by Cate Ellink

I’ve had the pleasure lately to be involved in a few group efforts. Each has been a unique experience because of the different people involved changing the dynamics.

No matter what the dynamics, here are a few of the reasons why I enjoy these experiences.

1. Brainstorming sessions are heaps of fun. You never know what you, or someone else, might come up with. Someone’s idea might spark something really crazy in your mind.
2. You never really know people until you work with them. Writers are notorious introverts, so it’s not easy to get to know us. But working in a group allows for interaction, communication, and an online form of ‘bonding’. You cyber-meet, sometimes become friends, with people you may never have met otherwise. You’re working towards a common goal, which immediately gives you something in common – that’s great for introverts.
3. You learn. My writing always improves. Sometimes it’s because of someone in the group’s feedback. Sometimes it’s watching how another works with critique. Other times it’s learning how people develop stories. Or how much importance some writers place on factors you had dismissed, or hadn’t thought of. There’s always something to learn.
4. You’re exposed to story ideas/characters you’d never have thought of yourself. Take Lana from the Sydney Housewives. I would never have thought of, let alone tackled, a character who was an older woman who loved young men. Yet that was my task. It was challenging. Lana stretched my writing ability and my imagination. I had to work with a character a long way outside of my experience. She was a challenge I’d never have had if I hadn’t agreed to the project.
5. You share the promo with others. Promo makes me shudder, sweat, wriggle and squirm. When you can promo in a group, it takes the pressure off. I’m not shoving my book down people’s throats…I’m sharing our group project with the world.

That’s why I love group projects. Do you like group projects, or reading books from group projects?

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You’ve never met housewives as hot as these…They’re wealthy and glamorous. The elite of society. But appearances can be deceiving.

Eleven women are members of the influential Double Diamond Dinner Club. They are wealthy, elegant, poised and constantly in the public eye. But what goes on behind closed doors, in the private homes and parties where the cameras and paparazzi aren’t welcome?

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