Become a Second Life expert in just one year!

About a year ago I attended PodCamp Toronto. I was just getting started on the web 2.0 path and wanted to learn as much as I could about all things new and digital. I was a blank slate, ignorant but keen to meet folks who knew more than I did and absorb information.

Trust me, I am not overstating things when I say that my attendance at that first PodCamp Toronto would turn out to be a pivotal event in my life.

At that PodCamp I attended a session led by Jay Moonah on Second Life. I'd read about Second Life in various old-school print media, and I was curious. Jay's informal talk made Second Life sound so fun, so cool, and most of all, so easy, that I immediately signed up.

And the rest, as they say, is history. I've been in Second Life almost every week since then and I still find it a fascinating social and promotional tool. I came to work on the Monday after PodCamp yammering on and on about Second Life, to the point where my boss gave me the budget to hold some author events in Second Life in 07 and 08, possibly just to keep me quiet.

And now things have come full circle: I'm co-presenting a session on Second Life at this year's PodCamp Toronto! Amazing, from ignorant know-nothing to PodCamp presenter in just a year. Hopefully I can inspire one or two people to try out SL, just as I was inspired a year ago.

But that's not the only profound change in my life thanks to PodCamp -- in fact it's not even the most significant. At that SL session in 07, I introduced myself to the woman sitting next to me (as I am inclined to do at conferences; it's a bit out of character for an introvert like me but it's the best way to meet new people). We chatted a bit, and I learned that she was the brilliant Kathryn Lagden, then of AIMS Canada. I managed to sufficiently disguise my starstruckness so that through her I later had the privilege of meeting the awesome Kate Trgovac, and the equally awesome Eden Spodek -- who by the way will be my co-presenter this year! -- and I'm happy and proud to say that I now call all three of these wonderful, brilliant ladies my friends.

So... yay for PodCamp!!

Newbie forced to make time to update blog

Once again I find myself apologizing for a long absence from this blog. I haven't posted in so long because I've been so very very busy. My job has finally caught up with my hobbies, so instead of blogging for fun and killing time in Second Life, I've been blogging for work and spending loads of time in Second Life organizing and attending a series of author events.

Ok, so I did make some time for an After A Fashion outing in Second Life just before the holidays. We bought Xmas-y outfits from Total Betty and went skating:





Who would have thought that skating in Second Life was just as much fun as in real?

But after that I was all business, in Second Life every week in January with Deanna Raybourn, the charming author of Silent in the Sanctuary, doing a live-audio reading and Q&A, hosting a fabulous (and very well-attended) Victorian ball, and hosting a more intimate group of aspiring writers for a writing workshop. All of which required a collection of new, fancy, Victorian gowns for my avatar, but of course! A lady must never be underdressed.





All of which was way fun, but whew! Glad to get back to RL for a while!!