This week ended up being a good reminder on the value of collaboration.

It started off Monday with a presentation for Mrs. Toombs’s summer school writing class (thanks for having me back this year!), which was awesome because those kids are full of so many creative ideas and so excited about them.

I love getting to talk writing, of course, but I know what the students really look forward to is the chance to workshop their ideas. Depending on where they are in their process, some of them have plot or character outlines to show me, some of them have pages for me to read, and some of them have ideas that they’re just spitballing to see if they really want to put them down on paper yet, but they’re all excited to test their ideas to see if they can push them to the next step. Hopefully, I was able to give them some helpful pointers and encouragement to do just that!

But beyond the little bit of technical advice I could offer, I could see how much it helped to simply be able to share their ideas with someone new. Though it might not seem like much, sometimes all you need is to bounce your ideas off someone to build your excitement to get (or keep) a project going.

Later in the week, I had a different sort of collaboration. My sister-in-law needed wifi access to finish a final, so she came to my apartment while I was writing. We weren’t actually working together, but being side by side with someone else on a project held me to an accountability I don’t always have, which led to a very focused and productive morning.

It just goes to show that even when you’re working on a solo project, there are still little ways others can help you along the way.