Two Collaborations

 

 Fourteen Days, stories written by 36 famous writers, a modern Chaucer Tales.

The premise

During Covid in New York City, people quarantined in their tenement spend each evening on the building's roof not only clapping and cheering the health carers, but telling stories. The superintendent is the link.

The book is deeper than the simple concept. 

The writers include Margaret Atwood, John Grisham, Scott Turow, Erice Jung, Tess Gerritson, Diana Gabaldon . . . Their ages run from mid 30s to 80s. Editors were Atwood and Douglas Preston.

I can imagine how each worked on their stories locked in quarantine in different places. Did they use ZOOM, the internet etc. to connect? 

Another Collaboration 

In the mid-1990s I joined a group of writers from England, Germany, U.S., Israel and Australia. We found each other through the IWWG, International Women's Writing Guild, now celebrating its 50th anniversary.

We communicated by fledgling e-mail. At first we just discussed writing, then shared our personal lives. We learned about spouses and kids, our problems and joys.

The most poignant was our Israeli member whose son started university and moved to New York City just before 9/11. She thought he would be safe there. He was not one of the victims. Mother-fear goes beyond writing bonds. 

We decided to collaborate on a short story collection with interlocking characters to be set in Camden Market in London. Each of us came up with a person. Then we selected our secondary character created by our fellow writers in the group.

I went to London to photograph the Market. No internet photograph transfers back then, so I sent the developed photos the old-fashioned way, by post.

One of our German writers acted as editor and did the leg work on  the cover and printer. 

We read each other's work and then the completed manuscript. It was not even a baby success, but we had a tremendous feeling of accomplishment. The book is now out of print. Somewhere, perhaps in a box under my bed, I've a couple of copies.

Many years later we still exchange emails, not often, but there's a feeling of joy when an email comes in. We've lost two members. Others are fighting with health issues. 

Some of us are still writing.

I'm in touch on Facebook with the daughter of one of the writers. I wish she were alive to see her two beautiful grandsons. 

The good memory of writing the anthology came swirling back with Fourteen Days making it a double pleasure.

Notes 

Fourteen Days is a project of the Authors Guild Foundation. I'm a proud member of the Guild, who offers so many services to writers including health insurance and legal services. Proceeds will go to the foundation.

I'm having fun trying to guess who wrote what. Their ages go from mid thirties to eighties.