Meet your summer camp instructor Sami Conover!
Our summer camps provide writers with a creative, enriching experience that allows them to explore their imaginations while also building confidence and developing literacy skills.
We spoke with Laura Cyphers, who is teaching Tween Writing Group for students ages 11-13 (Six Weeks: July 13 – August 17, Wednesdays, 5 to 6:30 p.m. ET) to find out more about her and what to expect in this camp.
Read more about Tween Writing Group here.
PWN: What do you love about teaching the Tween Writing Group?
LAURA: I love the students’ enthusiasm for writing and their knack for reading with writers’ eyes. Their excitement to learn fuels my passion to prepare lessons that are both rewarding and challenging.
PWN: What can students expect from the class?
LAURA: They can expect a class that caters to their individual and group writing goals. I want them to become a close-knit community of young writers, and I want to prepare them to lead one another and themselves.
PWN: What is your favorite writing exercise or activity?
LAURA: Write about what you do every day but then let something unexpected happen. You can lean into any genre this way—poetry, historical fiction, realistic fiction, fantasy, horror, or thriller.
I like this exercise because most first lines of novels seemingly begin this way. Example: “I had just come to accept that my life would be ordinary when extraordinary things began to happen.”—Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs
PWN: Why do you write?
LAURA: I write because it pains me not to. I write because it’s how I think most thoroughly and presently. I write to hear myself. To hear others. To pay attention. To capture something I’ll forget. To tap into my imagination. To surprise myself. To connect with others. To empathize and become more compassionate. To serve something that serves others. To believe again. To hope again.
Related posts
