Currents of life have kept me away from Marcia’s resplendent lagoon lately, but I have drifted back today. I had resolved in the beginning of the year to get out a bit more than I am used to, so here I am and it is here that I will share some of my outings.

I was recently featured at Pure Haiku, one of my haiku being chosen to represent Freya’s theme of Ocean. That new association got me an invitation to participate in Freya’s Escape Pod Emulation. While I am not much for science fiction, the idea of being left alone in an escape pod was kind of appealing. (You’ll have to read her post in April to see what five items I take with me.) But in thinking about that escape pod I was led back to this post.

Don’t we all dream of alone time to read and write in, of having no interruptions? Yes, that e-pod does sound good, doesn’t it?

The metaphor commonly used isn’t e-pod, but island. I can tell you from personal experience that in filling out your wish fulfillment form, be clear that it be a deserted island, for an island is, somewhat ironically, more of a fishbowl. But if we were truly interested in being on a deserted island, we wouldn’t be reading and writing in the blogosphere, would we? If we are all islands, then the blogosphere is a series of bridges, or boats. No matter what we tell ourselves, we instinctively reach out to others, to give and to get help. Freya mentions that the E-Pod Emulations, a fun interview format, is a way to give back to the writing community.

Sound familiar? I am here at Marcia’s blog where her tag line is “writers helping writers”. Marcia has graciously featured me here at the Write Stuff and encourages my poetic leanings. I have been dabbling more with that genre lately, responding to various prompts from different blogs. Each place has its group of respondents who write and also read and reply to one another; I have yet to stumble upon an unfriendly place and am grateful to the individuals that host these groups of writers and provide the prompts that inspire me to lift a pencil.

So while alone time in an e-pod or a deserted island is attractive, and even necessary at times, we do all benefit from the support and camaraderie of one another.

Meanwhile… You may have seen festive balloons dancing in the blue skies over Carrot Ranch. They are celebrating more than the publication of the Volume 1 Anthology; Charli and her buckaroos are celebrating four years of what is a ballooning literary community that welcomes readers, writers and those interested in the discourse. This community dispels the myth of the insular lone wolf writer; they provide a pack, a tribe of like-minded people who want to try their hand at flash fiction. In the year since I stepped into the blogosphere via the Ranch I have learned and grown so much because of that community. I wouldn’t be much of anywhere without them and am proud to join in the celebration.

I am sure that we all celebrate the groups that we are a part of and the individuals that keep things going. We know that a comment is worth a hundred balloons. These celebratory balloons are markers, beacons for those who might want to reach out from the shores of their own island and share with others their writing, their thoughts, and their encouragement.

Thank you Marcia!