Prompt:  Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

Online community was the bounty of  both 2009 and 2010. In 2009 I met my co-author on Twitter and in 2010 I met dozens of American and Canadian motorcylists on Facebook.

Joining Conga for the Cause, a Facebook group of motorcyclists raising money to benefit breast cancer research and treatment, I strapped a pink bra across my windshield en route to meet my co-author in Oregon from my home in Charlotte, NC.

That pink bra made me quite the road attraction. People everywhere wanted their picture with the bike and wanted to tell me stories of their battle with cancer or a sister, or mother’s brush with the disease. I sometimes wonder if the bra wasn’t a good luck charm…

Writing is necessarily a solitary process, but I have more extroversion in my nature than most writers. In the coming year I want to come into community with other writers and media professionals.  A couple of years ago I reached out to two other business writers in Charlotte because I wanted to break down my natural tendency to mistrust competitors. I’m so glad I did. We’ve helped each other with projects and given each other referrals and I’m happy to call them my friends.  Writing is interdependent with other aspects of media. I need to understand MY larger industry, which  includes photography, video, sound, graphics, distribution/syndication, etc. I have friends in these disciplines (some of them are motorcyclists !) but I will be more intentional about cultivating relationships with a wider sphere in addition to going deeper with those I already know.

On a private level, I am fortunate to be in community with two artists. We meet a couple of times a month and support each other professionally, personally and spiritually. Like me, these two friends see that life is a spiritual path trod with physical feet. I treasure our sacred time together.