I joined in Lexi Rees’ Creative Writing Camp in July, it was amazing.
Lexi guided us from day 1 to day 5 through the amount of writing we all needed and planing ideas. The aim was to write a book in a week, we joined in on Zoom sessions each day
I had so much fun writing it with help from Lexi and my mum who gave great ideas of describing how the room would look like or who the characters were. The best part was the writing because it was endless of describing the characters and the place they were in.
On day 1 everyone made this planning roller coaster with our ideas of how we wanted the story to go once we did we started to write our first to paragraphs.
SPOILER ALERT!!
I managed to make a good-sized story thankfully, I haven’t written the whole story here because you need to find out in the future!!
My story was about a princess and king who are about to eat their garlic cheese bread. Nuria starts to choke and they hear a noise. The figure finally appears and takes the kings priceless crown. Nuria finds a map, they go to the X marks the spot at the spooky cave. I will stop there because I want to publish the book itself.
I rate the group 5/5 for giving me ideas and helping develop writing skills.
Also great group Lexi, it was so much fun and something to do during lockdown and without my brother and sister annoying me; it relaxed and focused me so thank you for letting me do it.
This course was gifted in the exchange for a review and feedback but I loved it so much that I have joined the How to be a Journalist starting on the 10th August. Find out more about it here.
Sophie
This course was perfect for Sophie, it helped her imagination but also gave her the stages you need to write a book. I really enjoyed how the story began with printable activities. As a parent in lockdown, this was an affordable course that kept giving, Sophie made a friend within the week and it gave us a little break as well. The fact that Lexi is an author herself makes it even more of a worthy investment. We are a part of her Kids Club and this is a fun and educational resource.
In the book there is a criminal on the loose called Jack Door he is after Roberts mum Selena who abandoned Robert when he was very little. Jack is after Selena because she is Jacks daughter and she gave him up to the police 15 years ago. Lilly, Robert and Malkin’s job is to find Selena before Jack does so they travel on A airship from Brackenbridge (where Lilly lives) to London. Every time Jack goes somewhere he always leaves a playing card it is the Jack of diamonds it is always a clue. It is a book of mystery, sewage and clockwork.
I recommend it to people who love airships, adventure and shock.
I rate it 4 and a half out of 5 because I love the puzzles in the story and the place where it is set (in London) but it was really good. 🙂
Let me know what you think of my review in the comments below…
Last Saturday, we went out litter picking and it was raining but that didn’t stop us. We collected all sorts of rubbish including bottles, wipes, doggy bags and the biggest thing was a bikes mud guard. It was fun using the litter pickers but the things we collected were very gross. It was a nice in Hedon but the train station was old and of course it was run down but still safe. We saw cows and one was very close to me.
At the end we had three whole bags of rubbish and we were not looking hard it was really fun to do. It was very quite and peaceful, we think the path is suitable for bikes because we saw a couple. When we got home from the cold Riley, Robyn and I had a hot chocolate. I think I would like to go there again to see the cows and do some more litter picking.
There is a girl called Lilly and everyone thinks her dad has died. But her family member Dr.Silverfish/Uncle wants this device called Cogheart. It is this mechanical heart that can keep you alive forever (I wouldn’t like that because your skin would go extremely wrinkly after 200 years) because he is really poorly. And so he had got a couple of evil people to try and find the Cogheart, but no one knows it is inside of Lilly’s body. She made a couple of friends 1st Robert his dad had died during this book. Also a fox the mechanical called Malkin who delivered a special note to Lilly and finally Anna who flew the airship all the way to London for Lilly, Robert and Malkin.
I would recommend it to people who like SHOCK, DANGER and DARING!!!!
I rate it four out of five
Because it took a long time to get into the story for me but other than that great!!!
Let me know what you think of my review in the comments below…
We went out one afternoon to get our 500 milestone and it all went wrong, Riley got stung by the nettles, Robyn didn’t want to walk, I fell over and hurt my knee. We were going to give up when we decided to drive by and find the 5 we needed to get to our next milestone.
On Saturday we went out for the first time in seven weeks as a family and most importantly doing what we love the most… Geocaching. We needed to see something other than the four walls of our home, inside our car or the shops.
We didn’t realise there was a souvenir to grab in aid of Blue Switch Day 2020 which is to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Geocaching. It made it even more special for our time out of the house during lockdown.
The kids have only been out twice since lockdown commenced, of course there’s the backgarden. Rob and I only go out once a week and are both careful as explained I have two auto-immune diseases and other health problems, I am not on the vulnerable list but am susceptible to getting things so we have made sure to be extra safe.
We loved to see the green in the trees and the grass growing as well as spotting the wild flowers, bugs and birds. My eyes felt refreshed and pleased, such an odd feeling.
We found five caches and only came across a handful of people, we used hand sanitiser after every cache was handled just to be safe. On our first cache we gained the souvenir badge and we were all delighted especially as we miss Geocaching so much.
I have to be honest with you and say that for me personally it helps my mental health, I can get away from the reality of life and get soaked into the game whilst walking and discovering new areas around us.
We all want to send you our best wishes and hope you are keeping safe during the coronavirus outbreak.
Yesterday we took the kids out the front door for the first time in a few weeks because of lockdown. As a family, we have tried to be as safe as we can in lockdown by Rob and I going out once a week. I have two auto-immune diseases and a few other health conditions, I am susceptible to picking things up and last year had ten rounds of antibiotics. The kids have been in the back garden a lot and we have done lots of activities but we felt it was time to take a drive out.
Anyway, we miss Geocaching and so I thought we could do a drive around scavenger hunt whilst we did some errands. I made it so that Robyn could understand it with the little pictures next to it, all you have to do is tick the box when you find it. Robyn wasn’t in the mood to join in but did right at the end of our journey when Sophie and Riley had completed theirs.
It’s not the best printable in the world because its what I drew myself but I hope it comes in use. The kids loved it and we had a special extra at the end which was put onto a sticker, it was “family member”. We drove by my dads and he came to see them from a safe distance to wave, it made their day and mine.
I don’t think the kids have ever been so excited to go on a little car trip. We did see an awesome 911copcar on our journey as well. We are going to share our adventure on TikTok later today.
To be honest we joined last year but had only used it a few times. Lockdown meant we have had more time to scroll and more time to be creative. The kids have had “dance” lessons and I am sure more to come. It’s just a bit of fun.
Local graffiti artist No Hone came up with a fab idea to bring graffiti indoors whilst we are in lockdown. No Hone is takings children’s names and making them into graffiti-style colour sheets.
Sophie, Riley and Robyn had so much creative fun in colouring them in. I even let them have the sharpies and the finished by laminating them and putting them on their bedroom doors.
And here’s the result…
If you would like your childs name made into a graffiti outline simply get in touch with No Hone, see the details below:
Before the lockdown came down on the UK, I was down in London for the Digital Women Awards. I had some free time the morning after and spent it Geocaching, I think I walked over three miles in total that day.
I found six caches, five of which were virtuals. I had only covered a small section of London and there are more virtuals for me to go back and claim in the future. The smileys represent the virtual finds of the day, see the little ghost? That’s how we know if a Geocache is virtual, there are quite a few different types of caches.
About virtual Geocaches:
A Virtual Cache is about discovering a location rather than a container. The requirements for logging a Virtual Cache vary. You may be required to answer a question about the location, take a picture, complete a task, etc. In any case, you must visit the coordinates before you can post your log.
The Virtuals that you can find today are mostly great examples of this cache type. But they took a lot of time to review and it was difficult to determine guidelines for high-quality Virtuals.
The first find of the morning, the virtual was to locate the drinking fountain and to claim the find I had to provide the cache owner with the answer to their question: Who was the object at the GZ presented by?
A nice and easy cache to start the day and a lovely garden with stunning buildings circling it (GCK63N).
MMMonument
I would have never have found this monument without Geocaching. The monument is under the Millennium Bridge and celebrates Millenium measure with scientific instrument makers. The instructions to claim the virtual: the top item on one face is of interest to all geocachers, but to prove you’ve visited, what item is listed at the bottom of that face?
I knew exactly what the answer was just after inspecting each side and I thought it was a perfect virtual for any Geocacher (GCHC6H).
Golden Gallery Virtual Cache
I don’t ever remember going in or even seeing St Pauls Cathedral when visiting London as a child or teen. It was an impressive sight and I would have loved to have gone in but time didn’t allow it, I plan to come back with the family in the future and enjoy discovering St Pauls Cathedral together. I did, however, spend some time looking up and walking around.
The task from the cache owner was to go into St Pauls and visit the uppermost gallery but they accepted claims outside due to the fee to gain entry. I was glad to claim this find (GCHX1W).
TechnOLOGY (Central London)
I have to admit I went up to the virtual and then looked at the page after having a quick mooch around, only to find out that you shouldn’t linger due to the security cameras. I did manage to grab the information required by the cache owner: To claim this cache, mail us the exact wording of the CIRCULAR GREY historical plaque/sign on the wall. Mail the answers through our profile at the top of the page. The answer is NOT the white oval “City of London, Ward of Cheap”.
It was interesting to find another historical virtual for a different reason and one that resounds with Geocachers (GCCC6B).
A meeting place for Martyrs
The last virtual of the morning and there was a lot to do to claim this find, I hoped that I was right with my answers here. I did spend a lot of time investigating the area and I could tell people were wondering why I appeared to be very interested in this building.
The cache owner required: When you arrive at the site. Find for me as evidence at GZ THE FULL NAMES OF 3 JOHN’S AND A BILL. In between the Johns and Bill you will find some steps, go up, turn around and look up. How many floodlights do you see? To the right of Bill there is a drop down covered by a metal grill, what is the amount of windows you can see there?
The cache owner was right in saying that tourists would be interested to find out about this location with more history to discover (GC22E5).
With so many virtuals to find in London, it will be quite a few trips before claiming the virtuals alone. We are looking forward to when the lockdown is over so we can head down and discover them, in fact, go Geocaching at all! It has been just over a week since we last went Geocaching and we are all missing the long walks and fun that it brings.
I hope you’ve enjoyed having a virtual walk around with me as well. If you do manage to discover any virtuals in London in the future, do let me know what you learn.
