Letters from Camp - July 4, 2023

Challenges of the Day

I'd set aside all day for writing. There were no meetings on my schedule and my family did not need my attention. Food was prepped in the refrigerator. Today should have been a tremendously productive day.

Of course, a major glitch happened on a client website. I spent several hours testing and trying to fix it, eventually being forced to admit defeat and turn it over to technical support and hope for help. If this wasn't a very precious writing day, I probably would have continued to fight the battle, but after hours of work I had to make the decision to either keep my commitment to myself or not. While it is hard to leave a client's website with a problem, it felt like I'd reached a point of diminishing returns. I could not solve it. I hope that those with more experience on this particular software will be able to give me a solution in the next few days.

My unending cough continues, frequently interrupting my typing as I struggle to catch my breath and focus. So glad the doctor has assured me that it is only an annoyance and will heal eventually.

Writing Progress

I didn't finish any articles, but I did manage a serviceable first draft of all 10 that I'd planned for this week's prompts. Several of them need better titles, especially the two species. I've always struggled to name the creatures in Aubadeon as I have always seen them as fairly normal critters. In this case: cats and leopards. Both of these are important in the stories, with the cats being in all 3 books. The leopards don't show up until book 3. I love the idea of the prompt: an animal associated with or symbolizing power, as I can then weave references to them into book 2 in particular so that they are expected in book 3. They are alluded to in book 1, but only as "beasts."

I need names for these felines!

You can track my progress in my Summer Camp pledge article.

Dimi Mission Update

I think I have finally decided to focus on expanding the body of articles for the main Spaceport on the planet, because that was my initial intent. However, in this batch, only the tradition prompt truly fit with that expansion. I do have some ideas for other articles that I might write, but they always feel fairly mundane... much like the Internal Revenue Service article from last year. I'm finding that creating this sense of wonder and variety in the Earth based venue is a challenge. But then I like challenges!