SpellCheck says there's no "I" in "team"

I am proud to share that the Playfriends were recently interviewed (aren’t we fabulous – someone interviewed us!) about the Playground and its inception for a workshop on promotion. We gave our answers, Angel compiled them into a coherent dialogue, then we returned them to the lady conducting the interview.

To my surprise, she was really excited about our answers. She reacted as though we were a model case for her to use with her students in upcoming seminars she teaches. Wow, who’da thunk it? How’d we manage that? I really have NO clue on how to do self-promotion and yet I find myself the successful subject of a workshop!

I think it is just another reason why our group collaboration is such a great idea. Grant it, I’ve never been a fan of teamwork. I was once given a t-shirt from a supervisor that read “Does not play well with others.” I think, though, that in the past, every group collaboration I’d been forced into involved me doing all the work and a bunch of other people sharing the credit. The Playfriends are different. This isn’t a school assignment, so everyone wants to help and they can be depended on. Everyone has something to contribute, making the whole much greater than our individual parts.

As I mentioned, I know nothing of PR and have never taken any official promotional courses. Angel has, so she’s the PR diva and unofficial secretary. Instigator is the goddess of Vista Print and keeper of the motivational whip. Problem Child does our newsletter, coordinates with our professional counselor and her Darling Geek is working wonders with our graphics. The Playground Monitor is the Blog Master, keeping us current and getting the word out (dare I say "pimping") about us out to her vast network of writing community contacts. Then there’s me, webmistress and all-around geek. We all write articles, run contests and blog. We all have areas of expertise and we all have a dozen different ways we can contribute to our overall success.

On our own, I don’t think that any of us would be as successful as we are as a group. Individually, I’m just me. Last year in Reno, that’s all I was. HOD member, first timer at Nationals, paranormal writer. I sorta knew some cool people. This year, going into Atlanta, I am one of The Children, founding member of the Writing Playground, Smarty Pants, and even Alexandra Frost, a name indicative of a life so much more fabulous than my reality.

I feel like we can walk around the Marriott with our heads held high, Playground t-shirts worn with pride, and people will notice us for good reasons. We may or may not have any book contracts under our collective belt, but we’re closer than we've ever been and our group collaboration is part of the reason. I think that together, we’re going to conquer the romance industry.

:: cue superhero theme music here ::

SP, in a brief shining moment of positivity