Students arrive on Sunday before 5 p.m., settle in, and have dinner. Then we get acquainted with the writers and each other, add a little nonsense, and review the basic plan for the week. Breakfast is at 8:30am daily, followed at 9:00am by a craft talk from a guest or teaching writer. At 10:00am, you work with your writing group for several hours, using the outdoors as the classroom and allowing time for small group and one-on-one interaction. This group is the same all week, sort of your home base.
Lunch is at 12:30pm, and at 1:15pm students choose their elective groups. The electives are for two days with the same choices available again for the next two days. Elective choices might be screenwriting, line breaks in poetry, or opening paragraphs.
At 3:00pm, choices include field trips, bookmaking class, historic tours, swimming, horseback riding, writing conferencing, and other activities—your choice. Imagination Studio is a three-session watercolor workshop with a professional visual artist, offered for 20 students who want to stretch another part of their imaginations. Storystorystory is also a three-session workshop for 20 students. It is an opportunity to polish a story under the direction of a professional storytelling teacher and to tell your story Thursday night to the whole group. One afternoon campers work with the Harriman State Park staff on a service project, so bring your work gloves.
Dinner is at 6:00pm. After dinner activities change every day, and some call for student participation.