Thursday, August 9th, 2007, 11:32 p.m.

DAY ONE OF AUTHOR QUEST!

Weather: Some sun, some clouds, temps in the mid 80s.

First thing I saw this morning as the sun was coming up was a HUGE moth! I put my sunglasses next to him so you can see just how big he is . . .

Lake Ocqueoc in the morning . . .

Relaxing by one of my favorite spots . . .

The youngest Chiller reader in the camp!

Authors began arriving shortly after nine this morning . . .

Arm wrestling?!?!? Hey . . . it was just for fun!

Cole got right into the groove early, and started a new story right after lunch . . .

A short chat near the lake. The name 'Ocqueoc' means 'sacred'. I explained this to our authors, and asked them to respect the land the same way our Native Americans have done.

Logan isn't having any fun at all . . .

Campers look on as Reggie the water snake makes an appearance . . .

One of our visiting authors, David LaRochelle, chats with Destiny.

Harper wasted no time in getting to know her surroundings. She captured this frog in record time!

Bri says 'Hi Mom and Dad!'

Cole is a writing maniac . . .

Astra found a baby water snake . . .

. . . and she caught him!

Playing in the water . . .

Author Dr. Mike chats with Cole

Kailyn was busy writing most of the afternoon . . .

David LaRochelle hanging at one of my favorite spots. Glad to have you with us, David!

Reggie the giant water snake made another appearance (actually, I know where he lives. I asked him to come out for a photo op!)

Around the campfire, several authors had the opportunity to share some of their writing . . .

We wrapped up our evening with S'mores (too dark for pictures!)

I must say that I am VERY impressed with everyone we've met. I think the coolest part about this camp is that we have so many writers with different styles. These are people who have been writing and working hard . . . but, most importantly, they LOVE what they do. That's what this camp is about.

All for today. Day two (Friday) will have some cool surprises that we haven't told anyone about (not even our campers!) . . . but you can see and read all about it on this site!

Best wishes from Author Quest-