Second Life Resources: The NaNoShrine & NaNoCafe

For those of y'all with accounts in Second Life (or who are considering creating a free account, creating an avatar, and exploring a virtual world!), here's a resource you'll want to make note of:

NaNoShrine and NaNoCafe - Inworl, sLiterary (113, 170, 26)
SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/sLiterary/113/170/26
Associated Groups: "NaNoWriMo SL", "SL Wrimos"

(To join a group: Use SL's "search" interface, choose the "groups" tab, and enter the name of the group you want. Pull up the group's info/profile via the button in the search results. Use the "Join Group" button on the group info main page.)

When you teleport to the NaNoShrine and NaNoCafe location, you're standing in an outdoor lounge area made to look like a giant book laying open upon a ground made of giant crumpled up sheets of paper. You can lounge in the armchairs there and just take a break...

...or you can turn around and enter the NaNoCafe. This is a little diner, sort of Waffle House style, with booths and a counter. Laptops are available to type at--just right-click on one of them and choose "Type!" from the radial menu. Your avatar will sit down in front of that computer and start typing at it.

(If you want an animated laptop of your own, to "wear" such that you can be typing on a laptop anywhere in SL, talk to group member Ina Infinity. Or talk to me in-world - she gave me one, and I can give you a copy.

Outside is a red block with two "timers" attached to it. (Actually, these are counters. About that, more in a moment.) This is the interface for the NaNoWriMo SL Word Count Database! Click it, then simply speak your current word count into Local Chat within the next 60 seconds. This will do several things:

* It will add your word count to the overall progress of the group of people using it, allowing the two "clocks" to be updated--one shows average words per author, and the other shows the total words of the whole group (in 100,000s).

* It will automatically TWEET your word count update! Check it out: http://twitter.com/vwnanowrimo

* It will update your word count personally, so that if you are wearing the "SL Participant Word Count on Head - 2009" object, it will show anyone looking at your avatar how awesome you are in terms of words!

(Where do you get this magic Word-Count-On-My-Head object? Just click the small yellow box with the NaNoWriMo Shield Logo that's sitting in between the two big counters, and accept the notecard it gives you. There are links in that notecard to get you landmarks and the word count object.)

Update often! Apparently, there will be daily prizes. And if you cross that 50,000-word finish line, your avatar name will be added to the NaNoShrine, which stands behind the lounge area and joyfully proclaims the names of the 2008 and 2007 winners.

Also, if you join one or both of the groups listed above, you'll get notified of any events--parties, write-ins, you name it. And the "Word of the Day" will be delivered to you via group notification, just in case you'd like the extra challenge of working that word into your day's writing. (Day 1's word was "predilection." Day 2: "disassociate." I have not seen a Day 3 word come through yet.)

Happy exploring, and see you in SL!
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nicole j. leboeuf : actually writing blog
IM: vortexae (AIM, Yahoo), vortexae at hotmail dot com (MSN)
Puzzle Pirates: Millefleur on the Viridian Ocean
Second Life: Kavella Maa