JENNIFER MAHAL -- In The Wings

Collaboration can be the hardest thing for an artist to do. Authors

Nancy Minor and Patricia Bradley were warned from the start that working

as a team could be a treacherous path. But neither listened.

More than 21 years and three books later, the Newport Beach duo still

meets together once a week to chat and work on writing projects. Their

latest book, “Mist on the Moor,” is a romantic novel that travels its

32-year-old heroine from Newport to Scotland and places between.

Nancy and Patricia met when both worked in the School Age Mother

program at the Newport-Mesa School District in the late 1970s. Working

with teenage mothers and listening to their stories gave Nancy, then a

teacher and counselor, the idea to write a book. She mentioned the idea

to Patricia, an educational psychologist.

“Pat said, ‘Come over, I’ll make tea,’ ” Nancy said. “Before long, Pat

added a little of this, a little of that to the chapter. It’s a give and

take.”

The book, “Coping with Schoolage Motherhood,” is still in print.

“I thought it was out of print and I called the publisher,” Patricia

said. “They had orders for it from Botswana.”

Their new novel, “Mist on the Moor,” is the story of Catherine, a

Southern California girl looking for love in so many places -- some of

them familiar.

Catherine wears “Newport Beach” T-shirts, goes to musicals at the

Orange County Performing Arts Center -- at which she works as director of

fund-raising -- and shares the night with her beau at the Doryman’s Inn.

But the story was not inspired by anything local. Instead, it was

Nancy’s trip to Scotland that gave rise to the book. Patricia and Nancy

wrote each other letters while they were separated, and Nancy was

encouraged to keep a journal.

From that, Patricia thought they could create a novel. It was not an

idea that Nancy liked at first. But now, after having spent more than

four years writing the characters, Nancy said she’s having a hard time

letting them go.

“The characters became part of our lives,” Nancy said. “It was like

they joined us for our afternoon events.”

“Give and take” and Earl Grey tea is how this duo operates. Both read

what they’re writing aloud and see how the pieces work together.

“We’re respectful and honest and sensitive,” Patricia said, “and that

works very well.”

It has worked so well that it’s pretty much impossible to tell where

the writing of one begins and the other ends.

“My sister-in-law spent a lot of time trying to pick out who wrote

what,” Patricia said, adding that she gave up after a while.

Besides writing, Nancy sculpts portraits out of wire, which can be

seen at the Esther Wells Gallery in Laguna Beach.

Both women are retired and grandmothers now -- Patricia retired in

June from Orange Coast College and Nancy retired in 1993 after 28 years

in education.

But they are far from stopping in their writing endeavors. Though

neither is sure what the next project will be, the Wednesday meetings

continue.

“We’ve been debating what to write,” Patricia said.

“Mist on the Moor,” published by the Internet company 1st Books, can

be found at Barnes & Noble Metro Pointe, o7 www.1stbooks.comf7 or o7

Amazon.comf7 .

* * *

Postscript to last week’s column. I love being right. Last weekend’s

performance by Newport Beach band Redline 5 at the Galaxy Concert Theater

in Santa Ana proved that the one song I heard, “Eastbay,” was no fluke.

This band rocks. Check them out now, before they go big and their tickets

skyrocket. For information on where they’ll be next, go to o7

www.redline5.comf7 .

* * *

Do you know a local artist, writer, painter, singer, filmmaker ...

etc. who deserves to get noticed? Send your nominee to In The Wings, 330

W. Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627, fax (949) 646-4170 or e-mail o7

jennifer.mahal@latimes.com.f7

* JENNIFER MAHAL is features editor of the Daily Pilot.