I’m blessed with a vibrant community. I know many types of people who have a wide variety of interests and outlooks on life. My Facebook friends list tells the tale. Look closely and you’d see overlapping ripples of people who know each other in varying contexts.
There’s a core group of homeschool families, the Maine Wholeschoolers, who meet weekly (and often more frequently) for fun and learning. There is the wider group of homeschoolers in our geographical area of southern Maine, who stay connected by e-mail lists and share information about classes, play dates, and other events. I’m also part of an active online group of unschoolers who share an interest in alternative parenting and using the Law of Attraction in our lives.
My group of friends who were in the Unnamed Coven for several years still celebrate some of the Pagan holidays, along with getting together individually or in smaller groups. I’ve been active in the Maine Pagan community for two decades now, and I’ve met numerous people through my membership in groups and attendance at events. Some of these are the EarthTides Pagan Network, Spiral Scouts (some of whom also fit into the homeschool category), the Maine Pagan Clergy Association, Popham Beach Beltane, and more recently the Red Temple.
I’ve gotten to know several of the members of BlackLion’s Goth and SCA communities. These folks are very creative, strange and fun to hang out with. Some of them are also Pagan and/or homeschool their kids.
Add to that my family connections, their friends, and people I went to school with years ago – wow! What an amazing network of cool, creative and truly interesting beings. There are commonalities; most of them are liberal, arts-minded, progressive folks who like to read and value education. Which brings to mind yet another set of people – my former colleagues at MPBN, and the listeners and volunteers I got to know during my years working there.
As a writer, and a friend to artists, musicians, activists, actors, and others whose work involves sharing their creations with others, I see a huge potential for networking and sharing those creations (as well as information and other resources). I’m excited about the way things are going on the internet, with people connected through Facebook and similar social networking sites. Rather than the top-down method of broadcasting entertainment and information from the few to the many, do-it-yourself tools like YouTube and weblogs are enabling us to share our creativity to a wider circle, without having to wait until we get noticed by the “big” media guys.
Yes, I’d love to have my books picked up by a big publishing house and reach the New York Times best-seller list. And now I’m more empowered to work up to that by writing blog entries and articles, working with smaller publishing companies to help market my own projects, and coming up with an exciting website or e-mail newsletter that will spread virally through the appropriate niches on the internet. That’s what Mike Dooley created gradually with his “Notes from the Universe” e-mails, and his latest book hit the best-seller list practically the moment it was released.
I want to tap into that energy, and be able to share my work with those who would be most interested in it. That starts now, with you, the wonderful readers of this blog. Thanks for being here, and stay tuned!
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