Greetings, ✨✨✨ and welcome to my writing thread :) I'm Wari, and I've been a camper, leader, and co-leader in the wonderful Scratch Writing Camp last year, but I've decided to take a break this session, apart from being a Folklore honorary (tysm Alia Sandy and Piper! <333).

However, I have decided that I still don’t want to miss out on all the fun! <3 That’s why I’m going to be participating in my own solitary TCTWNW, which might be able to help me balance motivation and burnout, at my own pace :) I’ll be doing dailies and weeklies at my own pace, and overall try to grow my writing on my own, while of course cheering my competitive campmates on <333

So, without further ado, links to my writing are provided below! :D Please do not post in this forum, so that I can keep things tidy and organized <3 Instead, comment on my profile if you have any critique/feedback/questions, and I’ll be happy to chat! <3 #warisolocabinftw! :D


♪ Word Goal Progress ♪

◇ 10493/30000 words


♪ Dailies ♪

◇ March 1 ✧ Introduction ✧ 1338 words

◇ March 3 ✧ The Beginning ✧ 655 words


♪ Weeklies ♪

◇ Week 1 ✧ Timelines ✧ 973 words
⪧ Part 1 ✧ Ripples ✧ 973 words


♪ Other Writing ♪

◇ Epic: The Troy Saga Word Crawl ✧ March 3 ✧ 657 words


♪ Previous Sessions ♪

◇ Script Musical November '22
◇ Fan-fi Republic July '22
◇ Fanfiction Forest March '22

Epic Word Crawl

Dedication: 40+ minutes and 2000+ words

The Troy Saga

The Horse and the Infant

Alright, listen closely. Tonight you make your word count pay. Write at your own pace for 10 minutes while you prepare to be the one who slays.

Now that you’ve asked yourself inside what you live for, what you try for, what you wish for, what you fight for, ATTACK!!!! and sprint for five minutes to double your current word count.

If you failed to double your word count, then I don’t think you’re ready. Write an additional 100 words as you try to convince Zeus not to make you do this.

Just a Man

After that fast-paced song, it’s time to take a breather and do some self-reflection. You’re just a writer who’s fighting for your life, so go back and edit any spelling errors for three minutes as you ponder when a comet becomes a meteor, and when a candle becomes a blaze.

But when does a man become a monster? Face off against a fifty-headed hydra (try to write 500 words in 5 minutes) as you battle your inner demons.

Full Speed Ahead

600 men. 600 miles of open sea. But the problem’s not the distance, it’s what you write in between. Sprint for 6 minutes, since Ithaca’s waiting for you.

According to Eurylochus, you have 600 reasons to take what you can. So Captain, what’s the plan? Write another 300 words as Eurylochus urges you not to procrastinate.

Look! There in the distance, Polites sees an island! You want to be careful, so take the time to think about your words carefully for the next two paragraphs.

Then FULL SPEED AHEAAAAAAD! You’re up, you’re off, and away you go as you write at your top speed for three minutes.

Open Arms

You can relax, my friend. I know you’re tired of all the writing, tell me is this how you’re supposed to live? Look at how you grip your pen, enough said, why should you take when you can give? Greet the world with open arms, and write at your own pace as you listen to your favorite song.

The lotus-eaters come out of nowhere and surprise you. Sprint for three minutes as you warn them to stay back, since if you don’t get back safely, your men will turn this place into blazes.

You find something suspicious about the fruit that the lotus-eaters offer, so write 100 words to convince Polites that it’s not worth it to go through life with open arms, just as the lotus-eaters point you toward a cave to the east.

Warrior of the Mind

Athena suddenly pulls you into the Quick Thought dimension, asking if you’ve forgotten the lessons she taught you. Sprint for 5 minutes as she reminds you of your purpose.

Training under the goddess of wisdom, master of war, was no easy feat. Sprint for the next 300 words as you battle the boar that she sent to test you.

If you managed this feat in five minutes or less, you defeated the boar on the first try! If not, sprint for another 2 minutes as you finally defeat the boar.

Now, though, you know that someone’s watching you, although you can’t see who. Roll a die, and multiply the number that you get by 100. Sprint for that many words as you convince Athena to fall for your bluff.

The goddess is impressed enough that she decides to train you, but as you return to the present, she still intends to make sure that you don’t fall behind. Don’t disappoint her as you sprint to the next 1000 words.

Athena releases you from the Quick Thought dimension, and it’s the end of the saga. Take a break from writing. Feel free to just relax or do something else for the rest of the day, but make sure to stop writing for at least an hour.

↫ Masterpost

Weekly 1: Timelines

Part 1: Time Travel Mechanics

973 words

Quick Links: Part 1

With the bond between space and time so fragile, even a single careless step can send ripples throughout the universe…


In the small town, it was a day like any other. In the centre of town, vehicles rumbled aside picturesque shops and businesses, as well as smiling pedestrians out to enjoy the beautiful day. No better place to make an emergency landing. Or so the powerful being thought.

Anyone standing there would have told you that it had passed faster than the blink of an eye. One moment, nothing but pedestrians and drivers with their windows open enjoying the morning. And the next, utter chaos.

A plume of red smoke exploded in the air, taking the form of a short, squat figure whose deep blue cloak billowed in the air. The sky went dark. Screams and the skid of tires split the air. Beneath it all, a soft, metallic *plink* clattered against the pavement. And then the figure was gone.


Lalani shrieked, jerking the steering wheel to one side. The world blacked out. But somehow, she could still hear. The rumbling of her car engine, screams of terror on all sides. Had she suddenly gone blind?

Then the light returned, and she could see a brick wall speeding toward her. Instinct took over as her deliberate mind froze in panic. With another twist of the wheel, she slammed on the brakes.

The car spun, but blessedly didn’t hit anything, instead coasting to a stop. Lalani gripped the wheel, knuckles pale. What was that?!


They told her later that she had climbed out of the car, shaking. She didn’t remember that. She did remember the microphone, though. The reporter asked her to breathe, and describe what happened. No one had been hurt, but what if something had gone wrong? What if the car had slipped, careening into one of the helpless families?

The being was responsible. And Lalani swore to herself in that moment that she would make whoever it was pay.

And people agreed with her. So many that, when the government refused to act, calling it unrealistic conspiracy theories, Lalani marched into the capital, ousted those ineffective cowards, and declared herself queen. A million supporters stood with her, ready to hunt down any traces of magic.

To bring justice for the lives that had almost been lost—and the ones that were still in danger.


Kayce had been minding his own business. So when the world turned upside down, all he felt was annoyance. The appearance of the magical figure wasn’t surprising, it just seemed a personal irritation—one more reason that his life was a mess.

Maybe it was because he was glaring daggers at the cloaked figure, despite the chaos that surrounded him, that he saw what no one else did. A glittering object fell to the ground, but before Kayce could take a better look at it, the world went black.

When the light returned, Kayce blinked, surprised for the first time. But shrewdness returned—no one was watching, and something in the middle of the road shone in the sunlight. Thinking quickly, he dashed forward, snatching it up, and then darted away from the gathering crowd to examine it.


At first, he was disappointed. It was only a coin, embellished with spirals and swirls on both sides. It was tinged gold, and for a moment he wondered whether it was valuable. He shook his head, doubting that he’d be able to sell it at the pawn shop. An uproar was forming as the country reacted to the unbelievable encounter. Some called it aliens. Others called it magic. All Kayce saw was more annoyance.

He briefly considered tossing it in the river. It only linked him to the Appearance, as people called it. If they knew he had something that had possibly belonged to the strange being, there would be questions. Suspicions. Anger.

Better to let it wash away with the current. In his mind, Kayce watched it sinking to the bottom of the river, and felt a pang of guilt. He ran his fingers over the inscription, wondering what it said. The only thing he recognized was his own reflection staring back up at him.

He sighed, closing his eyes. If he threw it away, there would be no going back. A cold wind ruffled his hair, matching the indecision in his soul. Wait, a wind? Indoors?

His eyes snapped open, and he somehow found himself on the banks of the very river he had been thinking about.

It turns out that with concentration, the coin let you teleport. Kayce practised small leaps at first, then slowly made his way to farther and farther distances. It was when he leapt across the country that he finally made a mistake—he had leapt right into a weather forecaster’s shot on live tv.

That sparked a manhunt. Apparently people thought he had been the cloaked figure. A week later, Queen Lalani took control of the country, sparking outrage.

Kayce himself was mad. These people wanted him burned at the stake for a crime he didn’t do. And there was no way for him to prove it.

But as many people flew to Lalani’s side, others approached him. They saw him as the solution to all their problems, and although Kayce tried to convince them that the only thing that was magic was the coin, their faith remained steadfast.

The new government was ruthless, tyrannical, and as Kayce watched the country burn, something inside him snapped.

This was all his fault. But he’d put his power to good use and do whatever it took to stop more people from getting hurt.


Quinn was miserable. Lost in their head, wishing the sky would turn cold and grey to match the anguish inside, they saw the car barreling toward them much too late.

1) Tell us about yourself! Please include your nickname, pronouns, and time zone.

Hi! I'm Wari, and I go by she/her pronouns and reside in the ultimate coolness timezone hyphen five (utc-5), which is currently the same as cst. <3 I'm an avid writer, and am currently working on a Star Wars fanfiction novel that I hope to finally get out of the planning phase during this session of SWC. I also love drawing with my go-to art program FireAlpaca, in which I usually practise my human art while wishing I could be drawing lightsabers instead. Sadly, I have not drawn any lightsabers since August, I believe, which I hope to remedy during SAC (Scratch Art Camp) in June.

I also enjoy coding, mostly in Scratch, although I hope to expand to other coding languages as well, such as Java, JavaScript, and Python. I joined Scratch primarily as a coder, and still enjoy creating coding challenges for myself in most big projects I make, including this one and, most notably, the matching pfp creator that I made for Folklore last session. I enjoy blending my passions in art, coding, and writing, and dream of one day designing and releasing my own game, whether on Scratch or other platforms. For now, though, I'm content with pouring myself into unnecessarily complicated projects like this swc app.

When I'm not writing, drawing, or coding something, I like to spend my time reading, listening to music, or watching the mcu, star wars, or various other fandoms. I've read a great many series, but one of my recent favourites has to be the Grishaverse, including the fantastic Six of Crows duology, by Leigh Bardugo. I've watched almost all of Star Wars and the MCU, and am also a big fan of shows like Arcane. <33

My music tastes tend to be focused in three major categories: Star Wars, musicals, and Taylor Swift. My all-time favourite song is the thingy, aka the Mandalorian Theme x Carol of the Bells by Samuel Kim, with the Imperial Theme x Carol of the Bells (the evil thingy >:D) as a close second. If you haven't heard of them, just click through the music player on this project and you should find them, or just search them up I highly recommend both.

My love for musicals started when I watched Hamilton (of my own accord, Lunaly!! :sob: ). Since then, I've quite literally memorised half the musical hehe, and it remains one of my favourites to this day. After Hamilton, Luna (@Luna-Lovegood-LOL) helped get me into many others—Six, Hadestown, Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Heathers, and The Lightning Thief Musical. I also got into Wicked, the Phantom of the Opera, Beetlejuice, and Les Miserables on my own. Alia (@–tranquility) then got me into In the Heights, and one of the most spectacular musicals that I've ever heard: Epic :sparkles:. Of this list, Hamilton and Epic are my favourites, recently joined by Hadestown when I finally stopped procrastinating on actually watching it (it's a completely different experience than the recordings :pleading_face: ).

I actually only got into Taylor Swift after Midnights came out (in November?) Then I, not knowing where to start with the rest of her music, binged all of Taylor Swift's songs in a week, and emerged not long after as a Swiftie. My favourite albums vary depending on which ones I've been listening to, but most recently they include 1989, Reputation, Lover, and Speak Now, the latter which I am eagerly awaiting Taylor's Version for.

Now, for those who are unfamiliar with why there is a penguin in my leader app, it is an alternate OC of mine that I've incorporated in many places in my art and projects. All you need to know is that Wari Penguin is very squeaky and loves lightsabers. <33

2) Have you previously participated in SWC? If so, in what roles? In either case, what leadership experience do you have outside of Scratch?

I’ve participated (in varying roles) in every session of SWC since March 2022. Here is a summary of the sessions and roles, followed by a more detailed reflection on what I learned about SWC and leadership in each one.

March 2022 - Fanfiction Forest camper
July 2022 - Fan-fi Republic leader
November 2022 - Script: The Musical co-leader
March 2023 - Folklore Spell Shop honorary camper & SWC spectator

March 2022

My previous apps usually have me rambling about how amazing this session was, the incredible storyline, iconic competition, and fantastic leaders that carried us to second place (down with Foetry!). That’s kind of offtopic so I’ll refrain from it this session. <33 If you’re someone who was in Fan-fi that session (I see you Lunaly :>) then just mentally insert a paragraph or two or three about how amazing Fan-fi March 2022 was and also stan Slaytie and Lunaly.

Anyways, the takeaways I would like to mention from March 2022 are the things it taught me about leadership through the spectacularly interactive in-cabin activities that Lunaly (@Luna-Lovegood-LOL), Katie (@always-wriiting), and Andy (@-endless_abyss-) created. First, the fanfiction story that I planned with Mily (@Oceaniq-, one of the other Fan-fi campers), reinforced my belief in the importance of planning before starting a project, since it helped us get to work quickly and make the most out of our time. However, the plan ended up being too complex to start writing, let alone finish before the session ended, which is a reminder to me that even the most careful planning can fail if realistic time and effort constraints are not taken into account.

During this session, I also got my first taste of coordinating large groups of people to achieve a goal—specifically, my word group, the Fanfiction Forest Warriors. When we received tasks to progress in the storyline, I reached out to the other campers in my word group to try to find collaborators and give updates on how we were doing in the cabin storyline. In addition, one of the final 6 tasks that we had to complete on the last day of camp was a collaboration between three campers to write a treaty unifying the three warring factions of the Fanfiction Forest. I collaborated with Sandy (@Sandy-Dunes) and Kit (@KitVMH) to plan and write the three-part passage. Kit ended up withdrawing from the collaboration because she was too busy, so the slay Lunaly pitched in to do her part at the last minute. :> We were able to finish in time mainly because we outlined a plan for the treaty beforehand, and divided the parts equally (although we did end up writing about twice the word requirement SKKSKSK).

July 2022

The spectacular chaos and dedication that Luna and Katie, as well as my fellow campers, showed that session inspired me to apply as a leader for the July 2022 session. I like astronomy, so I submitted a planets app (which I now realise was an extremely common and generic theme :skull: ), and was so surprised and elated and filled with a million other happy emotions when I was selected as leader of Fan-fi. Together with my amazing co-leaders, Katie (@always-wriiting), Hope (@-HopeMelodies), and Willow (@Xx_Hermione_xX), we created the Fan-fi Republic.

May and June were filled with chaotic planning, set in motion from the huge, intricate storyline that I had ready to go on the first day of planning. All of us were so involved in planning that we actually ended up with 54 pages in the main forum—more than 1000 posts, which surpassed the camp-wide leader forum. This session taught me a lot about leading, and some of the tactics we used were successful, while others turned out to be grave mistakes. Take the intricate, super detailed storyline, for example: it made for some interesting worldbuilding, but it was hard to understand for everyone except me because of its length and complexity, causing some obstacles in communication with my co-leaders and campers. Also, although I improved on my March 2022 collaboration experience by creating intricate schedules and timing for each step of our plot, we ended up making another important mistake—we didn’t consider that our storyline was too dependent on the activity level of the campers and leaders.

Because we couldn’t keep up with the timeline that our storyline demanded, we ended up having to simplify things, and by the end of session, I ended up swooping in with a deus ex machina ending where our cabin mascot (the Duck Deity) offered a cabin-wars-like writing challenge to save the world. XD Besides our storyline turning out to be a bit of a problem, the session was a wonderful experience nonetheless. <333 I loved cabin planning with Katie, Hope, and Willow, betraying Thriller during cabin wars so that Myth would get more words, having fun causing chaos with the spectacular Fan-fi campers, and meeting many of the friends I have in SWC today, including Moss, Addie, Moonlit, CJ, and Lio. I also learned a lot about writing by completing every single daily and weekly that session, as well as participating in quite a few word wars (which raised my wpm!).

Overall, July 2022 was a special session for me because it really gave me the chance to test out all these ideas I had about how to help organise, plan, lead a cabin. Some of those ideas worked, and some didn't. I guess I see my potential leadership this session as a chance to “redo” July 2022 in a way: to avoid making some of the mistakes that I made before, and to improve on the techniques that worked in that session. I think that would be really valuable for me, not only as an SWC-er, but also in any future projects that require these kinds of leadership skills.

November 2022

I have mixed feelings about the November session. On the one hand, it was the hardest session I've been in, and I even considered dropping out on more than one occasion. On the other, I'm grateful for having been able to share a cabin with some true legends that completely changed the way I view SWC. In hindsight, I'll try to focus on the value of the experience. <3

I applied for co-leader in November, partly because I knew I'd be busy that session, and partly because I wanted to experience SWC from a new angle. After brief detours in spost heculation and accidentally deleting all the code in my app (after which I'm infinitely grateful for Zai convincing me to redo all the code from scratch in about three hours—lesson learned! Always make backups!), I was offered to co-lead Script by Jade (@seasiide).

Creating the Script Musical with Jade and Nights (@theniqhtsfall) was quite a different experience from the previous session. I withdrew from the planning process at first, not wanting to take over as I had done in previous collaboration experiences. I also was really busy, which made me more inactive than I would have liked to be, and at times I struggled finding the time and energy to pay attention to cabin planning. However, it turns out that I really didn't need to be any more active than I was—Jade, Nights, and I came up with a really simple, low-effort cabin storyline that just had our campers earning a certain amount of songs (our in-cabin currency) per week to make it back home from 1776.

Looking back, the campers seemed really happy that session, and I wonder if I could have enjoyed that session more as well if I hadn't stressed so much about my lack of participation. In any case, it was a pleasure completing the first and fourth weeklies, making the Script Matching PFPs, and learning spreadsheet magic with the wonderful Nights. This session, since I’m aiming for a relaxed experience (more on that later), I’ll be using what I learned about low-pressure storylines and a focus on the camper experience from the Script Musical. <3

March 2023

I wasn’t entirely sure if I should include this session, since my only participation was as a Folklore honorary. I did learn some things that will benefit my possible (co)leadership this session though, so here goes.

A bit burntout from November, I made the difficult decision to take a step back from the March session of SWC. I was beyond honoured to accept Alia’s offer to join Folklore as an honorary camper though, and had a lot of fun figuring out the Folklore matching pfps that session. I also attempted a few weeklies and dailies, and ended up writing about 10k words in my own personal writing challenge, but didn’t end up finishing anything. The main takeaway from March is that I learned that I didn’t have to be that active—or even directly participate at all—in SWC to have a good time. In a way, I’m going to try to repeat that mindset in any role I take in SWC, whether leader, co-leader, or camper, in the July session.

Of course, I’m not planning to go completely inactive and only complete about a third of the projects that I wanted to. Instead, I will try to be more deliberate in how I participate—whether that means taking purposeful breaks when I’m tired, or selecting the specific projects I want to work on when I’m motivated.

——————–

My ultimate goal with the upcoming July session is to take elements of all my SWC experiences so far—I’ll try to be as good a leader as Katie and Luna were to me in March ‘22, I’ll address the mistakes I made in July ‘22, I’ll try to incorporate elements of November ‘22 to make the cabin experience more chill for myself, my leading team, and my campers, and I’ll make sure to take care of myself like in March ‘23.

I believe that wraps up the discussion of previous participation, so I’ll finish with a few words about my other leadership experience outside Scratch. Notably, I collaborated with Lunaly to make a birthday present for Katie, which helped me improve my Canva design skills and ability to help coordinate with quite a few contributors across Scratch and chaos land. <3

As for other leadership experiences, they have existed, but I’m not entirely comfortable discussing specifics. <3 I have helped organise and coordinate several group projects though (including one big one at the time of this writing!), and have learned that it’s important to make sure everyone has a plan for what to complete and when to complete it, as well as to stay in communication with my teammates so that I know what is required of me and what anyone needs help with, if applicable. <3

3) Which cabins would you prefer to lead? Additionally, let us know if there are any former cabins or new cabins you’d like to see in the megasession lineup! Include if you’re interested in leading the Cabin That Will Not Win.

The idea that I have for a cabin this session is less focused on a specific cabin genre, but a certain writing concept. Specifically, I would like to lead a cabin modelled after the Hero’s Journey, or Monomyth. Campers would embark on a voyage vaguely themed after the Odyssey (coughs in Epic superfan), during which they’d learn about plotting stories and using the common monomyth plot structure in their writing.

Since this theme is fairly flexible, there are several cabin genres that it could fit into. My first preferences are either Adventure or Mythology (if it were to return in the upcoming megasession).

As secondary options, I would also be comfortable leading Thriller or Poetry, since I can adapt the theme easily into these genres as well.

Other options, though they might be a bit of a stretch for my planned theme, are Folklore, Fantasy, and Hi-fi. <3

I’d also love to (co)lead the cabin that will not win this session. I’m already planning to have a chill atmosphere without a focus on competition, even if I get picked for one of the normal competitive cabins. ^^ I believe TCTWNW would be a good fit for me and my plans <3

If I’m not picked as a leader this session, and any leaders are interested in the theme I’ve explained above, I’d love to co-lead any of the above cabins and help implement my theme!

However, I’d still be open to co-leading any of the cabins this session, and helping the cabin leader with whatever storyline they have planned. <3

As for cabin suggestions, I have quite a couple, hehe. As I said before, Myth is one of my first preferences if it would be added again! I’d also love to see the return of Fairy Tales, as well as the inclusion of Comedy, Action, and/or Drama, as well as Lit-fi (as Lio has endlessly suggested, :star_struck: ) or Magical Realism. :eyes: Screenwriting, Tragedy, and Songwriting/Lyric cabins would also be really cool, if there’s demand for them.

4) Please provide a short excerpt of your writing.

The following excerpt is from Ripples, a story I wrote for the first weekly of SWC March 2023. Although I never finished it, I did get through more than just the introduction, which you can read below. If you would like to read more, I’ve included a link to the full piece here.



5) What amount of time do you expect to be able to dedicate to SWC, and what plans do you have that may affect your activity?

I will likely be able to dedicate 1-2 hours a day throughout May, June, and July to (co)leadership duties and general SWC participation. <3

I have a fairly flexible schedule, and plan to adapt my activity to the schedule of my (co)leaders. Since school is usually from 8am to 3:15pm UTC-5, I will be able to use time before or after that based on my team’s time zones and activity schedules. During the time that they can be active, I can make 1-2 hours of time for cabin planning, adding words and in-cabin and main cabin points, generally chatting and causing chaos across Scratch and otherside, and any other SWC-related responsibilities that come up.

As for interferences, I’ll have a little less time for SWC across the first two weeks of June, since I’ll be studying for and taking my final exams. I should still be able to dedicate at least 30 minutes a day to planning, though, and will do my best to work out a plan with the rest of my leading team so planning can go as smoothly as possible.

Other than that, there is nothing that I know of that should stop me from dedicating 1-2 hours per day to SWC in the second half of June and all of July. <3 If something does come up, though, I will let the other members of my team as soon as possible, so we can adjust our plans accordingly. If, for any reason, I am unable to participate at all or simply need a break for a bit, I will let the team and the hosties know so we can figure things out.

If I get accepted as leader or co-leader, I will be making sure to remember the mistakes of being too or too little involved during my July ‘22 and November ‘22 SWC leadership experiences, respectively. In July, I put too much stakes on my own activity to allow our storyline to work, and during November, I had a hard time balancing SWC and irl, which made me burn out quickly. This session, I’m going to try to improve by staying in communication with the rest of my team and suggesting that we adjust the storyline’s expectations or responsibilities if they become too much for me or any of my other team members.

6) How will your (co)leadership benefit: SWC, the entire leadership team, your campers, and yourself?

How my leadership would benefit SWC

SWC has been successful thus far because of the spectacular dedication, enthusiasm, and creativity poured into it by hosts, co-hosts, ghosts, honorary hosts, leaders, co-leaders, campers, honorary campers, and supportive stalkers since the very first session of WC17 almost 6 years ago. It is because of the efforts of so many wonderful people—too many of whom I have barely met—that I am here, creating this application to hopefully lead in a camp that has made the last four sessions very special for me. In the upcoming session, I will do my best to give back to this community in any way I can.

A leader has many responsibilities beyond simple maintenance of a cabin. If chosen as leader, I would benefit SWC by doing the best I can in helping the camp as a whole be a smooth, lively experience for all its participants. A major part of this is by simply being active and aware of the main cabin comments. <3 After all, the main cabin is really what helps most of SWC come together—by checking in at least once (if not many more times!) a day, I can regularly add points so they don’t build up, as well as give SWC-ers tips and advice if they have trouble with dailies or weeklies, provide motivation when they’re working toward a goal, or simply engaging in conversation when anyone’s feeling chaotic.

One of the most important parts of SWC is the community and chaos that occurs outside of the scheduled activities. Although the online nature of SWC makes it able to connect all kinds of amazing people from all around the world, it also can make each of us feel disconnected and distant at times. But often, it only takes replying to another SWC-er’s unanswered comments to tell them, “I see you.” That’s why one of my main goals this session, in relation to improving SWC as a whole, is to help create some of the kinds of connections that others have done for me—to simply reach out to others and let them know, whether directly or implied, that they aren’t just commenting into a void. There are people on the other side of the screen that see and care about what and how they’re doing, SWC-related or otherwise.

Also, by paying attention to the main cabin comments, I can be ready to answer any questions or concerns people have about main cabin activities, SWC as a whole, or general advice. I have experience in many genres, styles, and techniques of writing, including poetry, flash fiction, worldbuilding, character development, dialogue, plotting, and brainstorming.

How my leadership would benefit the Leadership Team as a whole

Well for one, I would do my best to make sure that the burden isn’t on only a few people to add hundreds of comments in the main cabin, and I would also do my best to keep my word group organised so that Sunny Sun doesn’t have to spend 12 hours checking everything and adding them all up. :> More generally, though, I am ready to offer my advice, experience, and skills to anyone on the leader team who asks for help. This can include advice on cabin storylines, information about deadlines, clarification on Canva slide and signature dimensions, coding help, word war prompt ideas, spreadsheet help, and anything else that I’ve learned in the four sessions of SWC experience I’ve had.

Since I’ve experienced SWC from the view of a camper, leader, co-leader, and honorary, I can keep the expectations, responsibilities, and relative perspectives of each of these roles when giving advice and helping newer (co)leaders get up to speed on SWC-ing, as well as lending a hand to more experienced members of the community facing difficult or unfamiliar situations. In addition to my own knowledge, I’ve talked to and surveyed a wide variety of SWC-ers and have learned from their own experiences, successes, and advice to me about everything from cabin complexity to camper engagement to Canva design to matching profile picture creator coding. I would be more than happy to pass on these ideas to anyone on SWC’s leadership team that might benefit from them.

Also, I am aware that one of a leaders’ main responsibilities is acting as a link between the hosting team and their own cabin’s leading team and campers. I am no longer too intimidated by most of the hosties, and am comfortable reaching out to them in case my team runs into a problem with our storyline or activity levels, if my campers have any questions or concerns, or if I myself need any help or advice. I understand that wrangling more than 40 people is difficult, if not impossible, no matter how talented our wonderful hosties are. I would therefore do my best to lessen the amount that the almighty sky tyrants need to worry about how my own cabin is doing by reaching out whenever I need to.

How my leadership would benefit campers

Ultimately, it all comes down to the campers. They’re the ones that keep SWC going, that come back session after session, or sign up for the first time, to reach their writing goals, vibe with fellow writers, and partake in the storylines and activities that leaders, co-leaders, and hosties worked to provide during those hectic planning months preceding the session. As a camper in Fan-fi March ‘22, I am indebted to the amazing leadership team and fellow campers for making SWC an experience that I can keep coming back to. As a leader, I would strive to give back a fraction of the support I’ve received last and this year.

Just as in the main cabin, I would be alert and active to my own cabin’s comment section. Whether someone wants advice, recommendations, support, or just a person to share a chaotic mindset or idea with, I would be dedicated to making sure that no one’s comments just go unanswered into the void. It takes a lot of bravery to just throw ideas out there, unsure if anyone else will see or respond to them. That is why one of my main goals is to simply be active in responding and replying to my campers (and co-leaders, as well as random stalkers of cabin comments!) as much as I can.

In addition, I can use the experience I’ve accumulated from completing dozens of SWC activities and other writing experiences to help campers with their own writing. When I led Fan-fi in July 2022, I started a project called the Procrastinator’s Guide. This forum, which I updated daily, contained explanations and, at times, step-by-step descriptions about how to brainstorm ideas for and overcome obstacles while doing main cabin dailies and weeklies. Although I only ended up going through a quarter of the month with the guide, many of my campers expressed that the Procrastinator’s Guide helped them understand the main cabin activities better, and made them easier to complete.

The Procrastinator’s Guide to SWC ended up being too time- and energy-consuming to continue, so as much as I liked the idea, I will not be repeating it during the upcoming session. However, I do plan to make it clear to the other members of my cabin that I am willing to help them with any questions they have about brainstorming or completing their dailies, weeklies, or personal writing projects, or if they simply want to bounce ideas off someone else. If my (co)leaders are willing, we could plan a way to create a space for campers to be able to ask all of us these questions, and perhaps even encourage campers to be there for each other while we work to complete our goals.

Also, I will be diligent in making sure that my campers have a smooth experience when adding words and participating in in-cabin activities. I tend to double or even triple-check word counts, and plan to use a spreadsheet system to make sure that everything stays accurate with a minimum of confusion for myself, the other members of my leading team, and the poor hosties that end up having to verify everything at the end of camp, and the campers themselves that are counting on an accurate word and point counting system so they can see progress in their personal goals.

Overall, it is the responsibility of a cabin’s leader and co-leaders to take charge in fostering a sense of community and growth for their cabin during SWC. Hopefully, by encouraging that atmosphere in my cabin, I can make the next session one that my campers and the rest of my cabin’s leading team can enjoy and remember.

How my leadership would benefit myself.

I’ve learned so many valuable things about leadership, writing, and organisation in every session of SWC that I’ve been in. I assume that the trend will continue for the following session.

I went into more detail about what I’ve learned in each session in Question 2, so I won’t repeat it all here. However, because of my leadership and collaboration experiences within SWC, I have become a more effective communicator, a more efficient planner, a more knowledgeable writer, a better graphic designer, a more organised spreadsheet- and schedule-wrangler, and, overall, a person who has been so lucky to have learned from so many incredible people that I only would have met through SWC. I’m infinitely grateful for these experiences, and I know that I’ll come out of the July 2023 session having learned things that I never could have imagined.

Of course, there are improvements that I can imagine, as well. For one, leading a cabin would give me more experience in collaboration and management as I work with others to design, plan, and guide a cabin for the next two and a half months. I want to work on balancing my tendency to become too much or too little involved in collaborative projects, and would gain more experience balancing SWC and other aspects of Scratch with my irl responsibilities.

Also, I look forward to renewing old and making new connections during the next session. Through the other members of SWC, I can learn writing skills, design techniques, time management, and other self-improvement strategies that will be valuable to me not only on Scratch, but in real life as well.

Also, as my last session of SWC, I want to improve from my July 2022 experience by improving from the mistakes that I made in that session. For example, I went too big and created a time-oriented storyline that was too reliant on leader activity. My curiosity leads me to wonder if I could create a storyline more focused on supporting and hyping campers, co-leaders, and myself to reach our own personal goals, while learning something about writing along the way.

Whether or not my curiosity and expectations end up being fulfilled in the next session, I will benefit from the learning experiences I’ve made along the way.

(Also I will have a lot of fun in the usual chaos of SWC and the megasession and interacting with the wonderful hosties, friends, and everyone else. <333)

7) What are your strengths and weaknesses in working with others? What assets would you bring to your cabin's leading team?

Strengths:

Organisation: I know that planning before beginning a collaboration is very valuable. For one, it keeps the project centred and focused. Since we planned everything out at the beginning, we don’t have to spend as much time figuring out what to do next after completing each step. Because of this, I like to make sure that a plan is in place before every collaboration starts. For example, at the start of the planning period for Fan-fi in May 2022, I created a to-do list with all the things we needed to get done before the end of June, which helped my team stay in sight of what our goals were and how far we still needed to go to accomplish them. I kept the to-do list on the first page of our forum for easy access, and regularly updated it with completed and new tasks whenever it was needed. Also, when our forum started to get too long to keep track of all the important things that were in progress and still needed to be done, I created a separate forum just to hold the urgent tasks that each person still needed to complete. This helped us keep track of important tasks, messages, and questions that may have otherwise gotten buried, and helped streamline our cabin planning, which was especially important given that we had a detailed, complex storyline and cabin activities. In the upcoming session, I would bring my strength in organisation and planning overall, as well as some spreadsheet tricks to create a to-do list and schedule that I have not had the chance to implement in SWC-related collaborations so far. <3

Dedication: I am committed to giving my best effort in my collaborations, especially in relation to SWC. Whether it’s writing out a thousand words of lore to clarify a cabin storyline (July ‘22), learning new ways of coding to create an easy studio description updater (July ‘22) or add more customizability to a matching pfp creator (November ‘22), or figuring out new ways to configure spreadsheets to streamline the cabin planning and management process (November ‘22), if I have the time and energy to contribute to a collaboration, then I will put in the best work I can.

Adaptability: I can adapt myself and help adapt our plan for the collaboration in case of unexpected changes or obstacles. When our current plan is no longer realistic or viable, I can usually help think about a way we can adjust to get back on track as soon as possible. In July 2022, when it became clear near the middle of the session that our cabin storyline was much too demanding to complete, I helped my teammates figure out which plans to remove, and which ones to continue, so that the camper experience wouldn’t be interrupted. Also, during that same session, when one of my teammates had an unexpected vacation in the middle of the session, I was able to figure out a way to incorporate her absence into our plans and storyline, which actually ended up enriching the plot and fixing a few plotholes. Whenever a problem has come up during collaborations I’ve participated in, I usually think of an idea to fix it within a day or two, if my teammates don’t think of something first, which has come in handy several times.

Weaknesses:

Balance: During collaborations, I have the tendency to take too much work onto myself, especially if leading said collaborations. In July 2022, I brainstormed the majority of our cabin lore within the first two days of planning. Since the storyline was complex, and I had most of the details inside my head, it was my responsibility to organise and plan anything lore-related. This made me very involved in the planning process, but also caused me to eventually become overwhelmed with the load and burn out about halfway through July. Luckily, by that time, we had pretty much planned everything out, and I didn’t have to do much except check in regularly to make sure we were still on track. My experience with July 2022, as well as other collaborations where I made the mistake of trying to do too much, are reminders of the importance of balance during collaborations. I’m working on improving this tendency, by making sure that I don’t get caught up in the excitement of planning. Instead, I will remind myself that the goals that I set for myself will potentially affect me for the next few months, and it is also important to consider how it will affect me in the future.

Delegation and Communication: Hand-in-hand with my difficulty balancing the workload in many collaborations is my reluctance to delegate to my teammates, at times. When my collaborators seem to be going through a hard time, or something comes up and they are too busy to participate, I tend to take over their share of the work and delegate fewer tasks to them. The main way I can improve this is by making sure to communicate with my teammates to gauge the workload that they are willing and able to take on. By directly talking the tasks through with my teammates, I can make sure that I don’t inadvertently leave them out of the collaboration, and so our tasks are more accurately balanced to our ability to work through them, rather than taking most of it for myself. This will help me improve my ability to balance and delegate tasks, as improving the communication within our team so I don’t end up assuming the workload that each person can handle.

Assets:

Experience: In terms of assets, one important one that I can bring to my cabin’s leading team is experience. I have participated in several roles of SWC, and therefore can consider the possible effects of our plans on campers, as well as the effects of my own actions and plans on my co/leader(s). In addition, I’ve been in a wide variety of cabins, from the chaotically competitive Fan-fi of March ‘22, the slightly overwhelming plot on a less active cabin in Fan-fi of July ‘22, to the chill storyline of Script in November ‘22. With this experience, in addition to the conversations I’ve had with other leaders and campers during those sessions, I am aware of how different cabin and activity complexities can affect the camper and (co)leader experience. With this knowledge, especially if added to by the experiences of the rest of my leadership team, we would be able to avoid making some of the mistakes that I and others have made during cabin planning and management in the past.

Technical skills: I also have experience in coding, graphic design, spreadsheets, and informative and explanatory writing that would allow me to help design in-cabin activities and rewards for campers. In November ‘22 and March ‘23, I created the matching pfp creators for Script and Folklore, respectively, and would be happy to use the things I’ve learned to create matching pfps or other similar projects for a cabin in the upcoming session. In addition, I have some knowledge of colour and design theory that I can put to use in designing cabin thumbnails and slides so that they are easy to read and understand. Through experimentation with Google Sheets, and by learning from the wonderful Nights (@theniqhtsfall) and Lunaly (@luna-lovegood-lol), I am experienced with using spreadsheet formulas to process a lot of cabin-planning-related data, such as making schedules and to-do list, keeping track of camper data, and (a newer skill) using google sheets to automatically find and display data from the Scratch API.

Brainstorming: This is somewhat similar to my strength of adaptability, but I would also bring my ability to brainstorm ideas to a leading team. I can usually come up with a wide range of ideas based on a prompt, which can help me contribute to cabin planning and discussion as we figure out what direction we are going in. This skill is also helpful when we run into a problem, during which I can usually brainstorm a possible solution while preserving as much of our original plan as possible. In July 2022, I was able to brainstorm a basis for our cabin’s storyline within the first few days of planning, and in November, I helped tie in the basics of our storyline idea (something to do with Hamilton and musicals in general) and contributed to our eventual decision on a Hamilton/Phantom of the Opera mashup where campers had to earn “songs” for the Phantom so that they could escape where they were trapped in 1776. My head is always spinning with ideas, and I feel confident in being able to use them to contribute to the discussions of a leading team in the upcoming session.

8) What are your skills and shortcomings in time management?

Skills:

Many of my skills in time management are due to my knowledge of time management techniques such as the Pomodoro Method, Priority Charts, Time Blocking, and spreadsheets. I have been practising these for a while, especially with help from the stellar Moonlit (@MoonlitSeas) through her Time Management workshop in November 2022. In relation to the upcoming session, I can use each of these to help me ensure a healthy life-SWC balance and be more productive in each one. <3

I plan to use the Pomodoro technique to get hw and SWC- and other leisure-related tasks done in specific, alternating intervals. This will allow me to refresh between periods of focused studying, while making sure that I don’t spend too much time on either one.

In addition, I use priority charts to outline the tasks I have to do for the week, and which ones I should do first or later. This will likely be especially important when managing the time I spend on tasks related to cabin planning and management, since by outlining the tasks that are more difficult/more urgent, I can organise my own specific tasks in relation to the things I should do immediately, discuss not doing at all, delay for later, or ask for help completing. This strategy will also likely be helpful for determining a priority list of events during cabin planning.

Blocking out my time each day is also a very useful technique that has kept me productive over the past year or two. By setting out specific times each day to do specific tasks, I can get a better idea of how long it takes me to complete each task, and if I’m spending too much or too little time on any specific area. Although I sometimes end up getting distracted and deviating from the plan I’ve set out, I do my best to reevaluate a new plan every day and try to stick to it.

Spreadsheets have been a very useful tool for time management now that I’ve become more experienced with them as well. Using spreadsheets, I can analyse the number of tasks I need to complete, the amount of time it’ll take to complete them, and the number of tasks I should try to tackle each day, which helps me make weekly and even monthly plans of what to do. This has improved my efficiency at time management and will allow me to balance and manage my time in the upcoming session.

Shortcomings:

Speedrunning: An important shortcoming in time management is that sometimes I get the urge to speedrun tasks. This usually happens because once I get started, I am filled with motivation to get the task done as quickly as possible. However, if the task is particularly complex, I sometimes end up burning out halfway through, or even near the ending, but have no energy left to revise or edit. Also, I end up neglecting other responsibilities while speedrunning, since all my attention is focused on this one task, which often drains completely when or before I finish. </3 This has happened with multiple projects, but the ones I remember most clearly are completing the first weekly of November ‘22 in one day and completing the majority of the coding for this application before leader apps were released.

Speedrunning has come in handy a few times, though. Most notably, when I accidentally deleted all the code for my November ‘22 co-leader app just when I was almost ready to share it, Zaine (@Polarbear_17) convinced me to keep working, and I was able to redo all the code in about three hours. To combat the negative tendencies of my speedrunning, though, I will try to set aside specific times to do specific tasks, and remind myself that even if I have a lot of motivation to complete the task now, I can divide up some of that motivation so I can get other things done, and complete the original task that I really want to do on a more realistic schedule.

Internalisation: Another problem is that sometimes I internalise the schedules and tasks that I have to complete, which has two main problems. One, it increases the risk that I’ll forget or go over the time limits I’ve set for myself, or that I will lose track of what I am currently doing or what I am supposed to do next. Second, it makes me less likely to actually stick to those schedules since I can easily convince myself to change the plan in my mind.

This is probably the easiest of my shortcomings to deal with as long as I commit to actually improving—by putting my schedule down in a physical or digital form, and by telling others about what I’m working on (such as in an accountability buddy system), I am more likely to complete the tasks on time and stick to the initial schedule. In the upcoming session, I will make sure to avoid internalising my to-do lists by writing them down and staying in communication about them with the other members of my leading team, as well as with any other friends that are available and willing to help me keep on track.

Distractibility: The last shortcoming that I will talk about is my tendency to get distracted from what I’m working on. One notable example of this is that just before I typed this sentence, I was scrolling through my Scratch messages and starting to get led down a rabbit hole of comments and profiles and studios before I remembered that I was nearly done with my leader app and should probably stop proving my own point that I can get distracted from the tasks I’m supposed to be completing.

Just as with my other shortcomings, though, I can improve on this by planning out what I need to do when, and then doing my best to stay focused with the schedule I’ve already established. I’ve also found accountability partners extremely helpful for not getting distracted, since I’m aware that if I get distracted, I’m going to have to explain why. XD Also, setting aside time to purposely get distracted can also help. By incorporating regular breaks into my routine, I can make the time I spend on distractions more deliberate, while controlling the amount of time I spend on them.

Each of these shortcomings are things that I’m working to improve with practice, and I look forward to being able to reinforce techniques that I already know for managing them, as well as experimenting with new ones so I can continue to learn and improve myself.

9) What cabin atmosphere do you aim to create?* For example: relaxed and easygoing with a focus on personal projects, geared toward competition, etc. *Please write under 200 characters! More information on why can be found in the FAQ.

I aim to create a cabin that offers a place for encouragement and hype toward personal goals as well as toward SWC projects like daily and weeklies from a perspective of personal improvement. (191 characters)

10) Check all that apply. Please fully consider the responsibility of each box.

☑ I’m willing/have time to add points consistently in the Main Cabin. I really like adding points, and will regularly check in to the main cabin to see if any have built up. I should be able to check once every two days, at the very least.

☑ I agree to all the leadership responsibilities stated in the FAQ. I will make sure to balance my irl responsibilities (and not procrastinate on hw :>) and encourage the same for my campers and the rest of my leadership team. I’ll also help answer questions if they apply to my current and past knowledge of SWC, and will bring the question to the spectacular hosties if I don’t know what the answer is. <3 I’ll also make sure to ask the hosties my own questions if I myself am unsure about anything! In addition, I’ll make sure that any descriptions I’m responsible for are up to date through a spreadsheet system, and will check in regularly with the other members of my cabin leadership team to make sure everything is accurate and up to date. I’ll do my best to check the cabin studio and any other places of discussion at least once a day, and spend 30 minutes to 2 hours a day planning the cabin with the other members of my cabin team. If chosen as a cabin leader, I will make sure to divide up and delegate tasks, as well as be receptive to my co-leaders’ thoughts and situations. I will also do my best to get our cabin atmosphere figured out and submitted on time <3

☑ In the event that I need to drop out, I will notify the hosts and ensure my co/leaders can cover my role. I will do this, if needed. ^^

☑ I’m willing to share a promotional project for SWC. I will do this too

Notes and Credits:

Inspirations: An idea that I had a while ago for a window project, the game Unpacking, Birdi’s Real-fi Cabin Guide

Art: Thumbnail and answer slides by me in Canva

Taylor Swift poster from the internet

Cabin thumbnails:
fan-fi march ‘22 by @luna-lovegood-LOL, @always-wriiting and @-endless_abyss-
fan-fi july ‘22: designed by me and @always-wriiting
script november ‘22: @seasiide
folklore march ‘23: @–tranquility

PFPS:
Fan-fi march ‘22 by @-endless_abyss-
Fan-fi july ‘22 by @Xx_Hermione_xX
Script november ‘22 by me
Folklore march ‘23 by me

Fairy lights by irl bestie when I was too busy to draw them hehe (you’re the best <333)

Lightsaber was drawn in august/september ‘22

All other art by me in FireAlpaca during April ‘23

Audio:
Music:
willow by Taylor Swift
Saturn by Sleeping at Last
Cornelia Street by Taylor Swift
Warrior of the Mind by Jorge Rivera-Herrans and Teagan Earley from Epic: the Musical
Music box version of Blank Space by Taylor Swift
The thingy <33 aka the Mandalorian x Carol of the Bells by Samuel Kim

Curtain sound is an edited version of the camouflage sound in the game Hide and Skink by @castle_hippopotamus

All other sounds are from the Scratch Library

Code: 100% by me

Writing: answers were 100% written by me

TYs to CJ, Moss, Alana, Alia, Reese, Moonlit, Rea, and Lunaly for helping me on this journey <3

Easter eggs:
The penguin is my penguin OC
August, September, and December have taylor swift lyrics on them
The postcards on the wall contain the the thumbnails of the cabins I’ve been in
The photo strip contains my pfps from each of those sessions
Saturn by sleeping at last was the music that I included in my July ‘22 leader app
This project was partly inspired by a sketch of cover art for Cornelia Street
The Blank Space music box was in my November ‘22 co-leader app, which is funny because I knew nothing about taylor swift back then, and I just picked it for its pretty music XDDD I’m in the process of memorising the lyrics for this song now, though <3
The thingy <3333 is the best we stan
The red book in the bookshelf is canonically the sketchbook of my November ‘22 co-leader app
The computer has an swc sticker on the lid, and the project that it is viewing is the very same one that you are
The lightsaber was featured in my November ‘22 co-leader app, and was almost the subject of a leader app itself
The penguin’s eyes turn red when you click the lightsaber hehe <33 the penguin does not like lightsabers being stolen ;D


And a million thank yous to you for reading through this app and making it all the way to the end of the credits. Thank you so much, and I hope you enjoyed my app. I certainly loved making it :>