Second Life Wrimos

One of the key factors of NaNoWriMo is the companionship between writers who are participating in the experience together. There is an active NaNoWriMo group in my old town, but not so far in my current town -- so I decided to start an online group in my virtual world. Thus was born the SL Wrimos.

As of this writing, the SL Wrimos are 45 members strong. These are all current Wrimos, participating in the 2007 challenge, who have joined the group in the past two weeks. Compared to the regional groups listed on the official NaNoWriMo web site, we stack up as a fairly decently sized crowd. (The regional groups listed on the official NaNoWriMo web site include new sign-ups, returning participants and dead wood -- participants from last year who are not participating in the challenge this year but have not yet been purged from the NaNoWriMo database. Remove the dead wood from the regional groups, and our little team of metaverse writers looks even bigger.)

The SL Wrimos are planning several different types of meet-ups in November to help us all help one another to achieve NaNoWriMo success. Meeting themes proposed so far include:

Downtime Dips - a chance to relax in my hot tub in a peaceful park setting and chat about anything but NaNoWriMo.

Koffee Klatches - a social get together in an in-world café where any topic (NaNo or not) goes.

Reading Circles - Wrimos read excerpts from their work-in-progress to the group. Group members provide positive feedback and comments. (Remembering that November is not the month to get too critical.) Authors may also wish to ask questions of the group regarding specific aspects of their stories.

Block Busters - suffering from writer's block? Explain your stumbling block to the team and we'll all brainstorm together ideas for a way out. (This could be a great creativity-inducing exercise for all Wrimos, not just those who are struggling with a block.)

Write-Ins - a staple of NaNo writing groups. Team members get together in-world for speed writing sessions and challenges and to cheer one another on for their progress during the session.

We also have members who are creating in-world builds and scripting cool gadgets dedicated to NaNoWriMo. There will be a NaNoWriMo school bus in the sLiterary sim which will track the combined word-count of all SL Wrimos, and I'm hoping to put together "titlers" which will enable SL Wrimos to proudly display their current individual word count above their avatar's head. Additionally, all SL Wrimos receive this fabulously stylish t-shirt upon joining the group:



(Now I know I've got you hooked because every avatar needs another free digital t-shirt!)

What are you waiting for? If you're participating in NaNoWriMo this year and you have a Second Life account, come and join us in-world for some NaNovelling fun and support. Look us up in search (Search -- Groups -- SL Wrimos) or IM Rainbow Drake for a group invite.

Write on!