Beth Arnold is a journalist and award-winning writer. She  has contributed a chapter on living in France to Retirement Without Borders (Scribner) and is currently putting the finishing touches on a  memoir about family, identity, and loss. Visit her blog at www.betharnold.com and read her ‘Letter From Paris’ on The Huffington Post.

What brought you to Paris?

Paris was the first European city where I stepped foot, and I felt at home here immediately. So I knew Paris is where I wanted—maybe needed—to be since I was 19 years old.  Time passed.  I graduated from college and grad school.  Got married and gave birth to my daughters.  I thought I would create a situation for my family to live abroad even when my children were little.  But time ticks away when we aren’t paying attention.  I was busy being a mother, writing, throwing parties, living my life.  I divorced and remarried.  My brother Brent, who was also my best friend and soul mate, became ill and died, basically from AIDS.  It took me a long time to recover from his loss.  We made other trips to France, but in the summer of 1998, we brought our family to France for six weeks—and I went home with even more desire to find a way to live here.  At some point after that, I thought of a book idea for my husband, James Morgan, and we returned to France to follow in the footsteps of painter Henri Matisse, to have a grand adventure, and to see our selves and our lives in a new way.  The book Chasing Matisse was published in 2005 by Simon & Schuster.  You can discover more of our story at www.chasingmatisse.com.  It was a rollercoaster of a ride.

What keeps you in Paris?
 
I usually tell people that we’re insane—but in a good way.  Jim is a writer and editor.  I’m a writer/journalist/blogger.  I’ve become a maker of media—podcasts and films.  With the extraordinary technology available these days, we can live anywhere and do this work that we’re compelled to do.  Also, Paris feels like home not to mention it’s the most beautiful city in the world.  It’s the lifestyle, the culture, the possibility that I feel here.  Paris is located so very well to travel the world.

What books have changed your life?

This is one of those questions I could think about for hours, but what immediately comes to mind:  The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy, All the Pretty Horses and The Road by Cormac McCarthy, all of Milan Kundera’s books, and The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.

Books about women who have inspired me:  Rebel Heart: The Scandalous Life of Jane Digby by Mary S. Lovell; Vindication: A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft by Lyndall Gordon, The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing.

What books are on your nightstand?

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, Paris Journal 1944–1955 by Janet Flanner (Genêt), The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite by Beatrice Colin, Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, and a whole pile of others!

What book makes you laugh out loud?

David Sedaris’s books—when I only read a few chapters at a time.  If I read more than that, the pattern becomes too repetitive.  Augusten Burroughs sometimes.  They’ve got that fabulously wicked gay humor mastered, and Sedaris is a captain of performance stories. They’re pros at getting the laugh.

What advice would you give to struggling writers?

Write, write, write!  Maybe keep a day job—or have a day job where you can write.

What is the best advice you have ever received?

I worked for Senator John McClellan for two summers in Washington, D.C.  His Administrative Assistant, Miss Margie, was a quintessential Southern woman, sweet as pie and smart like a fox.  She gave me a note to give her boyfriend who was on the staff of the Watergate investigation, so I could get into the Watergate Hearings.  “What if they won’t let me in?” I demurely asked her.  “Act like you know what you’re doing,” she replied.  “You can get in anywhere.”  She was right.

How does living in a foreign country affect your writing?

I think that sometimes writers—or anyone else for that matter—need distance from a place in order to access some parts of themselves. If one is right in the middle of something or some place, the possibility exists that he or she can’t see the emotional or linguistic forest for the trees.  Being at a distance can provide that space—and being in a foreign country possibly gives the ultimate latitude, because the cultural chatter isn’t in one’s native language.

Many people dream of moving to Paris to write. What tips would you give on how to make that dream a reality?

Spend a semester or year abroad here while still in school.  Look for international jobs that would bring you here.  Be prepared to do what it takes to move here.  If your dream is strong enough, you’ll find a way.  Research, research, research…then take a leap!

At what hour of the day does inspiration strike? (Or what time of the day do you feel the most productive?)

I like to get started mid-morning—after I’ve gotten myself organized.  If I’m in full writing mode, I’ll edit my pages from the day before and then work on new pages. I might work until 7 P.M.  I often get ideas for whatever project I’m working on while watching movies.  I love movies!

What is your favorite Parisian café?

Café Nemour at the Place Colette

What’s next?

Actually, I have an idea for a graphic novel I’ve wanted to work on—although I may write it as a screenplay first.  I’m visually oriented.  I see all my books as movies, and this one is crying out loud to be one.

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