My youngest rides a horse at Family Camp last summer…

I read the advice today: “Just write and keep writing.”

Even on days when I feel as if I have nothing at all to say, when it seems as if all has already been said in this online world of words… I keep pressing on.

So, today, I will share my exercise with you. I have only a limited amount of time… but the thing is, see, I DO have some time today– I actually do! So I am allotting myself 30 minutes to write this post.

It might turn out to be utter nonsense, but I will hit the “publish” button when I am through.

Why not? On Fridays, I spend 5 minutes writing using a five minute writing prompt (and then it sometimes takes much longer searching for a free photo to use along with it). I could stretch this to 30 minutes.

Here goes: Memories From Camp

GO

My daughter is gone to a week-long camp several hours away from home. It is a music camp. I am not worried at all, she is actually with another family that I know, with another girl her own age. They don’t have the same music classes, but the girls are sharing a room, eating meals together, etc. I can imagine it is a new experience. It is not a church or Christian camp, but a camp devoted to music (she plays cello).

Come to think of it, my first week away from home was at a music camp, too. It was “music camp week” at a christian camp, and my church youth choir went every year single summer. I was 12 when I first went.

In spite of some of the weird things that happened, it was a good camp– overall.

I had taken some spending money, because at night we raided the candy machine for candy bars. My favorite was “Bar None”. Walking on the way from the candy machine to the rooms, a huge insect flew in front of me– and landed right on my bottom lip. And stung me.

Ouch.

And, weird.

I took Benadryl.

But that’s ok, because I needed Benadryl anyway, since I had a rash on my legs already.

The rash? Oh, from Tide detergent… which is the detergent they were using to wash the bedding at camp.

Yeah, I was (and maybe still am?) allergic to Tide.

Freaky stuff.

So there you have it: a couple of memories from music camp.

Subsequent camp trips went much better: I took my own sheets. I kept my eyes peeled for flying insects.

Oh yeah… and there was the time our church youth group went to Florida. That story  involves alligators, canoeing, vaseline, toilets, and sheets. Need I say more?

I’ll save that for another time.

Believe it or not, my time is up. (I actually stopped writing in the middle of this post to respond to some tweets and another comment on another blog. Lost my focus there, for a few minutes. So I actually spent less than 30 minutes on this, since I got distracted).

Which reminds me of an idea I saw posted somewhere recently: when writing, CLOSE ALL OTHER TABS, so as not to be distracted to check e-mail, social media, and follow links that take one all over the internet.

Apparently, this is advice I need.

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There you have it. My own writing exercise.

What about you? Do you have any interesting or funny summer camp stories to share? Please share in the comments section!