochal school attached to a rural church. One year, my parents sent us up north to the Lutheran summer camp. My brother and I were together, but had very different experiences.

Throughout the week, I barely saw my brother. While I learned to canoe, he launched arrows at targets. While I was lashing togethera leather canoe change purse, he learned to whittle figurines out of soap. We were group by age, not gender. On the ride home, our parents got an earful from two very different experiences.

Neither experience was the entire truth, but a point of view of two different aged first time campers. Just like my brother and I reported different parts of camp that we enjoyed or learned the most from, writing workshops solicit impact each writer differently. Critique groups offer different points of view on your manuscript and are often the most cited benefit of writers - which is true. Yet, attending a writing workshop lets you hear the point of view of other writers on their works-in-progress. There is a lot of benefit in that discussion. For example, at my first in-person writing workshop, I listened to a published author use the tools presented to rework their work-in-progress manuscript. Then, a few years later, I celebrated that manuscript's book birthday.

Attending the SCBWI Michigan Summer Camp will give authors and illustrators different experiences in the same session. This is good. This is how we grow in our craft. What I love about being a SCBWI Member is that wherever and whenever you are on your writing path, you will find someone walking next to you. This year, the summer camp sessions open on June 3, 2024. Be sure to log in and grab a seat. Some sessions have limited seats. Registering early is recommended.