It’s been six years since the two of us besties decided to go on a journey of creating this passion project called She said, She said – and it’s been a hell of a roller coaster ride! There have been fun times, AH-MAZING times, want-to-break-our-laptop times, and terrible times that made us want to quit right there.
All of these moments have come together – dare we say, beautifully – giving us 2192 days of so very much. There’s a lot we learnt over these six years of blogging and we sat down recently to look back at what this journey has meant to us. More importantly, what this partnership has meant.
Creative partnerships are beautiful and difficult all at once. There is a joy in working on something with friends however, how do you manage the difficult wee bumps along the way? How much is too much when you are balancing full-time work? We have managed to do all of this sometimes super successfully, and other times not-so-well for the six years and realise it comes from there being some good, some bad(ass) and some ugly.
The Good
Having two (or more people)
The obvious. We’ve spoken about this before – it’s a blessing. When one of us doesn’t want to, the other will. When the other is “out of the office” creatively, the other will inspire. It works. Most importantly, when you want hands in a photo because, you know, character et all – you have a photographer + hands in the photo. Well, most times we don’t use Namrata’s hands if we don’t have to 🙂 They’ve been nicknamed “the claw” because they have no chill when the camera is on.
The Bad(ass)
Encouragement
If we were doing this as a solo project, it wouldn’t have lasted. Life gets busy with work, family and other life stuff happening. There are times we want to go to dinner and not take photos of food. Moreover, there are things we want to try that we are too scared to. Enter – the creative partnership. The best part sometimes is playing cheerleader and getting the other to reach their potential. Because it’s easier to see the amazing in those we love than it is to see it in ourselves.
What’s better than one? Two.
There’s always been a stigma associated with creative processes being driven by more than one person.
“Will your voice be heard?”
“Too many cooks spoil the broth”
“How much will I need to give in?”
We would like to suggest a different narrative. We look at it as two sets of skills, expertise and sensibilities. While one of us nails the posts that require a lot of research and detail, the other is able to figure out some basic HTML to fix a bug on the website. Two minds also mean two completely different creative worlds. Sure, conversation is needed to align, but there’s also so much to work off of. The sensible voice helps streamline the whimsical thoughts and this synergy sometimes creates magic.
Dual (or multiple) personalities
Having two people means having two distinct voices and two personalities. You should use this and let it show. The different voices will appeal to different people, gathering more of an audience. It also sometimes is an unsaid game with followers where we will receive direct messages to stories saying “I loved that book too Namrata” and we reply “Yes, it’s great – and Nancy here”. Ain’t nothing wrong with the confusion. It serves as an icebreaker to kick-start conversations with people we haven’t had a chance to connect with yet. It’s all about engagement, folks!
The Ugly
Transparency
If you plan to do this with a friend (or in our case, best friends for over 20 years), beware. Honesty and transparency play a big role in creative partnerships. You must create a safe space to voice your most honest opinions. Speaking from experience, it’s tough. You never want to be the one to shoot down an idea from your bestie. Or worse, you won’t want to be told that something you’re doing isn’t right, or that you aren’t showing up enough. It stinks. But it needs to happen. You must treat it like actual work and employ honesty. After that, you must share a doughnut and laugh about something totally un-related and remember you love and respect each other. While your passion project is super important, the relationship is even more so.
Picking up the slack
Having said all of this, even after the honest conversations, sometimes, you are going to hit a lull and not want to or be able to do anything that might be of consequence. And when this happens, the other needs to pick up the slack and it will suck. There will be times that you put on a smiley “it’s OK, you are busy” face and keep going – for the sake of the project and the friendship. But there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel and things go back to normal eventually. If it doesn’t, refer to previous step and bring back that ass-whooping honesty.
Why are we even doing this?
Alignment, alignment, alignment. Why are both (all) parties involved continuing to do what you are doing? This was something we learnt the hard way. We just started and kept going without talking enough about goals and what each of us wanted out of the blog. Cruise control can be a fantastically comfortable mode to be in however, if something forces you to hit the brakes, you will need to ask why you are doing something. When that happens, it’s best to align and make sure interests are mutual and worth everyone’s time.
So why are we sharing this list with you? Because we’ve had a lot of reflection, going back and forth, honest questioning about each other’s vision with the blog, if we still want to do this. And the answer is YES. But we know for certain that we want to come back to basics. Where it all began. In the case of this blog, its writing. Why we actually started. And we want to thank you for being on this ride with us and hope you will stick around a wee bit longer as we put our thoughts on so many different aspects of life on here. Happy blog-aversary to us!
Are you currently in or thinking about engaging in a creative partnership? What is the good, bad and ugly to you?
Creative direction, styling and photography: Mighty talented queen of all things wonderful Gaya