Still looking for something new in 2019? ‘Collaboration’ may be what you need

After one sleep on December 31 we moved seamlessly into a bright new year. On January 1 we were expected to be ‘new’ – full of resolutions and aims for the year ahead. Despite the fireworks and the shiny new diary, it was the same ‘you’ that woke up on January 1st. If you’re a writer, you faced the same blank page. If you’ve yet to make real progress so far this year, read on….

Whilst I don’t slavishly follow the flock by taking up something new each year, a few years ago, my writing partner, Anjali Alford and I decided to set out our aims. Looking back, having achieved them, we’d like to encourage you to add one little word to your active vocabulary this year ‘collaborate.’

collaborate – co-operate
1. ‘collaborate’

When people collaborate on a project, they work together in order to produce something. For example, two writers can collaborate to produce a single piece of writing.

– The Free Dictionary

Collaborate is a word that punches above its weight, and it requires action from you and someone else.

Do you wanna be a Recordbreaker?

 

I’ve had the 1980s Recordbreakers strapline ‘do you wanna be a record breaker?’ going round and round in my head. For anyone old enough to remember the TV series ‘Recordbreakers’ the strapline was a motivational call to action for folks to set their mind on a goal and try to be the best they could at it. And ultimately, win and break a record.

There are aspects of this that really resonate for all creators. We want to create, and we want folks to enjoy what we create, whether it’s a book, a film or some other creation. Do you want to break records? Maybe, maybe not. One thing for sure, in order to break records you have to actually motivate yourself sufficiently to create. As they say in the world of competitions, “you’ve gotta be in it to win it”.

And this is where Collab Writers comes in…..

Here are three ways you can collaborate:

1. CONNECT

You need to find someone to collaborate with.

This is where Collab Writers can help you. We will be holding pop ups worldwide in 2019 to hook you up with one another. Ultimately, we want to build an app to make the connection process easier. In the meantime, we’re going to have to be old school about it. We will host a matching creators version of speed dating for (no mating involved) at our pop ups that will let you connect with other creatives to see if you might be compatible for a potential collaboration.

Become a Founder Member if you want to attend our first matching creators pop up in 2019. We plan to let you know the first date and location next month.

Be open minded about who you collaborate with

At Collab Writers, Anjali and I have looked beyond the obvious writer-writer collaboration and are also collaborating with photographers, musicians, print artists and courtesy of Raindance, movie peeps.

Our first collaboration of 2019 is a limited edition notebook where we’ve collaborated with London print designer, Caroline Lowe. We are refining the notebooks this month and hope to have them out to you by the end of February.

Our previous blog will whet your appetite of the type of design you can expect to feast your eyes on. If you still want to pre-order these limited edition notebooks you can get your hands on them at our website here.

 

2. COLLABORATE

Many people have been amazed at how we’ve managed to collaborate on our writing? It’s this easy – you just need to hook up. Just do it. Sit down together or chat on FaceTime/Skype/What’s App about your ideas and brainstorm. Then comes the plan – make a skeleton of your story or your co-creation.

There is no way around the next stage, you’ve just got to get started. It’s not as hard as you think to get started when you’ve got someone to collaborate with. Two minds are better than one. Twice as many ideas are far more likely to result in words on a page if you are writers.

3. CREATE

It’s through your collaboration that you will co-create. It’s not rocket science! It’s unavoidable and your creation will grow at twice the rate as if you were doing it yourself because you are sharing the creative process, there are two of you doing it.

A New Year and a New You!

Over to you…..and you…..and you

So, if you are going to do any kind of ‘new year, new you’ thinking, do yourself and others a favour and start thinking about your ideas for a collaborative project. If you know fellow creators, hook up and give it a go. We will be giving you more tips on how to collaborate – so watch this space. Why not join our mailing list?

Along the theme of Recordbreakers, Collaboration’s what you need.

Wishing you every success in your journeys to connect – collaborate and create in 2019. We hope you will join us to help us on your journey.