Collaboration

It would be wrong not to make mention of a friend from ‘across the pond’.  Until a couple of weeks ago I would never have considered writing anything in association with someone else. 

Amber, (pen-name Velvet Mist) suggested we try a collaboration in poetry.  We decided on a theme then wrote three stanzas apiece.  I sent my efforts to Amber so that she could merge the two sets of writing, add background, graphics and music before our piece was posted on site.  We were both satisfied with the finished product and it received positive comments from our peers. 

A few days ago we put another poem together, then following a few deft touches by my accomplice it was posted on the Starlite cafe site.  Once again the writing was adorned with suitable background and the whole presentation was improved accordingly.  Thank you Amber.

Our efforts are listed with active links in my Poetry page under Collaborations.

More or Less…

My competition entry targeted for the ‘surreal’ genre must be posted by the end of the month.  Surreal is an area that I’m not totally comfortable with, because although I like to think I’ve got a vivid imagination I find it difficult to totally lose track of reality. 

Strangely, at one stage I found myself for once with a complete short story in less than 1500 words.  The competition word allowance is 2000.  I’ve been working on my entry for weeks now so I toyed with the idea of leaving it alone.  After a coffee and some consideration it sounded like the soft option. 

After serious editing I left my story alone for four days, finally believing I had the task done.  I went back to it yesterday morning and introduced a slightly different ending.  The story blossomed into 2000 words.  Today I’ll edit severely again then leave it until tomorrow. 

Tomorrow it gets posted as an entry.  I have to move on.  It’s exciting to send in something that’s taken a lot of work but for some reason it’s even more exciting when you’re not totally sure of your direction.  I’ve managed to avoid reading any other work in the surreal genre.  I don’t want to lose the little confidence I’ve gained and I want to avoid outside influence.

Whatever happens I’ll be honest enough to come back and report here.  I will say now that if I don’t get anywhere with this one I will be trying again.