Restart. A Writing Workshop in Paris.

Re-Start!

by Stephanie Andrews

I cannot believe that I completely missed my flight to Paris by an entire day! It was my first international solo trip in 15 years, and I really messed up! My husband, Ed, informed me that my flight was the day before.  I felt so dumb.

Thankfully, Ed managed to find me another flight so I wouldn’t miss my first writing seminar. Fear and doubt started to set in— “What am I doing? I’m not a writer, I’m an interior designer!”

Re-Start.  I flew overnight and landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport. After taking a taxi to my hotel, I met up with my friends who live in the Château region of France. We made a weekend trip out of it and did all the fun touristy things: riding a boat on the Seine River, visiting the Eiffel Tower, exploring the Tuileries Gardens, and checking out the Musée de l’Homme.  I am incredibly lucky to have such amazing friends.  They left me Sunday night to meet my cohort of beginner travel writers at a picnic in the garden.  There are about 5 of us over 50, and it was evenly divided between men and women.  Our instructor is Rolf Potts.  (He wrote my favorite travel book: Vagabonding). Everyone went around the circle and shared where they are from, what they do for a living, and how they learned about the workshop.  We were all from North America, except for one sweet and handsome YouTuber from Portugal-Leo the Nomad.

Re-Start.  First Real Day.  Rolf sets some ground rules for the week.  He encourages us to be a “flaneur,” an observer of life.  He tells us “to open our eyes” by choosing a color to notice and follow in Paris when we are walking about.  For example, if I saw my color in the distance, I would choose to walk that way instead of the way I was originally headed.  Of course, I chose a new color each day, because that is who I am!  Rolf begins our first writing lesson by challenging us to write an intriguing first sentence.  Everyone writes one.  Everyone shared, and it became apparent that the better writers are not afraid to expose their childhood traumas.  Through many tears and surprise sentences,  I realized that this was not going to be an easy week.

Re-Start.  Tuesday.  We had the opportunity to elevator pitch an idea for a book to a prestigious editor.  Earlier, I had a one-on-one consultation with Rolf, and he encouraged me to make a pitch.  With a newfound confidence, I write a few words to present.  I listened to everyone give their pitches, wrote some notes on the feedback, and waited for my turn. (The editor looks a bit like Nicolas Cage.) He is quite encouraging and expresses the importance of structure and simplicity.  It is my turn, and I jumble up words about melding Nate Berkus’ “The Things that Matter” and Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love”.  (It sounded better in my head!) I cringed for the rest of the day and all that night.

Re-Start.  Wednesday.  We learned the proper way to” workshop” each other’s stories that we submitted before our trip to Paris.  I had submitted this blog post to the group.

I had already learned many ways to improve what I had written, so I was dreading Thursday.

However, I was in Paris and had evenings to myself, so I took advantage of each night and tried different restaurants.  My hotel was located in the Little Tokyo district of the 2nd arrondissement. I ate at the best Japanese, Korean, and Mediterranean restaurants, and, sadly, only a mediocre French one.  (My fault for not choosing well!).  This delicious food outside (cafe style), coupled with a beautiful view, made me realize how fortunate I am.  I was also beginning to form some unlikely friendships.  There is nothing like a writing workshop to know more than I  ever expected to learn in 5 days!  Raw. Honest.  Intimidating.

Restart. Thursday.  The dreaded day of “workshopping” my submission. While I have to remain quiet, people speak about the narrator as if I were not sitting in the room.  Book club style.  Much of the feedback I was expecting, but there were some sweet surprises.  Someone called my post an invitation to Paris, and then someone else appreciated the way I wrote about growing older.   The biggest takeaway regarding this post was to relate the title to the subject and go deeper. Most ideas were constructive, if I could just get my ego out of the way!

We ended the day with an author who published his first book recently after completing Rolf’s course.  He published without a known publisher (hybrid publishing), and it sounded like running a marathon.  Writing and publishing are two very different parts of the writing process, and they both seem quite grueling.

Restart.  Friday.  This day had a few lessons in the morning and then celebrations of our last day in the evening on the Seine.  This city has been described by many, but for me, I am in love.  I would like to live here for a few months, improve my French, and try to understand more of the mystery that keeps pulling at me since the first time I came.  As I am writing this to you, this unshakeable feeling of Paris is so close.  Undescribable, even for the best writers.

I have gotten a deeper appreciation for writing as a craft.  I have filled a notebook with writing rules and tips.  The instructor was smart and strict, yet I felt supported.  My thoughts on a book are not fully formed, but they go something like this: An interior designer’s international quest to find balance and beauty. I would like lots of photos and sketches, because that is what appeals to me. Still need a title (I am open to suggestions!)