This is a brilliant and honest look at the collaborative process. You perfectly capture the tension and the beauty of it. The line “Turning glass back into sand” is an amazing image for the way things come together.

Collaborations are a dance in a way. Got to read your partner. It’s tricky to get magic but when it works it’s beautiful.

Great ink friend.

I remember you from the ember DU days (daze?) but our paths never crossed. You were always so encouraging and supportive of fellow comrades. That is an art in itself. Keep writing fella.

Great and beautifully written reflections, dear Damian! I agree, the collaboration process is an art itself. Different writing styles collide, and if they are harmonic, the result will read like penned with one ink. When the styles are very different, maybe a piece of abstract art will be created. The diversity of possible collaborations makes them beautiful and interesting!

Even Lennon and McCartney couldn’t get along in the end. Collaborations are famous throughout history. But sometimes ideas go in different directions, ego’s overtake, and animosity takes over. It can be sad, very sad when things fall apart.

Friends drift apart. As you mentioned in your last comment. Also we just change. Many things we don’t enjoy or like from when we were kids or teenagers. Keeping a friend or two from your youth though is important. I feel it’s the bridge to a life that was a simpler, more meaningful time. We grow old, but the kid inside never dies. Great write Damian.

I always find collaborating incredibly intimidating. How to find a balance where both voices carry equal weight? Some styles are more dominating & others more gentle. But I’ve seen jarringly different styles woven beautifully in a single piece. I love the glass back to sand metaphor. Deconstructing to its base element. All comes from the same beach, as it were. The places your pen travels, my friend…

I have been asked many times but even though I am occasionally tempted, I have always tended to shy away .. having said that, I have a great deal of admiration for anyone who chooses to go down that particular poetic and or storytelling route & gets something out of it other than enjoyment or a headache .. I imagine that here you have given this particular reader something to think about long after the curtain has been drawn .. Kindest regards to both you n your pen Damian .. Neville

It’s an remarkable article in favor of all the online people; they will obtain advantage from it I am sure.

Cool stuff Fia !

I caught a bad case of covid last week! It kicked my ass! It went through my work and got a few of us. I’m all better now!

Thanks for the info, Fia. Appreciate you.

Damian

How exciting!! I’m late to the post but the video put me right there with ya!
Congrats amiga:)

Haha. Got to love those flirtatious moments. I also agree it needed the profanity. Not that I’m big on censorship anyway.

Great ink

Holiday romances in far off destinations make the world go round and generally a much happier place .. if only briefly .. two weeks would be tops for me now .. Hell, it doesn’t even need to be a faraway place these days .. anywhere beyond the garden gate would be just fine .. I dunno whether todays offering is a product of a wickedly well primed imagination .. or whether these events genuinely happened .. either way, it doesn’t matter, I applaud your frankness & originality .. Kind regards, Neville

A sizzling, playful scene full of tension and wit. The narrator’s boldness and the flirtatious back-and-forth make this a fun, electric read.

Tremendous work. Powerful.

Passionately penned, Fia. Always love your storytelling my friend, excellent write. Appreciate you, cuz.

Damian

Hoi hoi
You know that I am a fan of your for DUP’s ago.
And I won’t/don’t want to bagatelize (or what’s it spelled) the other one walking away, but how about envying the back pockets?

I lured à very lovely person in writing such a poem (lyrics) and it dried up very well.
Maybe it’ll be a possibility to retaliate???

Other than that à lovely write. What’s this with this à all the time?
You’re the sharp person. I’m not your fan for nothing!
Warmest greetings from Gus

The brave and bold flirting is fun to read, although this old fuddy-duddy was always too shy to carry on that way. Nice that she told him right out that she was married. Sexual attraction is part of us and I don’t think you can make it go away. (I certainly haven’t stopped noticing the girls. Heh-Heh!)

Oh, that was excellent. How nice to read something that is what it is and does not have to apologize for it. I could absolutely see this entire encounter,

Very nice interaction, did this really happen?
If so, did you make the call? So many questions attached to this
creative piece. Thank you

Oh this was seduction writing at its finest. The dialogue grabbed me and held me there like the best encounter with a woman I have ever had. This really rocked big time. You have the dialogue down perfectly. My attention was riveted. And there were surprises around every turn in the dialogue. The suspense of what would happen next had me completely enthralled., Great storytelling. You had me stimulated beyond belief just by the dialogue alone with no graphic depictions just the prospect of the bedroom affair.

John