My Team

 RHYS BOWEN: I’ve been watching a lot of tennis lately. And one thing I notice is that the players all have their TEAM with them. Their coach, their trainer plus other unidentified hangers-on.  So I’m wondering whether we need a team?

Writing is such a solitary profession. We sit, staring at a screen, trying to pull words out of our heads and onto paper.  

What if we didn’t have to go it alone? So if you had a team, who would it be?

A coach–to remind you to keep up the pace of the plot, to remind you of the looming deadline and whether you have enough white space on the page (thanks Hallie. I can’t forget this now)

A trainer to remind you to get up and stretch, to shake out your shoulders, to walk enough steps every day?

A massage therapist to massage those tight shoulders and make you feel good after you have been sitting for hours?

A mental health therapist to tell you that you don’t have to be stressed. You are doing great!  All you have to do is breathe.

Or should that be a MINDFULNESS COACH:  reminding you to breathe, to meditate, to observe the beauty of nature around you.

Or should it be a CHEERLEADER telling you : You’ve been in this position before and you’ve always managed to write fifty pages in five days when necessary. All the fans love you. The book will be a huge success.

Plus

A personal chef so that the right meal is waiting when you emerge from your office, grumpy and hungry.

We are lucky. We have our fellow Reds to be our cheerleaders and mother hens. And the closest I’ve come to a team was at the Edgars when Amazon flew in six people to be with me!  I called John and said “Do

 you know I have people?”  That was rather heady.

But would I like it all the time?

Would I want an office full of people ready to wait on my every need or telling me I needed to get back to work every time I looked out of the window?

Probably not. 

So how about you, Reds? Would you want a team? And who would be on it?

I think I’d settle for the personal chef.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: This is the most brilliant thing, Rhys!  I’ll add a posture coach, who pokes you from time to time and says: SIT UP STRAIGHT!  I’d adore a cheerleader, and oh, a plotting consultant.  And ditto on the chef. SOLD.

 (Oh, and an accountant. Walk in, hand over the receipts, done and done. See earlier post about taxes.) 

JENN McKINLAY: I’m that weird extrovert who likes to be alone most of the time, so I don’t know if I could handle a team. If I could have a team to take over the social media aspects of the gig  - that would be fabulous. I do it but I don’t love it. And I’m with Hank on the taxes. Could I just have someone do my daily accounting? That would be awesome! 

LUCY BURDETTE: I lOVE this idea Rhys! Yes on the personal chef, masseuse, and someone to do all the errands. Yes on help with social media! But I agree, I work better without anyone around so I’ll have to pass the person who’s hovering over to one of you!

Ps every once in a while, as I’m leaving the apartment I say to John “Please write a few pages.” That would be kind of fun if it was real!

HALLIE EPHRON: What I’d love Love LOVE is a chauffeur. Take me where I need to go. Manage figuring out where to park the car. Pick me up at the airport even if it’s 1 in the morning. Heaven. 

But really I do think we all HAVE teams. For me, a supportive husband who never questioned it when I quit my day job. Neighbors who (as we are speaking) are moving my empty garbage bins (that I forgot about) from the sidewalk to my backyard. Grandchildren who provide a laugh track to my life. Love my “team.” I know, I sound like a Goody Two-shoes, but that’s what I’m feeling like these days.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Yes to all of those Rhys, especially the personal chef! But like everyone else, I don't really want any of that support team AROUND. We must all be extrovert/introverts. I like the house to be quiet and I won't get any work done if I'm interrupted. But a virtual cheerleader and plotting consultant, and posture coach, would be great!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I’m laughing at all of us who would love to have people taking care of us… as long as they stay out of sight! Who could I use? Someone to sweep and vacuum daily so I’m not annoyed by the sight of dog hair, cat hair, and bits of ash and bark - remember, I’m heating with a woodstove! (Of course, I’m not annoyed enough to actually DO the vacuuming myself until things get really dire.) A groundskeeper, who could tackle the three acres Ross left me so I can go outside and take inspiration from nature instead of wrestling with it (although the latter does leave me feeling murderous…)

Who would I’d like most on my team? A clever secretary/social media manager, so I don’t have to open my email inbox and groan - and who would ensure I never have to look at Facebook/ Twitter/ Instagram etc. again!

RHYS: Ah, Julia... that is a team member I already have. Brilliant Lisa does handle my social media for me, except that I like to check my own Facebook page, only leaving it to Lisa to handle crazy spammers and strange African men for me (she's ruthless.)

 I agree with what the others have said. We are so lucky that we all have/have had supportive husbands. It makes a huge difference to have that cheerleader on your side.  And mine does cook sometimes. This would be even better if he didn't use 25 different pans and bowls and the kitchen didn't end up with flour on the floor.

And here is my best team! Advisers, cheerleaders, therapists and cooking experts all rolled into one.

So let's hear from you, dear friends. Who would you have on your team, or would you rather go it alone?

(And the winner of Edith's book is Meg. Please contact her at Edith@edithmaxwell.com)