How We Collaborate Through Brainstorming

I don't play an instrument. I sing, but only in the shower. I've never really had any musical ability at all. So when I got the opportunity Thursday to sit in on a recording session with a singer/songwriter friend, I jumped on the chance to see true talent in such a raw form. Little did I know I would be able to apply what I saw to my own work.

There were six musicians in the studio that day: Robyn and her acoustic guitar, and a drummer, pianist, bass player and two electric guitarists. Robyn had a song in her mind complete with the verses, chorus and her acoustic take on it. It was lyrically complete. She played it for the five other musicians in the room who had never heard it before, and the magic started to happen.

All of their heads started moving to the beat. The drummer started softly tapping the high hat to try to find a groove. The pianist added a very 1970s-feel tickle of the ivories. And the two guys with the electric guitars whispered a bit before adding some riffs into the background. Not everything they tried worked, but they kept on trying and offering their musical input until a magical thing happened. Within an hour, the record button was on and the full track was being laid down.

So, what did I learn from their musical collaboration that I can apply to my work here at Hammock?

1. No matter how small or fresh an idea is, getting others to offer their input will allow an idea to grow and blossom.
2. I'm surrounded by smart and talented people who are more than happy to offer their thoughts. We should always allow each other to share our strengths and talents, knowing that something amazing will always result.
3. We all dance to a different beat -- writers, editors and designers -- and we all want our ideas to be heard. Even if my ideas aren't chosen, somewhere along the way we always find an idea that we can all agree on and work on together.
4. No one "wins" or "loses" when brainstorming great ideas for a magazine feature or online article. If my idea gets tweaked or if it spurs someone else to think of an even greater idea, we all win!

Many of us here at Hammock Inc. have been using Twitter for more than two years now – a couple of us pushing two and a half – and we've learned that Twitter does lots of things. It allows telecommuters to keep in touch with the "home" office; it affords small businesses the opportunity to reach out to potential customers free of charge; it encourages conversation on hundreds of topics at any given moment; it allows news organizations to reach their audience before the 5 p.m. telecast; and so much more. And, it's teaching me to be a better writer.

How, you ask?

Twitter forces you to keep your tweets to 140 characters. Now, I've never thought of myself as long-winded, but it's tough to keep my thoughts concise enough to fit within that constraint. So I have to work at it. I have to always keep the pages flipping in that thesaurus in my mind. Why use a word with 14 letters when a different word with just six will work?

I have to remind myself not to use flowery language, but to stick to the point without the fluff. Short and sweet is key.

Twitter also forces me to proofread, and read again, and read one more time before I hit the post button. I don't want to be the girl who uses "there" when I meant "their." Twitter is conversation in an instant, and you can't take those little mistakes back. Sure, I can delete them from my own page, but if someone has looked at that particular tweet as it was posted, they instantly think I can't spell.

If you haven't joined Twitter yet, I encourage you to do so. Be sure to look me up there too, I'm sure I'll have something short and sweet to say. And I'll do my best to spell each word correctly!