Let’s go to Camp

I never went to camp as a child. For a variety of reasons, it wasn’t my thing.

Even though I was fat, I was a very picky eater. I didn’t think the camp kitchen would serve french fries, Rice-A-Roni, and peanut butter (my most popular choices) at every meal. Also, when you’re a hefty kid and tend to be the last one chosen on any team, it’s hard to keep up with the physical activities and games. To this day, I don’t know how to swim, which posed another problem for camp.

Fast forward to later in life, and I served as a camp counselor at church camp for a few years when my sons were younger. I served in this capacity until the year I turned 41. That year, I was charged with supervising 12 very active boys with no assistant—24 hours a day for four days. I had an epiphany: I “aged out” of this type of work. I went back one more time to work in the camp store, but I suffered a terrible gout attack, presumably from the delicious institutional food, thus ending my camp experience.

Or so I thought. How does this discussion relate to writing? Hold on.

I have been attending two writers conferences—Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference (BRMCWC—they love consonants) and Kentucky Christian Writers Conference (KCWC—consonant lite)—for several years. While at BRMCWC last year, it hit me—writers conferences have served as my summer camp experience.

At summer camp, fast friendships develop over a short period of time. Need I say more? I have gained so many like-minded friends at writers conferences—too many to count, in fact. I love watching the relationships come together, with the “packs” of writers hanging out together in the dining room, in the coffee shop, and in the “dorm” lobby after hours. Close, lifelong bonds have been formed in those precious sites.

Summer camps generally feature enrichment activities for the campers, and, boy, do writers conferences fill that bill. In between the socializing, we do go to class every now and then to learn from the best. After all, that IS why we are there.

I will say that writers conferences top summer camp when it comes to the quality of the food, but meals are still communal activities. Meal times prove to be special times to bond, to network, and, if you’re at my table, to laugh over the silliest of things. I haven’t experienced a food fight at a writers event, but I have learned to never say never.

Considering all the similarities, I am ready for some camp time. I hope to see you at BRMCWC in May or KCWC in June, and, if there are physical activities or games, do my ego a favor and pick me first. Please?

Carlton Hughes wears many hats. By day, he’s a professor of communication at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College. On Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings, he does object lessons and songs with motions as Children’s Pastor of Lynch Church of God. In his “spare time,” he is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in numerous publications, including Chicken Soup for the Soul and several devotional books from Worthy Publishing—Let the Earth Rejoice, Just Breathe, So God Made a Dog, and the soon-to-be-released Everyday Grace for Men. Carlton and his wife Kathy have two college-age sons, Noah and Ethan. He is on the planning committee for Kentucky Christian Writers Conference and is a year-round volunteer for Operation Christmas child.