Computers are an excellent way to communicate factual information, but when exchanging creative ideas, I have found that face-to-face conversation (which involves eye contact, laughter and an inordinate amount of flailing of arms) is the most productive way to work with a writing partner.
When my friend, Lynne Alpern and I decided to collaborate on OH, LORD, I SOUND JUST LIKE MAMA, we encountered a major problem. Our sons were in nursery school and that only gave us 4 hours of meeting time. We didn’t live close to each other, and working at home involved too many interruptions. One writer we knew was blessed with 4 children. She worked in a closet in her home, but no closet was big enough for the two of us. Consequently, we had to find a workspace. McDonalds was the perfect solution. The coffee was cheap, the music was soft and the restroom was clean. So, for a year, we worked on our book, sitting at the same little corner table at our McDonald’s office. If someone had the nerve to take our space before we arrived, we’d glare at him until he left.
I knew we had it made the day the phone rang and the manager shouted, “Writers, there’s a call for you!” Then one day when we arrived at the office, we noticed a big change. The old manager was gone. If the new manager said, “Good Morning,” we didn’t hear him, because the place rocked with music so loud that it made our table jump. The next day, we dressed up in fancy clothes and moved to our new office---a remote corner in the lobby of the elegant JW Marriott Hotel.
The coffee bar was more expensive, but the restroom had linen towels. Since we dressed properly and carried brief cases, people assumed that we were guests at the hotel, and no one bothered us. Unfortunately, our cover was blown the day that Atlanta Magazine ran an article and a photo of us at the office.
Happily, the boys were promoted to full-day kindergarten, and our book was far enough along that we could finally work at home. Of course, there was the day that we had to compare notes in order to meet a deadline. Surreptitiously, we moved a toilet paper display at Kroger’s in order to sit on their shelf, but that’s another story.
Esther Blumenfeld (knock before entering the closet)