Interestingly Ellen Weber invited me to join her to write an article for Business Strategies Magazine, Rochester, NY. Since Ellen has published several books and articles, I leaped at the opportunity to write and publish jointly with someone who sees writing as art. At the MITA Center, Ellen and I enjoy many brainstorming sessions in our work, so I was really curious to know how this could stretch this to writing.
Collaborative writing has unique possibilities and challenges. Possibilities doubled what we each brought to the table: different perspectives, extraordinary experiences, and unique educational backgrounds. Ellen is a published author and at this point I consider myself an apprentice. Challenges could have loomed if Ellen had taken the lead, but with great integrity, she kept the whole project on equal footing. In the end, I believe her generosity made the project more than ordinary.
Challenges included organizing ideas to best advantage, keeping flow through one unified voice, deciding who would write initial pieces, and polishing to connect well to our audience. We pounded these out in give and take sessions. Compromise is key for a unified vision to emerge.
How does genuinely successful collaboration work in writing for publication? In my mind, collaboration demands skill, respect, responsibility, trust, risk, and a few good laughs.
To find balance in this piece, I asked Ellen, “In your mind is collaborative writing beneficial?” I was really surprised as she responded, “No, not always. Writing is a very private skill and not one I am able to share very easily. One person recently approached me and I felt it would not work well for me or for him. Collaborative writing works only if skills are matched, there is common vision, a general feeling of trust and good will.”
Ellen continued to elaborate, “Writing is not just about the linguistic. It is art and is deeply intrapersonal. It takes me to fragile places and then leads me deeper into mystique. I write to know. I do not write because I know, but because writing helps me find out. That’s why I don’t tend to like writing with others. It can happen, but it is very rare.”
Now she paused and changed pace, “When there is an exception, writing is more fun, it surprises you by joy, and a rainbow emerges as new ideas come bursting forth in colors that play with the sun. Whether it’s one or two authors, the writing process is similar -- you do the same linguistically, but it is also different. When you write together, new answers emerge and the tributaries move you into new spaces. Once flow comes -- answers follow -- and it is a delightful adventure.”We began by brainstorming and asking “How could MITA brain based strategies help us find solutions in Rochester’s struggling economy?” Ellen and I jotted each down initial ideas. We then agreed to keep some and toss others. With the “keepers” we developed a rough outline. We divvyed up initial writing. We made choices and exchanged back and forths and dropped the fog.
I tended to free write first, circle any gems. And polish the piece. Questions led the way.
We met, exchanged pieces and complimented each other’s contributions. At this point I thought her words were very generous. Throughout the process we encouraged each other. At this point we exchanged our pieces so that each of us could polish one another’s.
Finally we worked on transitions and then checked to see if our introduction and opening sentence would hook readers. The last check was to see if we had great bookends. That is, does the conclusion close what was opened in the introduction? When all of pieces were polished and framed as one and headings added, we were ready to submit. Here are the results.Thanks, Dr. Ellen Weber, for willingness to share your writing space and teach me so much more about writing, generosity, art and life.
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