Shifting Gears

I'm in a five-day writing class. It's located on the Left Bank near Saint Germain. It's really the area I was walking through yesterday, a very nice part of Paris, the sixth arrondissement. It's not as touristed as the fifth (the Latin Quarter), nor as grand as the area around the Eiffel Tower. So far, it might be my next most favorite part of Paris after my own area, meaning the north of the 9th and Montmartre. I find the Marais interesting too...  Well really, I don't know. Every area I've visited has something, and probably part of the reason I like my own little neighborhood is because it's familiar now. I know what's here and how it works—that and the fact that it's not touristed, that I hear more French here, than English.

I had lunch with two women from the class, both of whom speak French better than I do. One is an American from Maine who owns an apartment in Paris; the other is British. The British woman lives in Provence with her French husband and has for ten years or so. She speaks English with a French accent, or so it seems to me. She's absolutely at home speaking French. I enjoyed being in the company of French speaking people and in a very busy café where locals eat. We went inside and that was a different experience than sitting on the street. It was also different to be walking around with a couple of women who knew their way around. All I had to do was tag along.

We spent most of the day getting acquainted with one another and talking about the writing process and what's going to happen over the next four days. It was a completely different kind of environment  even than the Santa Rosa classes I've been attending—no tests or threats. This was a group of writers.

We're meeting in a little hotel that's very upscale and charming. I just have this one picture of the entryway. It wasn't a picture-taking kind of day and probably won't be for the rest of the week. Not a content-oriented day, rather a process-oriented day. The workshop is with Andrew Todhunter, I've said that right? He's written an award-winning book about eating in Paris called A Meal Observed. I took a workshop with him in Mendocino a couple of years ago and I really like his approach to teaching and to writing. He's a good teacher and I'm looking forward to his influence on my work.

In fact, one of the benefits and challenges of the workshop will be to test the degree to which my "Paris" rings true to people who know and care about Paris. I've no idea what to expect. Andrew did have good things to say in passing about my opening piece that's set amongst the tombs of Père Lachaise. I mentioned that I've been thinking I need to go there in stormy weather and he talked about going there as a young man, sneaking in after dark. He talked too about a dream he had that was very much reminded me of my own dream experiences; he had it sleeping in the ruins of Pompeii.

I've given everyone a copy of the first twenty pages of my novel, which includes the ghosts of Père Lachaise and introduces Tori's world and Victor Hugo's opening of Hernani. It will be very informative to get everyone's feedback and, of course, I'm nervous about it.