Wednesday, April 8, 2009

The 10 Commandments of Sister-Writers*


Not sure who's been Keeping Up with the Kardashians, but there seems to be a bit of turbulence in the world of K. I think we can all learn a very important lesson in regards to mixing business and family, hence the 10 commandments below.

1. We started writing books together because we thought it would be fun, not because we wanted to be the next J.K. Rowling (or J.K. Howling if you're talking to my father-in-law). And let's face it, if that happens there really won't be anything to fight about, right?

2. We're sisters first. The reason we work so well together is because we're best friends, if we stop getting along the books will almost certainly stop working.

3. We write to make each other laugh. If we hated each other we wouldn't be half as funny.

4. It would suck to go through this alone. I know I would have given up a long time ago after all of the almosts and the flat-out rejections. Imagine reading a bad review ALONE? Brutal.

5. If one of us ever wants to write their own book, all by their lonesome, the other will be the best beta-reader ever and uber supportive every step of the way.

6. Writing is the great escape from husbands and kids--something we'll always have with each other (for better or worse). Now we won't have to spend our free time trying to think of great entrepreneurial ideas because we have the book.

7. We started this because we wanted a job that was flexible. Writing is super-flexible and judgement-free. We can write at all hours wearing whatever we want. I personally enjoy wearing a business suit and heels when I write because it makes me feel like a NY Times best-selling author. Just kidding, I wear the same pajamas I slept in the previous night. But see, no one cares!

8. We wanted to avoid monkey work. I might be mistaken, but I don't think a monkey could be as creative as we are. Well, unless they were a genetically engineered mutant monkey and that would just be weird and more than a little scary.

9. No matter how annoyed you get with my incessant questions and no matter how annoyed I get with your inevitable deadlines (they don't really annoy me that much, I just couldn't think of anything else), we have to either talk to each other about them, or suck it up. I prefer sucking it up because I try to avoid confrontation at all costs, but whatever works.

10. Let's never lose the drive, but try to maintain a balance. Coming out of this whole adventure with a book deal and divorce-free sounds good to me.

Bonus #11. Look at how cute we were! Hey, at least we'll always have that going for us...

*Elana initially coined the term sister-writers for us and it definitely does sound like sister-wives, but I still sort of like it.

9 comments:

Deborah Talmadge said...

A writing partner can be great fun. I've collaborated on two different books and would love to do it again.

Hardygirl said...

Yes. I've got my buddy Katie here to read drafts and rejection letters with me. And, we're kickin' a screenplay together.

sf

Sara Raasch said...

I always wondered how co-writing worked. Does one person come up with the ideas and the other write? Or does one person write the even chapters and the other person writes the odd chapters? I'm sure every writing pair has a different system.

lisa and laura said...

Sara - We actually did write a post about how we write together. You can see it here if you're interested.

http://lisa-laura.blogspot.com/2009/01/procrastinating-again.html

Tara Maya said...

It would be great to have a sibling collaborator. I've tried to interest my brother, but alas....

Little Ms J said...

I'm glad to have other sister-friends on this here blogspot! I really like that you guys have commandments that are all Love Thy Sister-ish. Girls need sisters. And a girl that's a writer with a writing sister? That's like genetic selection, which I hear goes for about $5k a pop, in case you were wondering.

I don't know if me and Purple could write together. She's a little Sci Fi and I'm a little R rated. We'd probably end up in matching straight jackets!

Katie Anderson said...

aahhh sending sisterly love from my bed where I am constructing a new query at 9 a.m. in a tank top and panties :-)

yes. I LOVE this job.

Anonymous said...

too cute!! you have hardly changed!

Sherrie Petersen said...

You guys are lucky to have each other. I've never tried writing with someone else, but I think it would be fun with the right person. Only I don't have a sister...

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