Interview: Author Gracie Bialecki

Recently, I’ve been making a concerted effort to become more involved in the writing/reading/literary scene in Paris. It feels like a waste to live here with the interests that I have and not be more open and involved. 

In my efforts (and thanks to a mutual friend and new work project) I met American author Gracie Bialecki. Gracie, who has a published collection of poetry and a novel under her belt, has been living in Paris for almost four years. Her first novel, Purple Gold, was recently released by ANTIBOOKCLUB, and she is currently working on her second. She is also the co-founder of Thirst, a gallery and storytelling series, a poetry editor at Paris Lit Up (an association that also puts on great open mic nights), runs an editing and creative coaching business, and is an all-around cool girl. 

The more time I spend in Paris, the more I appreciate the art and literary scene here. As both Gracie and I agreed, it’s generally more acceptable to be an artist or a writer here than it is in the United States. If you tell an American you’re a writer, they’ll usually ask you what your real job is. If you tell a Parisian (or an expat) the same, they’ll ask you what piece you’re working on. 

While Paris does not represent the whole of France (as any French person who lives outside of the capital will tell you), the city does nurture creatives. It’s just easier to be an artist here, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that capitalism isn’t as “in your face” as it is in my home country. You can also survive in Paris on next to nothing, something that just isn’t possible in places like New York City or the like. This means you can devote most of your time to your craft instead of a boring 9 to 5. 

And so, when Gracie shared that she was working on her second novel, I not only wanted to know more about what it’s like to be an actual published author, I wanted to know more about her story, her process, and her relationship with reading and writing (among other things). If you’re also curious, I invite you to read our conversation below.

Molli: Tell me a bit about yourself!

Gracie Bialecki: I’m a writer and literary coach who lives in Paris. I used to think that I was a fiction writer but I actually write a lot of poems, and I was a columnist for a year with Epiphany Magazine, so it turns out a write a bit of everything. Which I really like, and I think it keeps things interesting and they all definitely feed off and nourish each other. 

I grew up outside of New York City and lived there for five years before moving to Paris, so I definitely see myself as a New York person in addition to Paris. There’s a really wonderful bookstore scene in both Bushwick and Williamsburg, I worked at Molasses Books for a little while, and around the same time I found out about Brazenhead Books, which was a secret bookstore that my friend Michael Seidenberg ran out of his apartment.

M: Oh, can you tell us more about that? Such a fun story.

GB: Brazenhead was a magical place that sadly no longer exists, but even when it did exist it didn’t feel like it was real. It was a bookstore run out of a private apartment, so you would go to this residential building, ring the buzzer, walk up to the apartment, open the door and you’d be in these three tiny rooms filled with books. It was open to everybody, you could do whatever you wanted there. It was a really lovely way of meeting other artists and writers. It was pretty surreal to be there, because not only was it such an incredible space, but I also had memories of reading about it in a newspaper years before. The fact that I eventually became Michael’s assistant made me feel like my life had really come full circle. 

M: It does sound like an incredible place! So, what made you decide to come to Paris?

GB: I loved the book community in New York, but I was also working full-time. I had started a novel but it was very hard to make any progress on it. And I had always wanted to live in Paris because I had studied here, I had studied French, I had these French friends, so, it felt like one of those “if not now, then when?” moments. 

I’m very, very lucky because I was able to move here and focus on my writing and readjust my life towards that. Paris has become very nurturing for my writing, it’s a place that I really associate with that. 

As regularly as possible, Monday-Friday I ride my bike to the Marais and I write in this beautiful historic library and it’s absolutely free to go there and work. There are lockers, there are restrooms...it’s the most beautiful coworking space I could have ever asked for that’s totally free, and a 15-min bike ride away. 

M: I don’t know if it’s because we’re in Paris and it’s really an “artist’s city,” but I feel like there are more creative people here, but open. I feel like the world in NYC is so closed off, whereas here people are more willing to “share the wealth.”

GB: I totally agree. Brazenhead felt more open because it was a very decommodified space, and you could go there for hours and there was no obligation to buy a book. I think that there’s more of that sense, especially here in Paris, you can stay in a café for four hours, no one’s going to bother you. Whereas in New York, I really think that so much of it just comes down to real estate. You have to pay to be anywhere, you have to pay to have your place. There are fewer parks, there are fewer libraries, fewer gardens. Everywhere is commercial.

M: It’s also not as normal to go to a café in America and sit there by yourself for five hours. 

GB: And, I feel like I see more people just reading and writing here. 

M: Definitely. Describe your own relationship with reading and writing. Is it something that you’ve always been interested in, or something that you came to later in life? 

GB: I grew up in a small, rural town near an apple orchard, woods, and fields, and I spent the vast majority of my childhood reading. I remember in 7th grade my best friend and I decided that we were going to read every book in the library (laughs). I think we read almost 120 books that year! And we also didn’t have cable TV at home. We had a television to watch movies but there was very little to do besides run around the woods and read, which now I’m really grateful for. And I’ve always loved reading, so I was never bored. 

When I was in second grade, I got a journal and I really wanted to learn how to write in cursive so I could just fill all of the pages of the journal with cursive. And now I write in cursive and I have many journals like that, and I think about that sometimes (laughs).

M: I was like that as a kid too. I remember learning to read at a very young age and same, I always had access to a TV but I always preferred reading. I remember being in class having my book in my lap while I was supposed to be listening to the teacher (laughs). That’s what I would get in trouble for in school.

GB: Me too! (laughs) I see reading and writing as being so closely linked. It really amazes me when I meet authors who aren’t also readers, I’m just like how is that possible? Because you can learn so much from reading. 

M: How did you start writing your first novel? Can you tell us a bit more about that process?

GB: It was another “if not now, then when?” moment. I still remember writing it on my then boyfriend’s mattress (that was on the floor) on a random piece of paper with a pen I borrowed. I was just like, “I’m starting today. It’s starting.” And nothing that I wrote of that scene actually ended up in the novel (laughs). 

I just made that commitment to myself and started carving out the time. It went very slowly. I would set a timer for half an hour and I would make myself write for half an hour and it was very difficult. But it got easier, like everything that you practice. 

I write most of my stuff out longhand before typing it up. [When writing my first novel] I would write and write in notebooks, and then when I felt like I had no idea what was going on and I was starting to lose track of everything I typed it up and started organizing it. But, the novel really evolved. In the beginning, I thought it was going to be from the perspective of four different characters and then when I typed it up I realized that it was really just this one character who I was most comfortable writing with and it was really her story. And then, later, I rewrote the whole thing. So rather than in the third person, it was in the second person. So, I would say that if you read the very first manuscript and the very last one, there would be two very different books. 

M: This was your first novel and I don’t know if your style or approach has changed now, but was it more like, “okay, I’ve got this story in my head and I’m just going to write it down,” or, did you focus on the plotline, developing different themes, etc? I guess my question is, do you get that “technical” with your writing, or do you just...write?

GB: That’s a great question because for the first novel, I definitely just wrote. I had general ideas, I knew I wanted it to take place on a college campus, I knew that there was going to be a love story, I knew that there were going to be some weed dealers, and that was kind of it. And because of that, that’s why I did have to do that full rewrite to get the final version. I went through many versions just trying to figure out what was going to happen. Then I finally had the characters and the plot, and once I had that I was like, okay, now I actually know what my book is about (laughs). 

For the second novel I’m working on, I really sincerely hope I don’t have to rewrite the entire thing from scratch (laughs). I’ve definitely been more deliberate about planning things out, and the story came to me a lot more clearly. 

M: This segues well into another question, how has your writing practice developed over the years? Do you find yourself approaching your projects differently? 

GB: I think it’s still important to have those creative moments where you’re just writing, and you’re not really worrying about what’s going to happen, and you’re not getting too involved. I filled two Moleskin notebooks just longhand writing before I typed anything up. Editing comes later. At the same time, I do think more about what I’m trying to say, especially in the second one [novel], what I wanted the reader to be feeling and what messages I wanted to be conveyed. And so that, I think, having that in mind, makes it easier to weave throughout and also gives the whole work a bit more cohesion. 

The other difference is that I’m working with a writing group on my second novel, which has been really helpful. We started working together after I already had maybe one or two drafts, so, they’re not very involved in developing the plot and the characters, although things have definitely shifted and things have come into focus because of working with them. 

M: What made you decide to try a writing group? Did it come from a place of you thinking that you needed help or just something that you were curious about? 

GB: After my first novel, I realized that my process maybe wasn’t the best possible process. I knew some people who were in writing groups as well and who thought it was helpful so I was definitely seeking that out. 

The benefit of other people’s ideas, consistent feedback, and having deadlines is also really helpful. We meet very regularly and even if I’m not getting a ton of new writing time on my own, I will still at the very minimum do the edits the group gave me from the previous meeting and make sure the chapters that I’m submitting are in good shape. The accountability aspect has been very helpful in keeping up the momentum [of working on my novel].

M: You mentioned editing so I want to talk a bit more about that. What inspired you to start an editing and creative coaching business? Have you always had an interest in editing or did it just kind of come naturally because you started writing?

GB: I hadn’t had a huge interest in editing. I don’t think that I really realized the value of it until I started regularly editing other people’s work in the writing group, and I’d say that the most helpful thing [with editing] is you start to see your own mistakes in other people’s work.

It’s also just interesting to see other people’s styles. What’s working, what’s confusing you in other people’s writing, and kind of be both inspired and warned. I also think it’s really important to learn how to give and receive feedback, and the more that you do it, the easier it becomes. And once you get used to hearing people critique your work it’s way less of a gut-wrenching assault on your self-worth (laughs). 

M: I totally get that. Now, I’d love to talk about the creative coaching side of your business. Can you tell us more about what “creative coaching” means in this context?

GB: The idea for the creative coaching side really stemmed out of wanting to help people who may have wanted to do a creative project and just don’t know how. I know I am very lucky to have such a strong community of writers around me, both here and in New York, but I also realize that there are people who probably don’t have access to writing groups, etc. 

I’m very for people making art in whatever context it may be. For me, if you're writing a chapbook, if you’re writing a bestseller, if you’re making a painting to send to your mom, whatever you’re doing is great, and I think that sometimes it's hard for people to realize that and to feel good about it. I feel that if it’s making you happy, if it’s making people who are sharing it happy, then you’re successful. I definitely have had people who have supported my writing, unconditionally, and that’s so huge. I think that everyone deserves to have that experience and deserves to have somebody there saying, “This is great, you’re great, keep doing it.”

M: It must feel really rewarding to help other creative people in that way. 

GB: Absolutely.

M: Some people choose to remain exclusively editors, and not write. How do you combine your writing and editing work? 

GB: I’d say that for me, I’m most creative in the mornings, so I always do my creative writing in the morning, and then I get into editing in the afternoon. I do keep them separate and I am fairly organized because for me they use different parts of the brain and I like getting in the flow with my writing and letting it unfold naturally, to see what the characters do, seeing what happens. For me, I can’t have my computer open when I’m trying to write. It’s just not my style. My creative free-flowing moments are totally separate from my editing and fixing moments.

M: I just have one last question that I love to ask people I interview. What are you currently reading? Do you have any reading recommendations?

GB: I’m currently reading two books, which is weird for me! One is a fantasy novel by N.K. Jemisin, which is part of her The Broken Earth trilogy, it’s called The Fifth Season, it’s just a really good summer book. She’s an incredible fantasy writer, she wrote The City We Became too which personifies New York City and has all of these people trying to save it. I’m also reading a book of Joan Didion’s essays called Let Me Tell You What I Mean. It’s a collection of essays she wrote in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Of course, everyone has heard of Didion but I haven’t read a lot of her and now I’m like, “Okay it makes sense. This is why!” (laughs). 

You can read more about Gracie, her books, and other writings by visiting her website here.