Camp NaNoWriMo starts July 1

I did NaNoWriMo in 2011 and had a blast. I recently discovered that they do two other events in April & July. So I'm doing Camp NaNoWrimo next month. My friend Ali posted something on Facebook that I think is going to help me long term with my writing.

I have no intention of writing for anyone but myself. I still have my 2011 NaNoWriMo "novel" that I've done nothing with since I finished it. I don't know if I will ever go back and edit it. It kind of sucked. But it doesn't matter if it sucks. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to just write.

But I'm really excited about my current idea. I was originally thinking about the November project. I came up with characters but didn't know what to do with them. Last week, when I decided to go ahead with the July camp, I desperately tried to come up with a plot. I had nothing at all. I had a friend over watching movies the other night, and we were talking about friends...the kind of friends you would do anything for. Growing up, I didn't really have that, and as an adult, I was always jealous of people who did. 

Then it hit me. If you did have friends like that, how far would you go to be there when they needed you? I don't want to divulge much at this point, but I think I have a great idea for a story about eight friends who come together when one of them really needs them. So far, I've worked out the "why" of the reunion and I'm fairly certain how it will end. There will be flashbacks to their childhood through college, to show how they became friends, and why the bonds are so strong. 

I'm pretty fucking excited about this. 50,000 words is the goal for the month. My schedule is tight, with work, work, work, but when I'm home, I will be concentrating on the writing. I'll be carrying around a notebook and pen for the next month and a half so that I never lose a thought, a phrase, a scene. And when I'm done, maybe I will post it :)

Flat Stanley Goes to The Boston Museum of Science

On April 5, 2013, Flat Stanley went to the Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts. He left from the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

He had a delicious pancake breakfast at Denny's Restaurant.

On the way to Boston, he stopped by the Lego Store.

And rode the carousel in the mall.

In Boston, Flat Stanley saw how tall he is (about 10 inches).

He visited an African Pygmy Hedgehog.

And posed with some human skeletons.

The one on the left is an adult male. The one on the right is an adult female. One way you can tell is because the male skeleton is taller than the female skeleton. 

There's a leopard gecko in there! They clean their eyes with their tongues!

A three-toed box turtle came out to see what Flat Stanley was up to. They really do have three toes on each back foot.

Flat Stanley visited with an eastern corn snake. 

In the hand-on lab, Flat Stanley made a spinning top in the shape of a heart.

It didn't spin very well because the weight of the paper wasn't evenly spread out. :(

Flat Stanley took a boat for a drive.

And took a nap in a giant shell.

This is a vertebra from a large whale. The vertebra form the spinal column and help protect the spine.

Flat Stanley studied bones. 

Flat Stanley was in two cities at once!!!

Boston

and Cambridge.

There was a giant marble run in the museum.

This lava rock formed 400 years ago when a volcano in Italy erupted.

Flat Stanley climbed a baby Giant Sequoia tree. A Giant Sequoia can grow to be as tall as a 26 story building, and as wide as a city block! Some of them are over 2,000 years old.

Flat Stanley investigated a special kind of fossil, called petrified wood. Wood turns to stone when the living materials are replaced by minerals.

Flat Stanley spent some time studying different types of rocks and minerals.

"Help me! I'm being chased by a giant fly!"

These are hieroglyphics. They are drawings on a wall that tell a story. Egyptians were the first to use any form of writing!

There are dangerous animals lying around in caves!

Flat Stanley's favorite part of the museum! The dinosaurs!

Flat Stanley peeked into an exhibit.

Then he took a drive on Mars.

And he returned safely to Earth in a space capsule.

Flat Stanley relaxed to some live orchestra music.

Flat Stanley also saw a presentation on electricity but it was so amazing, he forgot to record it. He saw lightning make music! This is a recording of one of the shows the Boston Museum of Science puts on.

Here is an example of lightning making music.

Back on the Outer Banks, Nags Head Elementary School was putting on their spring musical - FLAT STANLEY! Here is the star of the musical with Flat Stanley.

And then Flat Stanley was on his way back to Eastern Wayne Elementary School in Goldsboro, North Carolina!