A Solo Writing Retreat in Paris

I’ve been busy. What a couple of months it’s been.

We postponed our Camino trip due to the unrest in the Middle East. We didn’t want to but as business owners with a fleet, we thought it best not to be on the other side of the world in a fuel crisis.

So we decided to go to Bali. We love Bali. The time zone is similar to home and we’re only a 6 hour flight away if we need to get home quickly.

Then…because if you want to make the goddess laugh, you make plan…

A few weeks later, we cancelled Bali because my husband ruptured his left Achilles. I’m specific about it being the ‘left’ because he did the same thing to his right Achilles in March last year.

sigh…

The main difference with the left ankle is at least he can drive! He’s also very self-sufficient this time as last year he had other health issues he was dealing with.

So with that in mind, he changed our flights from return to Bali for two, to return to Paris for ONE. ME!

I’ve been here since 18 May, tucked away in my little Marais apartment, writing and reading and occasionally going out into the city I love on these very hot summer days.

This is my tenth visit to this city. I love it obviously!

I’m writing this a few days after I wrote the introduction above and it has cooled off a lot. It’s pleasant now and I have to admit, I agree with Gil Pender – Paris is better in the rain! I can see low clouds from the window of my 4th floor apartment. I’m relieved because the 32 degree celcius plus days were getting me down. The city was smelly and dusty and everyone was alternating between enjoying the summer after a long cold winter and being really effing cranky!

If you’d like to read along with my adventures here, click the link below of the first post or search Christine Betts Writerpainter on Substack.

You can also read the serialised version of my novel, Alia Henry and the Ghost Writer on my Substack. Click the link here to read.

I’m excited to say I have finished the first draft of my second book in the Alia Henry series and received some useful feedback from my friend author Penny Fields. Last night I started on the second draft and deleted 1200 words of the opening 6000 (3 chapters.) I’m slashing and burning and killing darlings, darling!

I’m happy with the story and it leads perfectly into the third book which will be set in Paris.

I never intended to write a series but while I was at the Romance Writers of Australia conference last year, I attended a workshop with author Shannon Curtis on writing a series. It all made so much sense! I plotted books 2, 3, and 4 on the spot!

Writing them has taken a bit longer, of course. I started well with 20k words in the first few weeks of writing. It helped that I had organised a writing weekend at Byron Bay with a dedicated group of local writers. I smashed out 8k words in a weekend!

Things slowed after that and I didn’t write a thing on my Europe trip. I didn’t even take my laptop – that’s how confident I was that I wouldn’t write while traveling.

This trip to Paris was unexpected, but as soon as my husband mentioned it, I knew I would set up it up as a writing retreat. After visiting museums and chateaux and bookshops all day, I head back to the apartment and write, Sometimes I have to force myself to go to bed!

I’m missing my husband, my family and friends but I’ll be back in Australia soon enough and be missing Paris! So I might as well enjoy it while I’m here.

Today I am jumping on the Metro and visiting the Trocadero area to see the Musée de l’Homme and the architecture museum. I’ll say Hi to the Eiffel Tower and stop in at the Biblioteque Mazarin on the way back to the this side of town.