Who's on Your Team?

The other day I went for a walk with my daughter Imogen. As we were heading along a bush track, I noticed she was fumbling with her iPod.

“Are you listening to something?” I asked.

“No,” she replied. “I just had an idea about a blog post, and I’m making a note of it before I forget.”

I understand about note making. I scribble down ideas all the time. If I didn’t, I’d soon forget them. And then some ‘brilliant’ idea might be lost to the world forever. What a sad thought.

After she’d made her note, Imogen told me about her latest blog post idea. “A reader suggested I share some of the things I learnt during my university writing course. I might write a post about the elements of a good mystery novel.”

I wanted to know more about writing mysteries, so Imogen told me, and then I said, “It sounds like a huge topic. You have a lot to say. Why don’t you write a series?”

By the time we’d walked down the sandstone bush track, and climbed back up the hill again, we’d mapped out the possible posts in the series. As we headed for home, Imogen said, “I love working on our ideas together.” I do too.

“I’m never going to be able to leave home,” said my young adult daughter. “I can’t leave my team. What would I do without my family? I need everyone’s help. Who else would film my music videos for me and show me how to edit them? Who would do my hair and nails? Who would discuss ideas with me?”

It seems to me that we all need a team. If we’re following our dreams, we need people who understand how we feel, who will offer feedback in an encouraging way, who will take our ideas seriously and offer their own. We need people we can rely on for help, and who are happy to share their skills and talents with us.

Our family is our dream-following team. But of course, there are many kinds of teams. Each one helps us and supports us in a different way.

• There are Facebook groups. If you have a particular interest, I bet there’s a Facebook group to match. We belong to ones associated with unschooling, faith, grief, photography, and writing.

• Yahoo forums can be a great place to meet like-minded people. I belong to the Unschooling Catholics one.

• How about a group of close friends who have the same interest? I have a couple of special friends I share my writing with via email. I don’t belong to a MasterMind group,but maybe these work the same way, with a small number of members communicating via a group or Skype or something similar.

• Of course, there are lots of groups we can join where we’ll see real people. We tried a local homeschooling group for a time.

• And then probably best of all is a husband or close friend or sister. Or all three.

Yes, there are lots of ways to belong to a team.

As we finished our walk, Imogen said, “I love our life, don’t you?”

“Yes, life is good!” I love sharing it with my family, and all those other special people who are on my team.

So who’s on your team? Who do you share ideas with? Is it your family? Do you have friends with similar interests who encourage and support you? 

And what do you think about mysteries? Do you have a favourite author or series?

I rather like Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. I enjoyed the books immensely. The TV series is good as well. It’s just a pity there isn’t a second series to continue the story. Maybe I should join the Facebook page, Bring Back Series 2 of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. I could become part of that team!

Imogen has written the first part of her mystery writing series. It’s called Elements of a Good Mystery.

If you feel like reading it, please do!