2023 Summer Camp - Review

Summer Camp is a worldbuilding event in which participants challenge themselves to write as many articles as they can over the course of July, based on official prompts released throughout the month. This was my first time participating, and this article recaps the experience from stats to philosophy.

Personal Review

With 32 articles submitted, I achieved the coveted diamond badge! I had no badge goal initially, but I was curious to see how long I could manage writing one decent-quality article per day. No word vomit, no half-finished ideas, no walls of text, no shortcuts, though I let myself skip art and supporting articles.

This ended up an OK pace, largely because I already had the material and just needed to put it to words. By the fourth week, I figured I might as well go for 32. It still required most of my free time, and though I kept within my limits and took lots of breaks, I was exhausted come August 1.

"What are your plans tonight?"
"Writing articles."

— A near-nightly conversation during July.

Flexibility

Based on this one go at it, I'd say Summer Camp teaches us to be flexible. Our ideas from the themes might not match the prompts, forcing us to adjust. The staggered release prevents us from planning everything, and instead encourages an open-minded approach. If the obvious interpretation of the prompt doesn't inspire, reaching for a different interpretation might.

Whether with the prompts and our ideas, or with ourselves and our expectations, Summer Camp is about bending, shifting, and going with the flow of words, ideas, and inspirations.

I've been informed on the WA Discord that I am wrong about this, but I'm being flexible in the definition of right. While I'm certain the staggered release is intended only to maintain excitement throughout the month, it also creates a need to improvise and be creative with your intentions as weeks go on.

Going Forward

Though I'm taking a break from articles, I still have lots to do. There's the August reading challenge, a campaign finale to prep, and season 2 of Roleplay Radio in September. After the 26th, I've a bunch of improvements I want to make to my SC articles, art I want to add, and a bootstrap version to upgrade.
There are three more official challenges happening this year. If they spark joy, I may participate. If I do Summer Camp next year, I may focus on building out a specific planet instead of the whole galaxy. And in all ways, both in and out of Summer Camp, I'll continue to embrace Camp Chill.

Goal Check-In

Goal 1: Work through my to-write list.
Result: Success!
Of 32 articles, 22 were on my to-write list with 12 of those being high priority. Three in particular were vital for the world: The Scream, the Battle for Talmar, and Trey.
Goal 2: Have fun.
Result: Mixed success.
I enjoyed writing as always, but there were less-fun aspects. Like my brain obsessing over a hard-to-write article, or accidentally making someone want to quit.
Goal 3: Share my work.
Result: Miss.
Though I shared several articles, I overall found SC to be overwhelming and myself reluctant to contribute to the volume. This might be a goal better achieved outside of events.

Thank-Yous

I never created this world expecting complete strangers would enjoy reading its contents. It's been a bizarre and thrilling experience to now have 25 followers who want to hear more.
So thank you, all Anvilites out there, who like and comment and support in whatever ways you do. For creating beautiful worlds that inspire others to do the same. For being encouraging and providing help.

Article Review

Stats

Length
Longest Dead Drop (1,532 words)
Shortest Glow Market (395 words)

Importance
Most meaningful The Scream
Least meaningful Phoenix Nuggets

Ease
Hardest to write Niris
Easiest to write How are you still alive

Interactables

Whiteboard - Interconnectivity of Articles

Okay so I made a whiteboard, it took a long time, and though it wasn't great, it showed how all my SC articles related to each other in terms of topic, place, category, and theme. But uhhh embedding it messed with the visual formatting of this article. So it's not here. If I get bored I'll make something in kumu maybe?

Interactive Table - Stats & Random Article Selection

This one's more fun anyways. The below table lists all my SC articles, their word counts, and how I rate them in terms of impact (how broad the affects spread), relevancy (how important to the setting), and priority (when/if I wanted to write the article).

So I made a spreadsheet

— A thing I say far too often

Note: the Roll button will automatically take you to a random article from the table. Don't press it unless you're prepared to leave this page!