by Dana Guthrie Martin

A quick note: We’re putting together an e-mail list for those who want to receive updates now and again about the project. If you did not receive an e-mail asking if you want to receive future e-mails, please sign up for the list by sending an e-mail to info (at) readwritepoem (dot) org. (I know e-mail appeared far too many times in the previous sentence. Sorry about that.)

This week, we’re pairing people up to work together on a piece that they can share on their blogs and link to for the next Get Your Poem On post.

That’s right, this week is all about collaborating with another participant, and this is how it’s going to work:

• Leave a comment on this post if and only if you want to collaborate on this week’s contribution.
• People will be paired up in a 1, 2, 1, 2, fashion. That means if you leave the first comment, you and the second commenter will be working together for the week. If you are the third commenter, you will be working with the fourth commenter.*
• You can probably count off yourselves, but I will make a list at the bottom of this post so people know who they are paired up with. I will keep the list updated until the Get Your Poem On post appears. (Here’s a hint, though: Sign up early so you and your partner can roll up your sleeves and do some good work together. Don’t wait until the last minute to post a comment saying you want to collaborate.)
• To contact your partner, go to their blog and find their e-mail address. (Note: If you don’t have your e-mail address clearly displayed on your blog, you can leave it in your comment. However, make sure you change it so it’s not an e-mail address lest the spam monkeys will find it and start sending you junk mail. We suggest listing e-mail addresses like this: “info (at) readwritepoem (dot) org”.)
• Do not use this post to leave comments other than saying you want to sign up to collaborate. Doing so will throw off the numbering system, and we can’t have that. If you have any questions, you can send them to us at info (at) readwritepoem (dot) org. (Say, for example, you can’t find someone’s e-mail address after looking and looking. You can let us know and we’ll help you track it down.)

If you can’t collaborate but want to contribute something this week, that’s cool. You can still leave a link on the Get Your Poem On post, which will be posted Monday. (In fact, even if you do collaborate you are still free to submit links to more than one contribution, so feel free to contribute something you wrote on your own as well.)

Remember to wait until the Get Your Poem On post goes up to share your links.** And re-read the rules above to make sure you are playing along so the system doesn’t get all hosed up. Also, check back here as this post is updated to list everyone who will be working together this week.

Oh, and as far as what to write, there’s no prompt this week, but we do have many, many lovely writing prompts and writing tips that load randomly every time you come to this page. Just take a look in the left sidebar and you will see them. And here’s a secret: If you don’t like anything you see there, just refresh the page and you will get new options. You can keep refreshing until you find something that suits you.

And as far as how to collaborate, if you are stuck about how to do so, we have a number of collaborating tips. Those are — you guessed it — also in the sidebar and are also random load.

So get out there and get your collaborative poem on!

* Note: This is just one collaboration idea we’re putting out there. If you don’t like the idea of being paired up with someone, you don’t have to play along. There will be other ideas coming in the future, and you are always free to work with another participant of your choosing or a nonparticipant whenever you want to collaborate. We are not the collaboration dictators — we’re just trying to have some fun and get people involved in working together in different ways.

** We know the posting date for the Get Your Poem On is Dec. 24 and many of you will be caught up in all manner of holiday cheer and merriment, but remember that post will remain up all week long, so please swing by when you get a chance, in between drinking your soy eggnog and whatnot.

The collaborators
Jack and Jessica
Christine and Ceridwen
Fabs and Paisley
Derek and Susan
Linda and sisterAE
Carolee and Tom