Summer Camp 2025

SC Thinks

Week 1

I've never participated in Summer Camp homework before, but I'm really looking forward to SC this year and figured I might as well give it a go. I'm going to be focusing on my Sand and Scale world again this year. It's really still in it's beginning stages and needs a lot of work, but it's the world I've fallen in love with and need to get some of the stuff out of my head and onto the page.

Week 2

Got a fair amount down last week, mostly just cleaning up the world. I also had a bit of an epiphany about where to start writing this series, but it means I have to alter where I've been focusing my worldbuilding and my plans for the world homepage. Therefore, the homepage stays on the to- do list for now because my plans for what to do with it no longer work.

Week 3 - Are we there yet?

Can it be camp now? I feel like all these themes have all been so perfect for S&S. It makes me want to start now. We're almost there though, we got this!

Week 4

One week left to go! I'm really excited to see what the prompts are. It feels like every theme will fit so well with the massive to do list I call Sand and Scale.

Summer Camp Eve

It's the night before the first round of prompts are released and I'm sitting here ready to go! I'm so curious what we'll get to work with tomorrow.

11 hours to go...

Is it time yet?

July 16th - 3 Weeks in

I've gotten NOTHING done! Ok, that's not fully true, I did get 148 words on an article. It's something. As per usual my wild ass life has been... wild.

I'm making it through though and today is supposed to be my day off from irl. Naturally that means I've had a lot of random stuff going on this morning, but I'm finally in front of the computer and ready to knock out a few words. We'll see how it goes!!

August 1st

Well I managed to get 3 articles done the other day. However life has been a little bit rough (understatement) and here I am at the 1st of the month under dr's orders to take it easy for the weekend and no longer have to pack for room renovations (thank you to understanding people in my world who rescheduled for me so I can chill).

So now there's less than 24 hours left in Summer Camp and I have nothing better to do and I'm making a final push. I've already gotten two articles done today! I was really hoping for Gold this year, but at this point I'll be happy to hit Copper. I just want to make sure I get a badge again this year and if I can pull it off in the last hours I'm good.

August 2nd

With an hour before stream I managed to crank out my last two articles to hit Copper!! This month has been mentally and physically exhausting and I know I didn't hit my goal of Gold, but I'm pretty proud of myself for at least getting Copper and a badge this year!

Homework

Week 1

1. Think about ways the theme of Nourishment affects your world. Do people generally have what they need? What happens when they don’t?

I'm excited about these prompts. I've been considering food and energy sources recently as it's something I haven't put anything down for, so this is perfect. I'd also like to expand The Old Faith since it's literally just stub right now with a collection of thoughts locked in my head.

2. Download the pledge document and fill it out with your goal for Summer Camp!

by Image by World Anvil, filled in by me

3. If you found any outdated articles in your world, update the most important ones now! Do the same with your worldbuilding meta.

Articles to update

• Claystown
• The Creeping Oasis
• And the world homepage, because I've never done anything with it ever.

Week 2

1. Look at the cultures and areas you’ll focus on for Summer Camp, and think about how their past shaped them.

This will be fun. Since the epiphany I mentioned above I've been thinking a lot about the world and what led to the world becoming a desert and what became of the people that once lived there.

2. Go to your world’s homepage and imagine you’re a new reader discovering the setting for the first time. What should you change to make the experience more engaging?

I should probably actually put something up on there.

3. Find your earliest worldbuilding project. What mistakes did you make that you want to avoid? What good ideas from those early days can you integrate into your current project? Remember to take a moment to be proud of how far you've come!

My first world was pretty much a disaster, remember when the Udons first appeared and offered bad worldbuilding advice? Turns out I had been following a lot of that advice without knowing it. (What are tags??) I've learned a lot since first finding World Anvil and it'll be fun to start organizing this world and bringing it into something presentable.

Week 3

1. What transformations and adaptations have the people in your world gone through? What changes are going on right now… and who is trying to stop them?

There are so many changes it my world. It was fertile, now it's a desert and water keeps getting harder to find. Wildlife has thinned, leading to more aggressive predators desperate to get to the livestock. Also, I think the dead are getting restless, but that's something I need to explore a little. Ok, a lot since it's going to become an ongoing plot line for a good chuck of the series and I'm not sure exactly what "the dead are getting restless" means for S&S.

2. Choose a new genre, style, or author, and take a look at their art! Write what you learned from them and what inspired you.

There's a couple different western authors I'd like to read, sounds like I need a trip to the library. I'll keep you posted on what I find.

Finally made it to the library shortly after the release of week 4 homework, but at least I made it. Since this is a western world I wanted to check out a couple authors from my childhood that are still technically new to me. I grew up with Zane Grey and Louis L'amour books in my house. I'm pretty sure we had the full set of Zane Greys. And I promptly never read a single one of them. So here we are, I finally got a couple and I'm gonna do some reading this week.

3. Read a couple of articles from the community, give them a like (and why not a sticker!), and write about what inspired you.

I love the way this mountain is described. Made me immediately want to go and explore more about the islands.

Week 4

Think about current events that will have an impact the on the future. Who is working to create a specific kind of future?

Back around the time homework started I made some changes to where I plan on starting the Sand and Scale series and it's pretty much all about current events and the futre. This couldn't be more perfect. I'm gonna be exploring a lot about the The Coalman Expedition as they venture west and everything that goes along with it.

Make sure everything’s ready—from your writing space to your writing schedule—for action before Summer Camp begins!

Need to get my desk cleaned up and decide for sure when I'm gonna try and get my writing done. My life is a tad wild right now and I'm currently living in a single room with most of my kids. Most days I do wake up before them though so I'm hoping to use that morning time to knock out a quick article before I start the day.

I definitely have a couple stubs to work on. Fine... I have 71 stubs. Ok, but a lot of them I've made in preparation for Summer Camp. Yes some of them are leftover from last year's prep, but... I have plans for all of them I swear

Who or what will help you achieve your goal? What will your sharing strategy be during Summer Camp?

I'm not sure. A lot of July will be trying to rebuild a writing habit again. I'm hoping the general community excitement will keep me motivated. It usually does, I love Anvilites <3.