Lisa, how did you go out and gather these people? What if we wanted to try this?

I was feeling a lost when BellaOnline first began with all the trillions of things I had to do - managing servers, recruiting editors, writing the code etc. and had nobody to talk with about any of it. So I grabbed my local chamber of commerce directory and literally went through it looking for women contacts at tech companies. I went to their webpages and figured out which ones were actually the sole owners of their own tech business. Then I emailed them to ask if they'd like to get together for drinks or dinner and chat.

I met up with one woman, then two, then we three met, and then we began to add in others. We have about 10 of us which is really too much for one dinner - but usually a few can't make it so it's about 6 at a time which is perfect. It means we all get to talk, we all share our challenges and we all get solutions from each other. It's incredibly supportive.

So it's something you grow one by one. Think about what your goal is with this group. In depth conversations about life? People to hike with? Then figure out how to reach that target group and start with just one-on-one little meetings so you build the core group.

Especially with your website, you could think up pretty much ANY niche, ask if someone wants to meet for dinner to talk about X and see who responds

Lisa. As you can see because of my delay in reading the posts, I'm stayng busy but PEACEFUL! Part of being at peace involves taking things slow sometimes.

The books I want to write/finish writing:

a) Nonfiction The Life Message Scrapbook which is actually written and I'm doing the first edit now. I would like this to be the Ebook I put online. I also want to do some springboard articles for magazines from the book.

b)I'm 30,000 words into a novel and shelved it because my protag went off my outline, and now I have to rewrite the outline because that's how I write. In the meantime, I'm working on a fictional family history book.

c)A nonfiction book on teaching special needs. I homeschooled my SN son for 3 years and learned a ton. Currently working on my "SimplySpecial" website as a place to collect everything.

It's a lot to concentrate on, but the Life Message ebook is the priority for now.

Thanks for helping me zone in on what I'm really doing.

Lisa, are you talking about the Crestline Living website or one of my others?

Hmmm, i would have to think about my goal with a group of this sort would be. I am really intrigued by this idea!

BettyAnn, you have some amazing sounding projects in the pipeline! It also sounds like you are making forward progress on them, for the most part. And you are so right, staying peaceful is an important part of it all.

If you get a moment to post of picture of your Zen dance dance area, I'd love to see it Lisa!

I would love a room with huge windows looking into a view and forest, with a bamboo floor, a buddha statue, an altar and low bench for relaxing, and enough room for two people to do yoga together. Maybe with some orchids. I also have this fantasy that there will be large rocks in the room - boulder sized, even. To sort of have a zen garden without the sand.

very wabi-sabi style.

Athena, those are good goals. Getting a house is exciting - a lot of research and work, but all fun (if you enjoy house hunting, which I do).

It sounds like your credit situation is well in hand. Good for you! Also congrats on the weight loss!

It sounds like your next step with the travel goals is to look at some travel books and travel sites and narrow down where you really want to go in this 5 year time span, and of course to set aside an account to add money to for funding the trips. Do you want to do a trip where you see a lot of places at once, or a trip where you pick one country and get to know it?

Bettyann - those sound like awesome books! It sounds like you have a good collection of things to work on so when one gets stalled you can just move along to one of the other ones. Do you have any challenges in the writing process, or is it pretty smooth?

Jill in terms of gathering a local group I was thinking about your local website! It is the ideal place to talk about that sort of goal. Take it one person at a time, and it'll grow from there

That makes sense, so yes that's my Crestline Living site. I actually have someone I invited to and went to dinner with - my realtor, who is my first official friend in the area. [Yay! I have a friend! ]

Once I have my site the number one hit for Crestline searches, then I want to gather some more people, make some business cards to leave at various places (i guess I could order the cards now, to have them in hand when i am ready) and think about a good group of local women to meet up with.