7:54pm

As I cleaned up the kitchen in the peaceful silence, I pondered my weekend plans. School, exercise, crafting, and cleaning projects filled my head. Then I remember the blog and began to think of where to start.

The last two weeks have been full of activities. Memorial Day weekend (where Dad was off for 4 days!), the Virginia homeschool convention, and our four day trip to the University of Maryland for Melissa and Molly to participate in the national-level competition for their National History Day projects have left me with lots of pictures and memories to sort through and post on here...

However tonight, I just want to share a brief snapshot of our Friday evening:

Molly taking a brief break from writing

June 1st signaled the beginning of Camp NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo is short-hand for National Novel Writing Month. Traditionally NaNoWriMo happens in November and Camp NaNoWriMo happens in July. Participants sign-up for free online and receive resources to help track their words per day and encouragement as they attempt to write a novel (aka: a 50,000 word story) in 30 days.

Melissa and Molly first participated in NaNoWriMo in November 2011. Melissa completed a 40,000 word novel and Molly wrote a novella consisting of 24,000 words (a great achievement considering that she had entered the young writers version of NaNoWriMo).

Last summer (July 2012), Melissa and Molly participated in the summer 'Camp NaNoWriMo' and enjoyed devoting more time to their stories since school wasn't in session.

This summer, Melissa and Molly have designed their own 'Camp NaNoWriMo' because July is simple too crazy with us being gone two weeks out of the month. They are 14 days into the challenge and the word counts are hovering around 8,000 words

Melissa's word count as of 7:45pm

While Mom and Dad enjoyed a walk, and I tidied up the kitchen, Melissa and Molly hit their keyboards aiming to add a couple hundred more words to their novels before bedtime.

I grabbed my camera, intent upon capturing their focused expressions, but instead, I took note of their music. Their personalities and writing styles seemed to be summarized by their choices.

Melissa's 

Molly's

While Melissa had her country music playlist going on her iPod, I could hear various Josh Groban songs playing on Molly's computer.

Molly's passionate and dramatic flair in her stories is well-represented by the passion in Groban's songs. Melissa, on the other hand, tends to fill her stories with normal life turned adventure in an instant as can be seen in the stories of country music.

I am eagerly awaiting the finish of their stories! My sisters are very creative and love to share their passions and dreams through their stories. Molly  loves writing old-fashioned drama stories that transport her readers back in time. On the other hand, Melissa's stories tend to feature lots of action adventures that keep her readers engaged, page after page. 

While I wait, I will continue listening to my sisters challenge each other and race to see how many words they can write in the next ten minutes :) 

Here's to July 1st, when the conversation topic will not always revolve around the current word count!