Co-writing

There's a woman I exchange emails with, she's married and lives somewhere out in the far west of New South Wales on a farm. Or, she might be a fat 55yo man with a combover, or the German ambassador, or Laura Bush. I can't really tell. But I have no reason to doubt her.

We've been doing this for 6 months or so now. One of us starts a story by writing a couple of paragraphs, then emailing it. Then you wait a few days, and the other person adds a few more paragraphs and emails it back. And then it goes back and forth like that until it loses steam and we decide to can it and start again. It's fun, and I rather like the leisurely pace of it; when I get an email from her, I read it, think for a day or two about what the next bit is, then take a day or two to write and refine it, then finally, send it off.

The setup's usually much the same. It's some variation around the theme of a nice younger woman (20s to early 30s) who for some reason finds herself in a situation where she's being shared by two - or three - nice older men. She's never forced, but they do like to test her a bit, challenge her. The men are usually quite friendly, they joke with each other and sometimes with her. It's not so much about them dominating her (although they're definitely in charge, and they all know it), it's more about them guiding her. It's almost like they're teaching her. I find I love that dynamic.

We also occasionally exchange emails about our real lives. She talks about how it hasn't rained where she is for about a hundred years.