Our June 2026 offerings are officially here!

June 1- 5 ALL GENRE Short Stories Camp, 9AM – 12PM

June 1 – 5 Graphic Novel Camp, 1PM – 4PM

The week of June 1-5 we’ll have a morning camp for ALL GENRE SHORT STORIES! This writing camp will be great for elementary and middle school writers who are interested in telling a short story in ANY genre! This includes:

Realistic Fiction

Historical Fiction

Science Fiction

Fantasy Fiction

Personal Narrative

This camp is PERFECT for the writer bustling with imagination! During the week we’ll be writing a number of short stories in a variety of genres, learning from short stories we love, and unlocking the power of revising to make our writing as strong as possible. Each writer will leave with a camp printed anthology collecting our writing for the week! This camp will meet 9 AM to 12 PM at Mayflower Congregational Church. Sign up here. $250

We’ll also offer a June afternoon camp from 1 PM to 4 PM on GRAPHIC NOVELS! Have a writer who also loves to draw and create? We’ll take a deep dive into creating characters, learning some basics on illustration, creating thumbnails, and lettering. All along the way we’ll focus on developing stories with strong structures. We’ll explore all sorts of genres while working to create a finished short graphic novel in a week. This session takes place June 1-5 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM at Mayflower Congregational Church. Sign up here. $250

All camps are intended for students in 3rd through 6th grade, but we’ll always consider a student who’s really interested in writing!

Both camps are hosted by local elementary teacher Tim Saunders. Tim is a 5th grade teacher and former instructional coach in a West Michigan public school with over 20 years experience as a teacher and educator. Additionally, Tim is a guest lecturer at the University of Michigan-Flint, Grand Valley State University, and Western Michigan University. He’s also a past-president of the Kent Reading Council, member of the National Writing Project, Teacher Consultant of the Lake Michigan Writing Project, a four-time attendee of the Teachers College Summer Writing Institute at Columbia University, a presenter at the annual National Council of Teachers of English conference, and a published writer and journalist. Prior to earning his teaching degree, Tim completed a Film and Video degree from Grand Valley State University. Tim has also worked on a few local films with national distribution, as well as hosting video clubs during his elementary teaching career.