Post #101 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing Prompt – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Memoir Writing in Postcard Sized Messages
This week, I’ve again been in a bookstore. This time, Oregon State University’s store. I found a fun book called Postcards from Camp
When I was 10, my mother signed me up for the wonderful Camp Waldemar on the Guadalupe River in Hunt, Texas. I was excited to go. As far as I can tell, everyone who ever went there loved it, my older sister included. There are camp counselors who first went to Waldemar as campers and who have returned year after year as staff. Some of these women have been at Waldemar for 45 years. (That reminds me of my experience at Disneyland in July when we took our grandchildren. When I took my children there, the staff were all so young. Looking around this year, I saw a lot of gray hair. I assumed the bad economy had older people looking for work at Disneyland. When I asked about this, I was told that almost everyone who comes to work at Disneyland stays on. Few quit or want to move on to another company. So yes, some of the people I saw were the same staff I had seen in the early 1970s.)
Well, back to Waldemar. It turns out that everyone loved Waldemar but me. Why? I’m not sure. There was a drought that year and I do remember the oppressive heat. But that seems like a dumb reason. I loved being home where I had my own world filled with my imagination. At the end of the summer, after I returned home, when everyone else was begging their parents to let them go back the following year, I told my mother, “If you make me go back next year, I’ll run away from home.”
I never went to camp again. Of course now, looking back, I can remember some special times. I even became an entrepreneur there — something that influenced me my entire life. I’ll save that story for another time.
I wish I had my postcards home and the letters my mother sent. I’m sure she was full of advice to keep on keeping on. I wonder what I said to her.
So here’s my idea for today’s memoir writing prompt:
1. Write about what you did today as if you were a child at camp. What was fun? What didn’t you like? Do you want your parents to come pick you up or are you begging to stay for an additional week? Remember, on a postcard you can only have space for a paragraph of text. Let each sentence express your emotions so that your parents know how you feel.
2. Hard to get back to the child voice? That’s all right. Imagine that the letter carrier has just delivered a postcard from your son or daughter at camp. (I know. This takes imagination since it’s likely you’d get a text message, an email, or a cell phone call. Humor me.) You see that your child is unhappy a camp. Write a quick postcard back. What would you say?
If you like this memoir writing prompt, you may want to check out last week’s:
Memoir Writing Prompts: Writing I.O.U.s
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