A snowstorm was raging down the roads we were traveling. Snow flakes were sticking to the windows of the tour bus as we crossed the border from Canada to the US. Emilie and I were curled up in the back lounge. I was crafting necklaces, she was writing in her journal. She told me about a project she was coming up with, something she’s excited about it – and she needed a way to make the story fit right for the screenplay.

We brainstormed until 5am. The good ideas, the bad ideas, the wild ideas and all the in between. It was excitement of playing with a story….of creating new ideas, new plots, characters an audience would care about and would understand. We created the twists and turns of their minds, of their back story, of their relationships with each other and their motivations and desires.

 

It was that perfect time when ideas flow in the quiet of the night, when everyone else had gone to bed hours before, and the snow storm was turning the whole world around us glistening white.

I love those moments.

I got in my little bunk a bit after 5am, and checked the internet before I went to bed to catch up on some things, and saw this awesome post by the incredible Gala Darling, who mentioned me as a part of her badass blog gang. She is a dear friend and inspiration – and her school Blogcademy with Shauna and Kat – is the reason I got the blogging bug and that you’re even reading these posts.

It got me to thinking about how much we can affect each other…

how all of us have something to teach each other….

how when we can put our talents together, we can make something so much better than we ever could do alone.

As I write this, it’s 3:30am and I’m headed towards New York City. In a mere few hours, I will see this one…. one of my favorite collaborators…..

Burke is a natural born storyteller. He taught me how to shape a story. He’s pushed me to be a better storyteller, to be a better writer – to bare my bones.

I’ll never forget the moment we realized how our screenplay, Revolver, would end. It was the two of us, sitting in a small room in Brooklyn. We spun a story so vivid, we were in it, transported by it, inside out over it. Tears ran down our faces. Because it was a moment when we knew. It sparked a truth in us. It was done….

We sewed our souls together to create a story.

When’s the last time that bouncing ideas off someone you know or collaborating with someone who inspires you created something even bigger than you could have imagined?

Tell me your stories.