The Black Dog Tall Ships is once again excited to collaborate with a team of talented educators and writers for the 8th year as the “Creator’s Week” program returns aboard the schooner Shenandoah in 2019. “Creator’s Week” brings together our popular and one-of-a-kind “Kids Cruise” camp program with daily writing workshops, creative activities, and personal feedback from professional editors to create an amazing experience and opportunity.
The writing is fun, the improv games are a highlight. Small group activities explore the writer’s craft—from practicing close observation and turning those observations into similes and metaphors that stick, to activities and games that help writers build interesting characters and create suspense. Best of all, the editors are on deck all day for individual mentoring, feedback, and sharing. Following breakfast and cleanup each morning–and again after the day’s sail–writers get together to share their work, journal-writes, and brainstorms. Sailing and swimming follow in the afternoon; each day is different!
Whether it’s poetry, stories, essays, fantasies, sci-fi, ghost stories, or one-act plays, “Creator’s Week” campers love to write! With personal and group workshops, campers will leave this program with sharper writing skills and wheeling imaginations.
Program Details
- Passengers board vessel on Sunday, July 7th at 7:00pm and disembark on Saturday the 13th at Noon from the Black Dog Wharf in Vineyard Haven.
- Cost is the standard Summer Camp rate – $1,200 per passenger. – All reservations made through the Black Dog Tall Ships office by calling 508-693-1699 or through online reservation request here.
- “Writer’s Week” is suggested for passengers between the ages of 12 and 17 years-old (younger passengers may of course join as well).
“Writers’ Week” Sample Daily Schedule
7:00am – 8:00am: Wake Up and Deck Wash
Campers wake and join the crew for the daily deck scrubbing and clean up of the Shenandoah.
8:00am – 9:30am: Breakfast in the Main Saloon
10:00am – 12:00pm: First Writing Workshop
Campers are divided into groups to work with the Merlyn’s Pen teaching artist. The workshops are generative and immersive creative writing exercises for all genres. Each class focuses on a new literary technique to sharpen and explore. Exercises in metaphor, dialogue, stark imagery, personal narrative, the omniscient voice, and character development are introduced while toying with exciting prompts to inspire fiction, poetry, song writing or personal/comedic essay.
12:30pm – 1:30pm: Lunch Served on Deck
1:30pm – 2:30pm: Siesta/Personal Time/Swimming/Optional Mentoring Sessions
Campers are offered free time to take a nap, write on their own, meet one-on-one with the Merlyn’s Pen teaching artists, play cards, socialize or ask the crew questions about sailing.
2:30pm – 4:30pm: Set Sail/Sailing Lessons
Wind permitting, campers take a hands-on approach to sailing. They work alongside the crew as we sail around the sound. Lessons on the basics of sailing include knot tying, line identification, chart reading and rowing.
5:00pm – 6:30pm: Second Writing Workshop
Campers are divided into groups to work with the Merlyn’s Pen teaching artist. The workshops are generative and immersive creative writing exercises for all genres. Each class focuses on a new literary technique to sharpen and explore. Exercises in metaphor, dialogue, stark imagery, personal narrative, the omniscient voice, and character development are introduced while toying with exciting prompts to inspire fiction, poetry, song writing or personal/comedic essay.
6:30pm – 7:30pm: Dinner in the Main Saloon
7:30pm – 8:00pm: Nightly Stories with the Captain
8:00pm – 10:00pm: Reading/Journaling/Personal Time
10:00pm: Lights Out
Schedule is subject to change due to wind and weather conditions, or trips to the shore. There will also be a Talent Show mid-week, and a Final Salon Reading of student work at the end of the trip.
