Smack Dab in the Middle

  Taking care of each other shouldn't be a controversial idea. And yet, according to some, certain people are less worthy than others. This post isn't about politics! My world is fiction. Discounting others happens there too. I'm guilty of treating some of my creations as non-character players. Antagonists who only exist in my story to be defeated.   Collaboration taught me otherwise. For the past few years, I've been working on a musical version of my novel GRACE AND THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT . My background is in the theater, so that world isn't completely foreign to me. But I had gotten out of the habit of collaborating. While I have always appreciated feedback from readers and editors, I usually get the last word.    Now I had two talented partners. Clifford Lee Johnson III and Greg Alexander weighed in on the script and wrote the music. I was thrilled by their catchy and emotionally uplifting tunes. And then I heard a song for a character I hadn't...