Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

Saying Goodbye To Camp & Looking Froward To New Challenges

Today's blogs....

30 Day Blogging Challenge

This is it campers...time to pack it up and break camp. We hope you all enjoyed yourselves! Tell us what you liked about camp, what you got out of it, and what you'd like to see changed by next summer.
Thank you all for joining us this August! Without you there'd be no camp; this couldn't have happened without your support. I'd also like to thank my fellow co-counselor, Lyn is Listing , for all her help and backing...she's been an absolute treat to work with. 'Til next summer, you guys...

This has been an amazing month. Lyn's a Witchy Woman and Fivesixer you have made this camping experience so much fun. Everyone brought there uniqueness to this experience to make it fresh and new. We brought to the prompts our own experiences and humour. I have enjoyed getting to know each of you in this 'experience'. Some people I have known for a few months but there is always something new to surface and keep things fun. I can always count on Charlie ~ for a chuckle and a smile. A few people I have met but did not know very well - this experience has deepened that knowing. Some people are new - adding a different dynamic to the adventure. I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each and everyone of you. I find I will have to go back and read the entries I have missed - August have been busier than I expected - doing what, I am not so sure. Time has a way of slipping away so quickly in the summer.

The prompts were great and lead us on a great adventure. I got a lot out of this month of camp - the prompts challenged my own creative voice and I feel I rose to meet that challenge. Most of my entries pleased me. I think others got the same challenge, as we each brought our own unique voice to the adventure.

What do I want changed? Seriously, the experience changes with the dynamic of the group members. Next year will be different in its uniqueness as people may be able to join or may have other commitments. We all will grow as writers by then as well - as I am sure we will all be practicing our craft as we move out into the next season of our year. A quick perusal of my own portfolio shows a change from this time last year. As long as the prompts are fresh and creative, you will have yourself another winner.

Today is another Super Soul Sunday - Oprah's Network draws me in and gives me a lift. I had to take some time and blog about it as I sit on the cusp of a New Year - because for me, September is the beginning of a New Year. It is far more significant than January.

Iyanla Vanzant and Brene Brown were the guests this morning. Both are wonderfully inspiring.

The quote Brene Brown found to inspire her own book, Daring Greatly is this by Theodore Roosevelt. I felt it is a wonderful one to remember as we head into the next month.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

I want to approach the next season with this remembered and step in to the area to dare greatly in all my attempts in all areas of my life.
Other things that spoke to me were these:

Standing in faith and standing in you values and you will not fall over. - Brene Brown.

No matter what other people think or say, you can take courage in being who you are. Believe in yourself and have faith in all that is important to you and you can smile down on your detractors. They are nothing but negative flies, just swat them off and hold your head high.

Creativity comes from a place of vulnerability. We must be open enough to fail, so that you can succeed. - Brene Brown

We open ourselves up and share parts of who we are each time we write. To be great, we must be willing to be vulnerable. That vulnerability allows our readers to connect with our experience and identify with it - otherwise why would they want to continue to read.
Not being vulnerability closes us off and keeps our communication superficial. The challenge is to be real and authentic; to let our vulnerabilities show so that others can read and say 'wow' she gets me. That is the ultimate. Recognition as the writer who can connect with her readers, regardless of your writing style or genre or choice.