The Beauty of Collaboration
By Leslie D. Soule
It was a dark and stormy night. Yes, I am referring to last Sunday, and the very first meeting of a group dubbed the Sacramento Writers’ Circle. We huddled around our laptops and blonde ales at the Hoppy Brewing Company and we talked about movies and secret agent spy rings, favorite authors and songs we’d heard – everything, it seemed, but the business of writing. So why had we gathered here at the brewery instead of lingering by ourselves, working away at our manuscripts at home and doing the work that truly only the author can?
It is true that the lonely work of an author can become tedious, but there is a more important argument for the necessity of collaboration – that out of the frothy, chaotic soup of collaboration, mental batteries are recharged, feedback is given (for free, no less!), and ideas are born. Going in, I had a mental image of what a writer’s group would be, and it involved a lot more solemn reading and generally a lot less fun. There is another argument in favor of collaboration as well – the “L’art pour l’art” (Art for art’s sake) philosophy that seems to have become so lost to modern utilitarian sensibilities is very much awakened when kindred spirits gather with the intention of letting their imaginations loose for a while.
Are you part of a writer’s group? If not, I’d recommend it. Collaboration is a beautiful thing.
FORGETTING FALLENWOOD
Blurb:
What happens when Ash accidentally makes her way through another portal, this time into the Other Realm, and forgets she ever went to Fallenwood? More importantly, how much of one’s identity is made up of memories? Fallenwood 2 is the continuing journey of heroine Ash Kensington. Struggling with a deep sense of grief, sorrow, and overall confusion, Ash tries to work her way through to a deeper, underlying meaning. This search leads her back to Fallenwood, where the mystery unravels itself as she realizes that a very sinister force may be underlying everything…
AUTHOR AND LINKS
Leslie D. Soule is a fantasy writer from Sacramento, California. She has a B.A. in English and is currently working on her first-ever quadrilogy, The Fallenwood Chronicles.
Buy Links:
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forgetting-fallenwood-leslie-d-soule/1116964600?ean=9781612356846
Melange Books: http://melange-books.com/authors/lesliedsoule/index.html
