The Challenges Of Collaborating Long Distance

During a recent visit to my high school alma mater, Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center in Columbus, Ohio, my "All Jokes Aside" co-author, Raymond Lambert, and I spoke with a group of students who have expressed an interest in the arts.

The students asked insightful questions. One young lady's question, in particular, stood out: What was the biggest challenge of writing the book?

"This is going to sound silly," I said, "but actually the biggest challenge, from my perspective, was the time difference between Columbus and Chicago, where Raymond lives. As you know, Columbus is on Eastern Time and Chicago is on Central Time and they're an hour behind us.

"If Raymond and I had an appointment to talk at 1 p.m. on a Sunday, for example, I always had to figure out if I was supposed to call him at noon or 2 p.m. I've always been terrible at math and I often had to 'Google' to confirm what time it was in Chicago."

My co-author Raymond Lambert and I working in
a Chicago coffee shop on one of the weekends
that I commuted to Chicago.

My exchange with this student emphasizes an important point: there are pros and cons to writers - or any type of artist, for that matter - collaborating long-distance on a project.

On the one hand, if an inspiration came to me out of the blue early in the morning, I couldn't just pick up the phone and call Raymond because I knew it was too early in Chicago and I didn't want to jar him out of a sound sleep.

On the other hand, not immediately being able to reach your writing partner forces you to plan out and prioritize what's most important to discuss. And, heaven forbid, if the two of you ever disagree on something, the distance creates an automatic cooling-off period. You can't just jump in your car and give someone a piece of your mind off without enduring a long, tedious road trip.

I remember as a teen watching BET's "Video Soul" music show and learning that the 1986 chart-topping duet "On My Own" with Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald was recorded by the singers in two separate studios on opposite coasts. The split-screen music video reflects the separation and actually makes sense since it's a breakup song.

At the time, I remember thinking how strange it was that two artists could produce such a heartfelt and soulful piece of work without even having been in the same room.

But having completed the book project with my buddy Raymond, I now know that two or more creative people who happen to be in different places can, indeed, seamlessly blended voices and ideas.