Confluence

Nostos Deer

Trains are fascinating. The other day, I watched a webcam of a train traveling through amazing landscapes. The tunnels were the best. I finally saw the proverbial light, yep. That made me chuckle. I hardly ever spotted anyone though. Except that one time when a man was throwing another off a balcony. I wonder if anyone else noticed that. Well, the video wasn't live. It was a live broadcast of a recorded trip, whatever that means. Nothing I could do. I wonder if that man is alive. The confluence of circumstances is tough sometimes. But trains are indeed absolutely fascinating.

100 Word Stories

Milk Wood Renewed

Milk Wood was founded by Harriet Gausman in 2007 and is the home of the Virtual Writers group in Second Life.

It has been my writing home since 2012, when I started writing on a regular basis after my Real Life took a tumble.

We all know how impermanent Second Life is. However, twelve years later, Milk Wood is very much alive and kicking.

Daily writing sessions, classes, get-togethers and the occasional party, not to mention the participation in Camp NaNoWriMo (in April and June) and NaNoWriMo (in November) during which there are a lot of workshops, writing sprints and scrimmages (word wars).

At the moment, we have several daily writing sessions (at 1am, 6am, 8am, 6pm), a weekly poetry writing session (Saturdays at 9am), and a weekly class on Speculative Writing (Thursdays at 2pm). All times are SLT.

The sim was recently upgraded from a homestead to a full sim. That meant that it could be fully revamped. Harriet worked very hard, for more than a month, to turn it into an even more amazing place than it was before.

When we stroll around, it is very clear that the sim was created by someone who writes as well. Every little detail is a resource we can use for our writing, every sound, every color, every shape.

Apart from the different social areas, where anyone can sit down and write or simply chat, there are a number of houses, cottages, huts that we can rent to help support the sim. As Harriet states in the Rental Covenant notecard, "We do not seek to profit by Milk Wood, but are obliged to cover the high sim costs through rentals."

And last Sunday, we had the relaunch party! It was a lot of fun to see familiar faces and new faces as well. Great music, great people, lots of smiles and fireworks.

Now, back to work!

Feel free to drop by for a visit. Milk Wood is open to all. Walk around and explore the different social areas and, why not, grab a seat with us and do a bit of writing!

Why Can't You Be More Like Your Sister?

The Tower by Rebeca Bashly

Kneel and don't move.

Be obedient and don't move.

Smile and don't move.

Never answer back and never look up.

Look down and never up.

Do this. Do that. And never look up.

I'm unique. I'm beautiful.

Why can’t you be more like your sister? Why?

Look at her. So unique and beautiful. She looks up and never down.

She's independent and smart. She is everything everyone would like to be.

But not you. No, not you. You can't. You won't.

Kneel and don't move.

You'll never be your sister. Never.

I'm unique and so beautiful, just like my sister.

100 Word Stories

Kill

NeverlandX

The innkeeper tossed some logs in the fireplace. The room was warm enough but being slightly warmer always made people drink more. More drinking meant more money. And he needed a lot of money. He was desperate to rescue his daughter. He considered telling everyone. But he didn't. If he told them, he'd go to Hell. He had crossed the line before when he and the blacksmith's wife... Well...

What the innkeeper didn't suspect was that the blacksmith knew how to drive one of those things that had landed in his back yard. And his daughter... She was already dead.

100 Word Stories

Wordy

Home

The little mouse grabbed a book.

It's nice, isn't it? To dive into a story and enjoy it. Yes, he loved books!

“The red doesn't match your white fur coat though,” he whispered to himself. “Don't lick your finger to turn the page, you idiot! Look what you've done. The page is all... You've killed something again. Yes, you did.”

So, he ripped a few pages off.

Humans are strange beings. They keep all these books on shelves. Why? At least he used them to wipe his paws clean... after reading the stories. No need for those words anymore!

100 Word Stories

Camp NaNoWriMo April 2019

Camp NaNoWriMo is fast approaching and it's time to start preparing for it.

This year, I'll revise the story I wrote last November during the NaNoWriMo. I'll use the method I've been learning about at the Novel Revision classes, a course taught by Verona Lorgsval (Second Life name), Victoria Lynn Osborne (in Real Life).

My story is called Just Before Dawn and it's a thriller/mystery.

A partially burnt body is found in the woods near a half-abandoned commercial area. Sal, a former police detective turned private investigator whose office is located at the commercial area, decides to snoop around. Things take a bad turn when the police start asking her some strange questions.

I'm not much of a graphics/image person, but I have been working on a tentative cover. And this is what I came up with.

I think it's OK. So, for now, I'll stick to this one.

Photo courtesy of Marcelo Silva. Click the link to see the original. I kept the tones/colors/framing/etc. and edited it by adding a layer with orange splashes to the right and the title/author name.

26 days until revising begins!

Bob's Ticket

Milk Wood

Bob hated sitting at the tickets' booth.

For some reason he couldn't understand, whenever it was his turn to sell tickets, there was a drop in sales. He was so frustrated. It wasn't his fault that half of his ribcage was showing, as a matter of fact, half of his whole skeleton.

When he joined the Side Show Carnival, everyone was amused because one side of him was kind of missing. It seemed fitting. 

However, when sales dropped, they got angry and sent him abroad for plastic surgery. He never came back. He is now happily married to an osteologist.

100 Word Stories

(PICK TWO: bob, stitch, eaten, pittance, delete, trumpet, rib cage, ticket, Ziegler)