From my garden last May – and the spring to look forward to.

Yesterday I had to cancel a work party of my local Conservation Group, due to the sodden conditions and weather and it led me to thinking about how so many of my neighbours join together to celebrate our common interest in preserving the heritage of the area where we have made our homes.

We are all ages, shapes and sizes and backgrounds, but we come together with a common passion. We are a community. And I have the honour of calling many of them my friends.

We give the most precious commodity we have to the common good – our time and energy.

It did make me consider the nature of the communities where we spend our lives. One of the most important for me has been – and very much still is- the community of romance writers and readers who I meet virtually every single day.  My life would not be as rich and rewarding without that very special interaction, and to be honest, as a work from home entrepreneur, I spend more time ‘talking’ to people online than people I meet face to face.

I think the word community comes from two greek words meaning ‘coming together’ and ‘gift’.  The gift of coming together – I rather like that.

Where ever you are I wish you a peaceful and safe and above all healthy 2013 in the warmth of your community.

Love. Nina.