How to THiNC…
How to ThiNC
Yesterday, my new book, How to THiNC, A Guide to Creating & Publishing a THiNC Book, was released in Second Life. The big release was tied into the companion seminar to the book, which…hopefully…helped other writers with their own goal of self-publishing in Second Life.
This is a new foray for me…electronic publishing…but, if yesterday’s comments and sales turn out to be more than simple platitudes, then it will be a lasting one.
How to THiNC grew out of a need, both for myself and my workshop members, to learn the process of publishing in the virtual world. THiNC is one of the few companies in Second Life to offer publishing tools, and really the only one who offers a first-life analogue (meaning their book looks and feels like a first-life book).
In teaching myself how to use the THiNC publishing system, I experimented with image sizes and resolutions, fonts and image-types, and word processors and graphics editors. I certainly wasn’t an expert before I began this process, but I’d like to think I became one along the way. That said, I’m sure that there is more I have to learn, and maybe even some things I got wrong, but the information in the book stands as a comprehensive overview of the whole process.
While I’m pleased at the reception the book has received, I’m very pleased with the turn-out at the seminar. While we didn’t quite “crash-the-sim,” we certainly filled it. The crowd wasn’t just members of my own workshop, either…the seminar drew in quite a few members of Third Life and FarPoint Media too. I think there were even a few people there who were drawn in by word-of-mouth, and not any association to my group at all!
Over 75% of the people attending the seminar purchased my book. To each of them, I say “Thank you.” I hope that you find it useful in helping you to make your own books.
How to THiNC wasn’t supposed to be my first book to be published in Second Life. That spot was meant to be reserved for Body Language. Before I could publish Body Language, though, I had to learn the publishing process. How to ThiNC grew out of that… Now that it’s done though, my focus returns to my now-second book. Hopefully you’ll see it in about four weeks from now!
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Oh, and the seminar has received its first review as well! Pamqui Vita wrote about the seminar and the book on his Spanish-language blog, Profesionales de la Información en Second Life.
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For those of you using Second Life who would like to find my workshop and my book, just follow the slurl to the F&SF Writer’s Workshop Storefront. It will be on display from October 15th onwards…
I’ve been quoted…
I’m a big fan of quotations. I even subscribe to a widget that sends me a couple of random ones each day. Usually they’re funny, or interesting, or thought-provoking. Sometimes they’re just plain dumb, or archaic — meaning that they’ve lost their meaning or context over time — but usually I find somthing of value within their brief insight.
A few weeks ago, I spoke at a writer’s convention about writer’s workshops. In my preamble, I offered a few insights into why workshops were necessary, or at least beneficial. Apparently, I said something therein that grabbed the interested of one of the listeners, because they took one of my passages and quoted me on their writer’s resource website.
When she informed me that she had posted the quotation, my mind flooded with thoughts: wow!; cool!; wait…; “my” quote?; what quote?; what did I say that was worth quoting? Well, I visited the site and found out exactly which passage had intrigued her.
Interesting enough, it was one that I didn’t think much of myself. Not because it’s not interesting, or even potentially quote-worthy, but because I didn’t think it was terribly original. In fact, at that precise moment, I feared that its originality might even be questionable.
Certainly, I knew it wasn’t plagiarized; I remembered writing it myself. I even remembered editing it twice to improve its flow and cadence. I even remembered changing where in the seminar it took place and tweaking it to fit its new home. But my mind nagged at me, that it couldn’t be worthy of a quote because someone, somewhere must have said something similar before me, or they must have written somthing along those lines where I had read it. I felt horrible, because if it wasn’t mine entirely, then I’d have to ask for it to be taken down and apologise.
Well, I Googled, I searched the quotation books, and I scanned every newsletter and book I could think of that may have offered the idea before me. And I couldn’t find a thing that even resembled the quote.
Woot!
Maybe it was the shock of having something I said posted out there as an insightful truism. Maybe it was my own self-doubt that I said anything profound or interesting enough to be quoted. Or maybe I just haven’t found that original reference and I’ll have to stand up and acknowledge that fact down the road.
Since I know I wrote it, edited it, and chose its context within the seminar. Since I can’t find any source that could have influenced the passage, even though I looked long and hard for it. Since I have no reason to believe that anyone but myself is responsible for its existence, I’ll humbly accept the honour and say thank you, Sherry, for finding something I said either interesting or insightful enough to share with others.
I still think that it’s a rather basic and obvious statement, but I do feel a certain pride in its simplicity and cadence. If others find something to like in it, then that makes me even happier.
I wonder what it says about my mind, though. When, along with being proud and flattered from the start, I also second-guessed myself and my words.
For those who are interested in what I said that warrants a spotlight, the exact line was:
“The written word only fulfills its destiny when it is read.”
You can find the website where it resides here, at the Scriptorium. I’m not sure how long it will remain there, but I’m touched, honoured, and a little scared that it appeared there at all…
First seminar was a success!
I’m pleased to say that my first speaking engagement at the Writer’s Convention last weekend went really well. I survived all of the pitfalls and problems that were likely to occur at a “First Annual” event, and which did indeed happen, and managed a respectable presentation. Or so I was told afterwards by people I trust to tell me otherwise, had I not.
A slow start due to a problem with seating meant I was a little rushed along the way to fit my time limit, but the faster pace didn’t seem to harm the content. I would have liked to go out to the audience and solicit questions along the way, but I just didn’t have the time until the end, and even then, only two or three were answered. I’ve been asked if I’d offer the seminar again, at a later date and a different venue, so perhaps I’ll have the chance to tweak things on take two.
For a first time, I’d say that I am pleased with how things went, though. The slides worked well, or so I was told, and all those little things I did to make myself look a bit more professional paid off. Which has earned me a few more speaking engagements, I think.
Beyond the chance to reoffer this seminar, I’ve already been scheduled for a second, on a different topic, and asked also if I would be willing to sit down and be interviewed. I’m not sure about the interview, as I’ve never been the topic of conversation before…at least, not to my knowledge — what happens around the water cooler, I’m sure I don’t know — but I’ll manage. It’s what I do 
Both events will help me market myself and my first Second Life book, which I expect will be published in early October. I’m looking forward to seeing the reaction it garners and have high hopes that it may actually succeed. Time will tell — and sales, of course…
My first convention as a speaker
I have been invited to speak at an upcoming writer’s convention in Second Life. I’m pretty proud of that, and a little more nervous than I’d like to admit.
You see, the headline Guest of Honour is Larry Niven. The NY Times Best Selling author of the Ringworld series, among others. There will be other writers and guests of course, and even some music and poetry, but Larry is the main draw, to be certain.
I’ll be speaking about how to set up a successful critique workshop within Second Life. I’ve learned a lot over the last nine months (has it really been nine months!?!) and much of it has to do with the differences between running a workshop in Second Life as opposed to first life. Heaven knows I’ve answered more than my fair share of questions from residents about my own workshop. My FAQ has grown substantially over the last while, so I figure that will be my starting point.
Kat Klaybourne (Kat Alderson inSL) will be following my seminar with a lecture on how to market your publications in Second Life. I’ll be paying close attention to this one, because I’ll be publishing my first book in Second Life shortly, but that deserves it’s own post.
For now, you’re more than welcome to join me at The First Annual Monogram Virtua Writers Convention on Saturday, August 30th. Just follow the link to the convention centre. The event begins at 11:00am SLT (that’s Pacific) and runs until sometime after 8:00pm. My speaking engagement runs from 4-5pm SLT.
Wish me luck!
Stepping into a new world…
This is me. Honestly, it is! Or perhaps I should say that this is my avatar in Second Life. All three of those statements are true, but some of them may take some explaining.
As I mentioned before, Second Life (SL) is a virtual world that rivals our own in terms of the myriad possibilities open to us. Really, the only limit is your own imagination.
Many “residents” of SL are happy to call it a game. It certainly shares many traits with MMORPGs already cramming the interwebs that waste untold man-hours every day, but the differences are what I want to focus on.
See…unlike the people who joined SL to play a game…I joined the community to learn and teach. I didn’t know much about the “game” aspect of SL. All I knew is that real-world people were using the program to connect with other people like me. Those of us stuck in the small towns, or the big ones, for that matter. Those of us who would benefit from a more diverse community than our home towns allowed.
In my “first life,” I was only able to attend writing seminars at annual conventions. Professional, and local, workshops were out of the question as well. Using SL, however, I am able to bridge the gap between my office desk and the industry professionals who can help me the most.
When I heard from Mike Stackpole that he was developing a free, writer-based community using Second Life, I had to check it out. With thoughts of easy access to workshops, networking possibilities with other industry professionals, and potential new-media publishing possibilities, I signed onto SL for the first time and found that most of my expectations were met.
Setting aside the fact that I was blown away by the scope of SL, I found that it offered a lot of potential for advancement within my targeted field of writing. There were industry professionals, there were writing groups, there was lots of marketing being done, but there was also room for improvement.
Mike had been working hard, not just marketing, but publishing inside SL as well. He had also begun the early-days of community-building with the founding of Third Life Books alongside his friend Kat Klaybourne. The Third Life concept was to bring first-life people into SL for the purpose of making something bigger than either of those individually (first life+second life=third life).
Nearly a year has passed, since those very early days, and Third Life has grown into a fully realised community. Third Life Books has now expanded to include FarPoint Media, a group of first-rate podcasts, Third Life Interiors, offering furniture for your virtual home, and various resources for the newly-minted resident.
I am happy to say that I also play a role in this new community. Not content to wait around for things to happen, I took the initiative and, with Mike’s and Kat’s help, began to organise the Fantasy & Science-Fiction Writer’s Workshop. The workshop is a real-world tool for real-life writers to meet, network, discuss, learn, and teach. This is a group of serious writers who, for one reason or another, have found that using SL as a learning tool works for them.
In future posts, I hope to tell you more about Third Life Books, the F&SF Writer’s Workshop, and my experiences in Second Life. For now, if you’re interested, you can check out our workshop bio by using the link at the top of the page, or just clicking here.
So, rather than think of SL as a game, I suggest you think of it as a tool. As with all tools, what you do with it is up to you.
What is Second Life?
…And why am I going to write about it so much?
Second Life is a virtual world that, at it’s most basic, is a glorified chat program. It’s also so much more than that, though.
Last December, Michael Stackpole sent out an invitation for all his ‘followers’ to visit him in Second Life. With promises of writer’s workshops and industry connections, I thought I’d check it out. What I found actually amazed me.
I had heard about Second Life before but, even in my tech-savvy brain, I didn’t realise how advanced the interface had become. Assuming you have a decent enough computer, the virtual world of Second Life is pretty close to our ‘first life.’ If you can do it in the real world, you can do it (or a close approximation) in Second Life (yes, even that). Oh yeah, and you can fly too. How great is that?
Well, with a bit of a learning curve, I stepped into a new world and all of the sudden I saw the possibilities for myself. Instead of being stuck in a small, suburban city, the world became available to me. Writers from around the world could interact in real-time, sharing their work, offering critiques, marketing themselves, and even promoting their ‘real-life’ work. It is a very powerful tool.
If you’d like to join me in Second Life, you can download the viewer here. Once you’ve gone through a short tutorial on how to get dressed and move about etc… you’ll be able to visit the rest of the world. I suggest you begin your visit at Third Life Books by following this link and clicking on Teleport Now. This is a newbie-friendly area for writers and readers alike. It is also where I run my writing workshop (more on that later).
Second Life will take a bit to learn, and you’ll likely find yourself upgrading from the free service to the ‘micro-economy’ model before long. Doing so lets you buy some nicer clothes, a better body for your avatar, and some hair that actually blows in the wind instead of something that looks like it was made with plasticine, but all are worth it.
If you’re like me, you’ll be building stuff and meeting new people in no time. If you’re lucky, also like me, you may also find that someone special and get married in your Second Life. But that’s also a story for later…
