writers resources

Writing a “First Life” Novel in Second Life

by Joan Kremer on November 23, 2010 · 0 comments

in Benefits of SL,Places for writers

It’s the virtual writing world squared: the mostly virtual National Novel Writing Month extravaganza, coupled with the totally virtual Second Life NaNoWriMo writers! As NaNoWriMo winds down, hundreds of thousands of words have risen counters at the NaNoWriMo website and at writers’ gatherings throughout SL (including the Milk Wood Gypsy Camp for writers, shown in the [...]

Tagged as: Bookstacks, Milk Wood, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, Story Mountain Center for Writers, writers resources, Written Word

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2 New Publication Opportunities for Writers in Second Life

by Joan Kremer on January 6, 2010 · 2 comments

in Opportunities,Places for writers

Second Life writers have been brewing up a storm of writing activities lately – both for publication and to support the writing process. While I’ve been wandering about the ruins of Ancient Egypt the past month (subject of a coming post) and wading through the frenzy of holiday time back home in the U.S., my friends [...]

Tagged as: Blue Angel Landing, Blue Angel Poets' Dive Bar, Milk Wood, Poetry, virtual writing community, writers resources, writing contest

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Where to Meet Many of the ‘AWE’some Writers, Publishers, & Resources in Second Life

October 13, 2009

For nearly two years, I’ve been talking about all the great resources for writers in the virtual world of Second Life.  Here’s your chance to see for yourself – in one easy trip to the annual Autumn Writers Exposition. For the third year in a row, the folks at the awesome Written Word organization in [...]

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How Can Writers Make Money in Second Life? Let Me Count the Ways…

September 28, 2009

I get asked this question a lot:  Can a writer actually make any money in Second Life? If I’m busy or have had a tough day, I may respond with another question:  “Can a writer make any money in any life?” Cynicism toward the publishing industry aside, usually I answer, “Yes, of course they can,” [...]

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Just for Writers: Free, Weekly Open Mic & Support Group in Second Life

September 14, 2009

One of my favorite activities each week in Second Life is the Monday “Writers Symposium” I host at Story Mountain Center for Writers. The symposium is rather a fancy name for what we do, but it’s a convenient term for this weekly meeting where writers gather, read their work to the others attending, and then, [...]

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How a Successful Author in First Life Supports Aspiring Authors in Second Life

September 9, 2009

Most Wednesday evenings find me with a handful of other writers in a comfy, living-room setting, where we talk and laugh with, and get advice from a writer whose career is way ahead of mine:  an author of more than 40 published novels (at least eight of which have been New York Times bestsellers) and [...]

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Great Virtual Resource for Writers: Twitter Chats

August 25, 2009

I used to have a love-hate relationship with Twitter. I loved it because I met fascinating people and learned things I’d never hear about otherwise.  I hated it because it could swallow whole every moment of my free time. But ever since this weekend, the “love” part has vastly overtaken the “hate” part.  That’s because [...]

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How Second Life Helped Me Lose Weight, Fly Above My Fears, & Advance My Writing Career

August 14, 2009

Introducing the newest scientifically-based weight-loss program (drum-roll, please):  Hanging out in the virtual world of Second Life! Before you laugh yourself blind, let me say I’m telling you this in all seriousness.  One of the recent news stories making the rounds of the mainstream media is an article reporting on a study that shows SL [...]

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The New Way for Authors to Meet Readers & Promote Books: Virtual Book Tours

August 11, 2009

Reactions ranging from slight suspicion to accusations of insanity greet me when I discuss all the great writing-related stuff in Second Life with both authors and readers unfamiliar with virtual worlds. So then I ask authors: Want to meet your readers?  Introduce your books to even more readers?  And never have to leave your home? [...]

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How Writers Are Using Second Life to Find Audiences & Readers

July 24, 2009

Imagine this scenario: You’re an unpublished, unknown playwright and you’ve just written a play that you believe needs to be staged. Your income is commensurate with most writers’ – i.e., not a lot. And you don’t have rich friends or family who might fork over the tens of thousands of dollars needed to [...]

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Want Help Writing a ‘Fib’?* Talented Poets in Second Life Have You Covered

July 9, 2009

* Or another short poem I do not consider myself a poet.  Oh, I’ve written poetry – some of it’s even been published or won (minor) awards.  But I can go for years without writing a single line. Nevertheless, I studied a lot of poetry in college, and thought I at least knew the primary [...]

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Do Writers Have a Role in the Future of Virtual Worlds?

June 25, 2009

I asked a question of a few people who are mostly ignorant of the existence of Second Life:  What would you expect to see at an exposition on the future of virtual worlds on the Internet? After they got past the guffaws or confusion or outright indignation (e.g., “Who do you think I am – [...]

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One More Reason Second Life’s Good for Writers: Bookstacks

June 18, 2009

The writing community in Second Life continues to amaze me!  At a literary gathering yesterday, I had the pleasure of being with a couple dozen writers who came together to listen to and applaud the winners of a flash fiction contest I helped organize and judge.  The contest part of it was extremely hard for [...]

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Second Life Condenses Time, Expands Resources for Writers

April 25, 2009

Second Life collapses time.  Case in point: my almost-lifelong effort to find or start a writers’ group for sharing and feedback. For creative writers, the value of sharing their writing with other writers and getting feedback, support, and helpful critique is immeasurable.  Some writers even say it’s essential for getting published.  Whether that’s true or [...]

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WITVS Blogger & ‘Queen’ of SL Poets Go ‘Off the Shelf’ & On the Air

March 26, 2009

The exciting new radio talk show about the literary scene in Second Life, Off The Shelf, will air its second program this Sunday, March 29, featuring perhaps the most well-known SL literary figure/writer/poet, Persephone Phoenix, and one of the newer SL writing-scene bloggers, yours truly, as my SL avatar Alas Zerbino. Off The Shelf is [...]

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Story Quest & More Exciting ‘Firsts’ for Writers in SL

March 13, 2009

I’ve been fighting that Big, Bad Time Monster lately — trying to juggle my income-producing work … with revising my novel … with attending an increasing number of great writers’ events in Second Life … with blog-writing … with everything else in life … blah, blah, blah. And as they say in that great movie, [...]

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A Writer’s Guide to Learning About Second Life (Part 2)

February 19, 2009

Welcome back! I hope you’re finding Second Life half as intriguing as I do!   In Part 1 of this series, I described these six steps that helped me — and I hope can help you — in Second Life: Learn a little about Second Life before you enter this virtual world. Sign up for Second [...]

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The Story Trail in SL: A Magical Experience for Creative Writers

February 1, 2009

When’s the last time you combined a walking meditation in a  lush, serene natural setting with a creative writing session?  Where you didn’t have to worry about cold, heat, rain, snow, mosquitoes, gnats, or any other bothersome aspect of nature. Where all you had to concentrate on was your writing and the gorgeous surroundings? For [...]

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‘Ketchup’: Updates on SL Writing Events, Resources, Contests

January 12, 2009

“Serving ketchup” is what members of my oldest email chat group call it when we write a post that tries to “catch up” with the conversations we’ve been neglecting.  So here’s the first WRITERS IN THE (virtual) SKY “ketchup” post! Update on the SL Events for Writers Calendar Slowly, but surely, all the busy writers [...]

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Help! I’m an Introverted Writer in an Extraverts’ World!

October 5, 2008

Methinks it used to be far easier to be an introverted writer.  And since 95 percent of writers are introverted (according to Ursula LeGuin), me-double-thinks it used to be a whole lot easier to be a writer, period! Writers today have to be almost as expert at the extraverted skills of marketing and sales as [...]

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One Writing Competition in Second Life You Can’t Lose

September 14, 2008

What writer’s toolbox does NOT include that basic implement we call the writing prompt?  For many of us, a writing prompt is equivalent to the common hammer or screwdriver.  It’s ubiquitous, useful for just about any construction or repair job, and often works better than a bucket-load of more sophisticated tools. Entrance to the headquarters [...]

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Why in the World Did I Start this Blog???

August 16, 2008

Did you know that there’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 million to 200 million blogs today? So why in heaven’s name would I want to become blogger No. gazillion-and-one? Good question—and one a writer/blogger friend asked of other bloggers. She invited us each to write a post on own own blog about how we [...]

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9 Inworld Writing Markets for Publication Credit & (usually) Payment

August 11, 2008

If you’re a writer of any kind or genre—fiction, poetry, journalism, creative nonfiction, etc.—you’ll be happy to hear about the many potential markets for your work in Second Life —way too many to list in a single article, in fact! In this post, I focus on a periodical market that’s distinctively Second Life and the [...]

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Second Life Experiences: As Real As Your Brain Thinks!

July 15, 2008

“Joan, you’ve gone too far!” my First Life writer friend said after reading point 4 from my previous post. “You can’t tell writers they can learn to fly—or whatever!—by watching a cartoon avatar move around on a computer monitor!” Thankfully, we were on that old-fashioned social-networking device called the telephone, so he didn’t see my [...]

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7 Second Life Ways to Give Your Writing a Boost

July 10, 2008

Yeah, I know—writers are supposed to chain their butts to the seats of their writing chairs if they want to achieve real literary success. But it’s the rare writer (Emily Dickinson is one of the few who come to mind) who can thrive solely in the airspace between the fingertips and the keyboard (or [...]

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The A to Z of My Birth Into Second Life

July 5, 2008

I know I’m not a cat because I’m still alive after decades of following my curiosity into a vast assortment of situations–some good, some not-so-good. That’s how I got to Second Life, too. I’m always on the lookout for what’s new. What’s new out there? In there? Beyond here and there? And so [...]

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The Key to a Good Second Life: Become a Groupie

July 1, 2008

As a jaded, know-it-all teen and young adult in the ’60s and ’70s, I smirked self-righteously whenever I met a groupie: you know, those star-struck teeny-boppers who swooned at the mere sight of Mick Jagger or fought their way to the front at a Beatles concert and screamed and fainted as John, Paul, George, [...]

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Grrr…. Or, How Second Life Saves Me Time, Money, and Anguish

June 27, 2008

I live within driving distance of a terrific writers’ resource: The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. The Loft offers great classes, workshops, and author presentations, and makes it easy to find a peer group for that ongoing support and critique so key to writing success. I’m a long-time Loft member and have utilized their resources [...]

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A Writer in Wonderland

June 26, 2008

A kid in a candy store! Yeah, I know it’s a cliche, but sometimes those are the only ways to describe something. And I’d never felt more like a kid surrounded by all the free candy I wanted — or like Alice in only the best parts of Wonderland — than I did [...]

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