From the Writing Desk of Ian Moore

Author Ian Moore book signing in Waterstones ©Ian Moore

From the writing desk, of Ian Moore

 

Welcome to the French Village Diaries interview feature, From the Writing Desk, where to coincide with the release of Death and Croissants (A Follet Valley Mystery), I am delighted to be (virtually) joining author Ian Moore at his writing desk in France.

 

A bit about Ian

Ian Moore is a stand-up comedian in the UK and a husband, father of three boys, farmhand and chutney-maker in France. He is a mod in both walks of life and most of his time is spent travelling grumpily between the two. He now also runs a B&B in the Loire Valley, from where he has written two memoirs, before turning his pen to fiction.

 

Your writing space

Ian, how important is your desk space to your writing? Is it tidy and well-organised or creatively cluttered? 

 

Ian: It’s a vital space which starts off very tidy and then through the process of writing gets ever more cluttered with post-it notes, unwashed mugs, empty packets of crisps and wine stains!

 

Does your desk have a view? If so, does this inspire you or distract you?

 

Ian: The view is amazing. I can see for miles over the Loire Valley, but the immediate view is of bickering goats, fusspot hens and the horse. It’s calming and stressful at the same time! I work in the morning usually, but the evening view when I’m planning the next day’s writing is so special in the summer. It faces west and if the weather is calm there’s a sunset and quite often hot-air balloons.

 

Do you prefer to work to a deadline, and if so, do you set yourself daily or weekly targets?

 

Ian: I absolutely need a deadline because it means discipline, and I don’t think I could write without that. Like I say, I work in the morning, and I set myself a minimum of 1000 – sometimes it takes an hour, sometimes it takes four!

 

Writing during Covid-19

As a stand-up comedian as well as a writer, the pandemic must have changed so many aspects of your life. Did the sudden lack of traveling give you more focus for your writing or did life in lockdown affect your motivation to write? 

 

Ian: It was actually the change I needed! Health means I can’t travel as much as I used to, and when I say health I mean physical and mental. Travelling is hard! It wasn’t just about motivation though, it was about opportunity. That and hiding in my office to give my wife and children a break.

 

Is there anything you have learned from the past twelve months that you will use in your future writing?

 

Ian: I think the main thing, and I love this, is that rural France can cope with anything. It already has, and will do so again.

 

Death and Croissants by Ian Moore

Your latest release

Your latest novel, Death and Croissants (A Follet Valley Mystery) was released on 1^st July, can you tell us a bit about the inspiration behind it?

 

Ian: Well, the main character is a middle-aged Englishman who runs a B&B in the Loire Valley. Obviously that was a stroke of inspirational genius and not based on anyone I know! I find running a B&B a bit mundane after 25 years of stand up comedy, so I would invent backstories about the guests… then it hit me! A B&B is the perfect centre for a changing set of characters, the Loire Valley is the perfect setting for a comedy romp. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before!

 

I thought the characters in Death and Croissants were great fun, were any of them based on people you’ve met since moving to the Loire Valley? 

 

Ian: Not specifically, but there are composites of French character and English expat character in many of them. I adore French rural attitude to life, and I really wanted to capture that affectionately.

 

How would you normally celebrate the release of a new book, and will it be different this year?

 

Ian: Well, I’ve been in the UK for two weeks. I had a launch at The Comedy Store surrounded (safely) by friends, I’ve done over 20 signings in bookshops all over the country and I am – in truth – living my dream. Walking into Foyles on Charing Cross Road or Waterstones in Piccadilly and seeing your book on a stand, with glowing staff reviews is beyond my expectations. At some point, someone will pinch me and I’ll wake up!

 

Life outside of writing

What do you look forward to, when you’ve saved the document and switched off the computer, as your treat at the end of the writing day?

 

Ian: It depends how it’s gone. Sometimes you can be looking forward to the next session of writing, sometimes a pichet of rosé on the terrasse! Either way, clearing the head is important!

 

If I was headed to the Loire Valley for a short break, what do you recommend I include in my itinerary? 

 

Ian: The Chateau de Valençay. A superb architectural delight, wonderful gardens, a great restaurant, an animal park and… (deep breath)… links to the a bankrupt Scotsman swindler and the Panama canal, Napoleon, The Congress of Vienna and a hiding place for Louvre Museum treasures in WW2. Also, the birthplace of profiteroles!

 

Thank you for taking the time out of your writing day to let me join you at your writing desk. 

You can read my review of Death and Croissants here.

 

You can follow Ian on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and sign up to his podcast series Mustn’t Grumble here. I’ve only recently got into podcasts, but have to say, I’m enjoying this one very much.

 

Ian also runs La Pause: Val de Loire chambre d’hôtes, a B&B in the Loire Valley. You can visit the website here. 

 

You can read my reviews of Ian’s hilarious memoirs about life in France here:

A La Mod

C’est Modnifique

 

You might also enjoy reading my France et Moi interview with Ian here.

From the Writing Desk of Sophie Claire

From the Writing Desk of Sophie Claire

From the writing desk, of Sophie Claire

 

Welcome to the French Village Diaries interview feature, From the Writing Desk, where this week, to coincide with the recent release of Summer at the French Olive Grove I am delighted to be (virtually) joining author Sophie Claire at her writing desk.

 

A bit about Sophie

Sophie Claire writes uplifting emotional stories with their heart in Provence, where she spent her childhood summers. She is half French, half Scottish, was born in Africa and growing up in England she felt she didn’t belong anywhere – except in the pages of a book. Perhaps this is why she likes to help her characters find their home; a place in the world where they can be loved for themselves.

Previously, she worked in marketing and proofreading academic papers, but writing is what she always considered her ‘real job’ and now she’s delighted to spend her days dreaming up heartwarming contemporary romance stories set in beautiful places. 

 

Find out more at her website here.

 

Your writing space

Sophie, how important is your desk space to your writing? Do you only write at your desk, or are you happy sitting anywhere?

 

Sophie: I love my messy office and desk! Oh I wish it wasn’t messy, of course, but I’m very lucky that I can disappear in there and close the door on the outside world. I work on a desktop, I have files of notes and magazine cuttings, and I like to edit on paper printouts so I’m not very mobile and my desk is where I do most of my writing. However, I do miss the pre-Covid days when, every now and then, I’d take my notebook and go and sit in a café to write for an hour. I used to find it helped if I was nervous about starting a new project or writing a tricky scene. It’s something I look forward to doing again soon hopefully.

 

Is your chair comfortable, old and slightly squishy or modern and ergonomic?

 

Sophie: Ha! I have a plain wooden kitchen chair. I used to have a grand, height-adjustable office chair but after suffering for several months from tennis elbow, I abandoned it one day and the tennis elbow vanished almost instantly. I’ve no idea how it cured it, but now I’m sticking with the kitchen chair.

 

Do you prefer to work to a deadline, and if so, do you set yourself daily or weekly targets?

 

Sophie: I hate deadlines, always have, and I write much more freely when left to my own devices, but they’re inevitable so I try to stay ahead of the game and set myself monthly targets with a couple of writing friends. I usually meet them with just days or hours to spare, which goes to show how well they work. We hold ourselves accountable, but also congratulate each other on what we’ve achieved, which is so important. 

 

Writing during Covid-19

As a writer, with a desk and computer at home, life and work would have continued for you throughout lockdown, but did the pandemic affect your writing and motivation to write?

 

Sophie: The pandemic made concentration difficult for most people, and I’m no exception. Now that we’ve got used to the situation my concentration has improved, but I’ll be honest, I’m finding the well of creativity is beginning to run dry. I’m really looking forward to meeting friends again, travelling (especially to Provence!) and living a ‘normal’ life again because these all feed into my creativity. 

 

Is there anything you have learned from living through the pandemic that you might use in future writing projects?

 

Sophie: I like to think that I’ve learned to write despite the distractions around me (I used to be alone working from home; now there are four of us). I do believe the pandemic has made us all more adaptable and I’m quite amazed by how humankind has responded. 

 

Summer at the French Olive Grove by Sophie Claire

Your latest release

Your fourth novel, Summer at the French Olive Grove was released last week, can you tell us a bit about it?

 

Sophie: It’s about adventurous filmmaker, Lily Martin, who breaks her arm and must return home to France while she recuperates. She hasn’t seen her childhood crush Olivier Lacoste since the devastating fire that changed her life and they have unfinished business…

 

Summer at the French Olive Grove was actually the second book I wrote (after A Forget-Me-Not Summer) and the one that won me my agent, Megan Carroll. Although she loved it (and other agents were interested too), she wasn’t able to place it with a suitable publisher. So she pitched my next book (The Christmas Holiday) and I signed a book deal with Hodder. A couple of years later, they asked to see Summer at the French Olive Grove and I was relieved that it only needed a light edit so there wasn’t anything fundamentally wrong with the book. Sometimes you have to be in the right place at the right time, and I hope this will inspire others to keep persevering.

 

All of your books feature a little bit of Provençal magic, is this area of France a special place for you?

 

Sophie: It’s an extremely special place (and I love that you used the word ‘magic’ because that’s exactly how it feels to me). My mum is French and we spent every summer at my grandparents’ house when I was a child. They lived near Sanary, a picturesque fishing port, and I have wonderful memories of trips to the beach, visiting hilltop villages, and big family meals with delicious French cooking (my grandmother was an excellent cook).

 

Summer at the French Olive Grove takes place in the fictional seaside village of St Pierre, which is inspired by Sanary. I fictionalised it to allow me to tinker with the geography and make it less developed than it is now, but readers might recognise elements such as the pancake restaurant and the colourful fishing boats in the harbour. 

 

How would you normally celebrate the release of a new novel, and will it be different this year?

 

Sophie: Normally I’d celebrate with my writing friends, the Novelistas. We’d hold a launch party in North Wales with cake, champagne and goody bags. Sadly, that isn’t possible this year, but I’m planning to buy some delicious French patisseries (Olivier, in the book, is a master baker) and celebrate with friends and family.  

 

Life outside of writing

What do you look forward to, when you’ve saved the document and switched off the computer, as your treat at the end of the writing day?

 

Sophie: Reading time! It doesn’t always happen, but that’s what I love the most – getting wrapped up in the words of a good book, preferably in the garden on a sunny day. I also love baking, as my readers may have spotted because food always features prominently in my books. 

 

Sophie Claire, reading in the garden

I know I have really missed a French café terrace, a café alongé and a spot of people watching, what aspect of normal life have you missed most in the last year?

 

Sophie: Oh yes, people watching is wonderfully inspiring and I miss sitting in cafes too. But most of all, I miss meeting up with writing friends. My Hebden Bridge group, Authors on the Edge, is releasing the third Miss Moonshine anthology (Midsummer Magic at Miss Moonshine’s Emporium) on 21 June and we’re keeping everything crossed that we’ll be able to celebrate in person. It will be so nice to catch up and talk writing! 

 

Thank you for taking the time out of your writing day to let me join you at your writing desk. 

 

Sophie: Thanks for having me, Jacqui. I love your blog and always look out for your French-themed book recommendations. 

You can read my reviews of Sophie’s books here:

Summer at the French Olive Grove

A Forget-me-not Summer

The Christmas Holiday

A Winter’s Dream

 

  

From the Writing Desk of Jennifer Bohnet

From the Writing Desk of Jennifer Bohnet (with Django)

From the writing desk, of Jennifer Bohnet

 

Welcome to the French Village Diaries interview feature, From the Writing Desk, where to coincide with the release of Summer at the Château I am delighted to be (virtually) joining author Jennifer Bohnet at her writing desk in France. 

A bit about Jennifer

I find it hard to believe but I've lived in France now for twenty-two years. After eleven years down on the Cote d'Azur where Richard was a guardien for a villa, we moved from the Mediterranean coast to a small quirky cottage in the depths of Brittany. A bit of a culture shock to say the least! I've sold hundreds of shorts stories to the women's magazine market in the UK, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark - I even had my own newspaper column in a group of local Devon papers at one time. My 16th novel Summer At The Château is published by Boldwood Books and I have another four book contract with them.

 

 

Your writing space

 

Jennifer, how important is your desk space to your writing? Is it tidy and well-organised or creatively cluttered? 

 

Jennifer: Creatively cluttered is a good phrase! It’s a large desk with my iMac computer sitting in the middle and I do try and keep it tidy and organised which is relatively easy when I’m writing a book but come the editing it becomes covered in reference books, scraps of paper and post-notes as I print out the manuscript to go through it. In this photo I’ve just finished a book and about to start the next, so it is reasonably tidy!

 

Does your desk have a view? If so, does this inspire you or distract you?

 

Jennifer: We’ve lived in our small quirky cottage up here in Brittany now for ten years and eighteen months ago we finally had the new roof we’ve needed all that time. New roof meant the bedrooms in the attic now had head room - and the smallest one is my office cum guest room. It’s a lovely light room from the new two dormer windows back and front and my desk is directly in front of the windows overlooking the front gate and garden. The view when I’m sitting is sky and the large oak tree in the garden which is fine by me and when I stand up I can see the lawn and several containers of flowers by the front drive and down towards my favourite willow tree, the pond and the chickens pecking around. 

 

Do you try and write at regular times of the day, every day?

 

Jennifer: I find the best time of day for me to write is for a couple of hours before lunch. I can answer e-mails, do promo and social media any time but I do find it hard to get words on screen in the afternoon. So after breakfast, a half hour walk with the dog followed by coffee I head for my desk with the sole aim of getting at least one thousand words written. Real life does often get in the way though, although rarely housework.

 

Writing during Covid-19

 

As a writer, with a desk and computer at home, life and work would have continued for you throughout lockdown, but did the pandemic affect your writing and motivation to write?

 

Jennifer: Definitely. Our daughter and her four children are in the UK and she has two cafes to run in Devon. Watching the pandemic unfold over there via the TV was as worrying as watching the French news. The first lockdown here was a different experience for us too, because our son and his fiancé (now his wife!) who had both finished a contract on Sea Shepherd in Mexico, returned to Europe just before everything shut down that first time and as they had nowhere to go and no income, they lived in a cabin in our garden that we hastily fitted out for them. Having them around for so many months was a bonus for us. They’ve been back over there between Mexico and Florida since September and that is a worry still.

 

Do you think living through the pandemic will influence your future writing projects?

 

Jennifer: There’s a lot of discussion about this in writing groups! Personally I have made the decision that my future books will either be set pre 2019 or after 2021 because for so many people it has been a traumatic time and if they read for escapism then reminding them of that time would maybe trigger some dark memories.

 

With a release date of 13^th May 2021, was Summer at the Château your pandemic project and did having a focus help with life in lockdown? 

 

Jennifer: Summer at the Château was the new book I wrote mainly during 2020 but I also revised, tweaked, added about 20K words to One Summer in Monte Carlo which was a reissue of one of my back list, Follow your Star. They both gave me a much-needed focus during 2020.

Summer at the Château by Jennifer Bohnet

 

Your latest release

 

I’ve got used to strong independent female characters in your novels, can you introduce us to who we are going to meet in Summer at the Chateau, and tell us a bit about their story. 

 

Jennifer: Pixie Sampson is the heroine of the story - although Gwen her 83-year-old mum has her own storyline too. Almost ten years ago Pixie and her husband Frank bought a château in Brittany under the viager scheme which is popular in France. (You learn about it in the book but basically it’s a scheme that allows older people to stay in their homes without any money worries, as the new ‘owners’  pay them a ‘bouquet’ of money and then monthly payments until they either move out or they die. It’s all done legally through notaires and there is benefits for both parties.) When Frank her husband is killed in a road accident, Pixie learns that they have actually owned the château for over a year, but Frank hasn’t told her because he’s been keeping a secret from her. Pixie and Gwen go for a visit over Easter in order for Pixie to put the château on the market, but things happen, and she decides she will spend one summer there before selling it on. Needless to say, it is an eventful summer. Readers who have read A French Affair will also meet up with a character or two from that book who have cameo roles in this one.

 

How would you normally celebrate the release of a new novel, and will things a bit different for Summer at the Chateau?

 

Jennifer: In the past when I’ve had a book published in the summer, I’ve invited friends for a glass of champagne and nibbles in the garden on release day, a sort of English garden party. In the run up to May 13th when Château was published, I wasn’t sure what the ‘mixing and meeting’ rules would be like at that date, so I didn’t organise anything and Richard and I celebrated with a bottle of champagne on our own. I do plan on having a garden party to celebrate though as soon as the rules are officially relaxed for gatherings.

 

Life outside of writing

 

What do you look forward to, when you’ve saved the document and switched off the computer, as your treat at the end of the writing day?

 

Jennifer: In summer joining Richard downstairs, and sitting out on our sheltered terrace and enjoying a glass of wine. In winter it’s a cosy drink by the log fire.

 

You have set your novels in many beautiful locations in France, from Brittany in the north west to the Côte d’Azur and Monte Carlo in the south east. Where in France will you be taking us to in you next book?

 

Jennifer: At the moment the next new book will be back down somewhere in the south of France. Even in these days of Google see all maps, I need to have at least visited if not lived in the locations I write about. 

 

Thank you for taking the time out of your writing day to let me join you at your writing desk. 

 

Jennifer: Jacqui the pleasure has been mine. Thank you for inviting me.

You can read my reviews of some of Jennifer’s novels here:

Summer at the Chateau

A French Affair

One Summer in Monte Carlo

Rendez-Vous in Cannes

A Year of Taking Chances

Rosie’s Little Café on the Riviera

You Had Me at Bonjour

A French Pirouette

Jennifer Bohnet's Social Media Links

Facebook 

Twitter 

Instagram 

Newsletter Sign Up Link 

Bookbub profile 

  

 

 

  

From the Writing Desk of Carol Drinkwater

From the Writing Desk of Carol Drinkwater

From the writing desk, of Carol Drinkwater

 

Welcome to the French Village Diaries interview feature, From the Writing Desk, where this week, to coincide with the release of her new novel, An Act of Love, I am delighted to be (virtually) joining actress and author Carol Drinkwater at her writing desk in France.

 

Carol Drinkwater, known for her award-winning portrayal of Helen Herriot in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small, is the author of over twenty books for both the adult and young adult market, including the bestselling nonfiction Olive Farm Series of memoirs that recount her experiences on her olive farm overlooking the bay of Cannes. Her fascination with the olive tree inspired two travel books and The Olive Route, a five-part documentary film series following her travels around the Mediterranean. Carol and husband Michel split their time between their farm in the south of France and their home on the outskirts of Paris.

 

Carol’s memoirs were great comfort reading for me when we moved to France in 2004 and everything felt daunting and different.

 

Your writing space

 

Carol, how important is your desk space to your writing? Is it tidy and well-organised or creatively cluttered? 

 

Carol: My desks. I have three – two at the Olive Farm and one at our northern address, outside Paris, where my husband has his editing suites. All of them are extremely cluttered. Every now and again – usually when I have delivered a novel - I tidy up, but in no time at all, the piles grow, the papers shift like desert sands losing all order, covering over everything else and I am obliged to root out for myself a small patch where I can continue to write my notes, scribble thoughts, dates etc. By the way, the desks are all wooden dining tables stolen from other rooms. Two have drawers, the third doesn’t.

 

Does your desk have a view? If so, does this inspire you or can it distract you?

 

Carol: Each has a view. The principal one is in my library at the Olive Farm. It looks out across a courtyard to olive trees, a Judas tree, and drystone wall terraces. No, I don’t find looking outwards distracting. I know some writers need a blank wall but that would make me feel shut in, claustrophobic. I like to see the nature, birds and other creatures going about their day. The dogs come and sit at the open terrace doors and snore while I work. I find their presence very reassuring but I would not want them inside on my lap or at my feet. That would be too distracting.

 

Do you try and write at regular times of the day?

 

Carol: For work, I am a morning person. When I am deep in a book I like to begin at six or seven in the morning A cup of coffee in my hand, still in my dressing gown or, in summer, a sarong, I pad to my library and settle myself in silence there, tuning in to the dawn chorus beyond the French windows. I am not someone who can write late into the night. I have noticed though since lockdown that my hours are changing. I sleep later, which is something I never used to do. 

 

Writing during Covid-19 

 

As a writer, with a desk and computer at home, work would have continued for you throughout lockdown, but has the pandemic affected your motivation to write? 

 

Carol: Yes, now it is affecting me. Last year, I was editing my new novel AN ACT OF LOVE, and worked almost ceaselessly. Waking at a very early hour and continuing without stop for long stretches. I worked far more intensively than almost ever before. A year on since our first confinement, I am in a very different mental place: I am feeling a little directionless and I am grieving. Friends have died, others are sick. I cannot travel - Michel and I are incessant travellers. I find all these facts hard to deal with. I am at work on a new novel and I am battling with myself to allow myself sink into it. Even settling to this interview has taken me two days!

 

Do you think the content of your future writing projects will be influenced by the pandemic?

 

Carol: I think I am influenced by these experiences already and so the heart and soul of me, which is in my work, has been profoundly moved. It does not mean that I will write scenes set around a pandemic but some of the despair, the disappointment at how so much of this has been handled, has changed me. The loss of friends has left an emptiness within me, a sense of no return.

 

Your latest release

 

Your latest novel An Act of Love is set during the Second World War. The lockdowns and curfews of this past year are more normal occurrences during war years than in peacetime and have been challenging for many. Can you tell us a bit about An Act of Love and what are you hoping readers will get from this book that will help them cope?

 

Carol: My heroine, Sara, is seventeen. A brave, courageous and fiery spirit although of course at the outset she has no real sense of her own power. She, along with her parents, escaped Poland before the Germans marched into their country in 1939. They find themselves - after two years on the run, living in hiding – delivered into a mountain village inland from Nice where they are offered an abandoned house to take refuge in. Sara’s story is that of a young woman at the beginning of her adult life wrestling with all those mixed emotions. Her longing for love, romance, freedom, maturity, independence. However, she and her Jewish parents, are refugees. The world is not hers to take, to enjoy as she would like. During the course of the novel she makes some choices that change her and her life forever. She grows up, grows strong and learns that she is the mistress of her universe. 

 

The inspiration for An Act of Love came from the stories from the past that you discovered on a visit to a small Alpine village. How important do you think community is when people are living through difficult times?

 

Carol: This is a fascinating and very relevant question. Community plays a very important role in this novel and I think that community – learning to share and count on others – can be a huge blessing. A life changer, life saver.

 

One day, some time in mid-90s, I walked into a village where I discovered that the population of that French village had made the choice to harbour refugees, predominantly Jews, who would have be slaughtered if they had been caught by the Nazis, or sent to camps – at that stage no one knew what those camps meant. I uncovered so many stories of extraordinary heroism. French villagers and immigrants who risked their own lives to help, save others. Acts of love, bravery, decency. I was so inspired by so many of these generous human beings that I was impelled to write a novel about such people. Unsung heroes and heroines.

 

Life outside of writing

 

What do you look forward to, when you’ve saved the document and switched off the computer, as your treat at the end of the writing day?

 

Carol: These days, my desires are very simple things. A glass of wine by the fireside or out on the terrace with my husband. I have learnt to be grateful for what I have, which includes a treasure trove of gifts. If I have achieved a decent day’s work, I am at peace. If not, I take comfort from the fact that there is another day tomorrow, please God, and that I have a very special man at my side who encourages me. 

 

With plenty of space and lovely scenery, France is a great place to explore. If you were to take a break away from the writing desk where in France would you take your picnic?

 

Carol: Well, aside from a shady spot on our own lovely Olive Farm, I am always attracted to the Calanques area near Cassis (where I set my last novel, THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF). I also love the Camargue, so a windy beach somewhere there and a swim afterwards would suit me down to the ground.

 

How would you normally celebrate the release of a new novel, and will it be different this year?

 

Carol: I am usually on a book tour when my latest work is published so lunch or dinner with my publishers. Or with friends if I’m attending a literary festival. This year, I suppose, Michel and I will be together at the farm and it will be a very quiet affair. It is also the week after my birthday! That is fine, I am perfectly happy with the two of us together lifting a glass to a novel that I am extremely proud of and that, I sincerely hope, readers will enjoy as much as I have loved writing it.

 

I am sure they will. Sara’s story gripped my attention and I lost hours among the pages, my heart in my mouth, fearing for her safety. It is a beautifully descriptive book that will stay with me for a long while yet. Thank you for taking the time out of your writing day to let me join you at your writing desk. 

 

Carol: It has been a pleasure. Thank you for your interest and support.

 

An Act of Love will be released by Michael Joseph in paperback and ebook format, on 29th April 2021. Join me back here on the blog tomorrow to read my full review.

  

  

All of Carol’s other books are available in paperback and ebook format. Links to Amazon can be found below.

 

You can follow Carol on Facebook and Twitter and visit her website here.