The last three years have been…interesting. I wrote one book – this time for adults. (Psychological thriller/horror set in Siberia.) It didn’t sell. I rewrote it to be YA…with a boy as main character. My agent suggested it would be better with a girl. I rewrote it again with a girl main character. We tried to sell it…and failed.

I wrote a full-length film with a friend – a rom com. It was our first screenplay, so we knew it was basically just practice, and that’s what it turned out to be. A really fun idea, but not terribly well executed.

I wrote a short film called “Kewpid and Psych-ee” for an upcoming TV series “WHATEVER AFTER” which was selected for and screened at the Marseille Web Fest (among others).

I wrote a middle-grade comedy genie book, which I sent to my agent last year, and which she loved but says needs a bit more work. (She’s right.)

Then I ghost-wrote a upper middle-grade book, which I just finished before Christmas.

In between time, to pay the rent, I translated a book from French to English, taught teen writing workshops in Paris, and did all sorts of other little projects for TV and books, finally taking a 3-day per week job writing TV commercials in English for a big ad agency located a block from  my house. I chose it so I could come home to walk Obi, fix the kids lunch on Wednesdays (1/2 day school in France), and take the occasional lunchtime nap.

I’m telling you all of this to answer your question: Where’s the next book? The answer: it’s coming! I’m not sure what form it will take, but being a writer is not an easy job when you are supporting a family smack dab in the center of Paris. The important thing is that I am still writing. And there is definitely much more to come.

Write Paris

Teen Writing Workshop

Oct 23-27, 2019 (school vacation)

Writing, learning & creativity in some of Paris’s most inspiring locations.

With international bestselling author Amy Plum.

Mornings: Amy’s spacious Bastille apartment. Afternoons: On-location, writing.

Day 1: Creating Credible Characters (The Louvre)

Day 2: World Building (Musée Nissim de Camondo)

Day 3: Spellbinding Settings (Père Lachaise Cemetery)

Day 4: Diverting Dialogues (le Centquatre)

Day 5: The Hero’s Journey (la Cité de l’architecture)

Includes:

• Methodology (where writers find their ideas, how to publish a book, etc.)
• Craft games to build writing skills
• Major building blocks of writing (1 topic per day)
• Confidence-building for creatives
• Give and receive positive and constructive critiques

10:00am – 5:00pm Wednesday through Sunday

500 euros per person, ages 12-18. Tuition includes writing materials and all visits.

Sign up: contact Amy amy@amyplumbooks.com

http://www.amyplumbooks.com/?p=7050

print the flyer: WritingWorkshopOct2019

Notre Dame, April 1 (2 weeks pre-fire) walking home from Shakespeare & Company Teen Book Club.

As the flames continue at Notre Dame, I sit in my apartment just 20 minutes’ walk away, and am truly heart-sick.

The cathedral, along with the Cluny Museum, were what sparked my passion for medieval art. I lived near both when I was 23 and visited them often…first to gawk, then to absorb, then to study. I went on to get my master’s degree in medieval art history. Gothic architecture was a large part of my coursework.

I have spent so much time in the cathedral, on my own, with my kids, and with friends. Most memorably was for Easter Sunday mass, with my late mother around 25 years ago. We were both overwhelmed by the throng of people, the incense, and the grandeur of the building, and had to go sit in the garden outside.

In the last couple of years, it has consistently shown up in my Instagram feed, since I walk by it once a month, on my way to the teen book club I host at Shakespeare and Company, which is directly across the river from it.

Notre Dame is so much more than a church. It’s a symbol, and truly serves as the heart of France. One of my first thoughts was that though the Nazis didn’t succeed in blowing it up (as Hitler had planned), now, 74 years later, it is burning.

Let’s hope that when the flames subside there is enough left to rebuild. What a tragedy.