Gisele’s Circle

It was a privilege, and a rare opportunity to be able to take advantage of the most precious commodity – for me anyway – time totally dedicated to work without any interference, (except our communal meals in the evening, each of us cooking in turn, or in teams, depending). I arrived at the residency with a mental blank canvas, so to speak, and took on the challenge to decide on situ which work to produce. I was the only one of our team who didn’t arrive with a work in progress, and initially the self-inflicted challenge was quiet daunting, but soon I found my creative process on overdrive. Despite our different personalities, there was a great dynamic in the group, and lasting friendships were forged.

I had a wonderful time at the Mas. It came at a very busy time and felt like having been temporarily sectioned. I appreciated the time to work and walk and the beauty of the house and the landscape. Above everything else I enjoyed meeting the other inmates, they were inspirational and amusing company and I missed them from the moment I left. Thanks for having me!

The greatest revelation I had while staying at Mas des Graviers from mid-April to mid-May this year was to watch the emergence of spring over a vast landscape in southern France. Each morning I would wake up, have a coffee and then go for an hour’s walk along the canal adjacent to the house. And every day, however minutely, the landscape changed, according to which wildflowers were in bloom.

No matter the vagaries of landscape, I knew what story I had to tell and was able to get a lot of work done. There were many marvelous elements to my stay there, but by far the best was the gift of time and space that had been given to me with the invitation. It was a moment in which I had no responsibilities except to the novel. Upon arrival in France I was delighted to find that neither of my cell phones worked and that the only place I could connect to the internet was in Mas’s kitchen. I enjoyed every day and in the back of my mind was the knowledge that I’d miss it after I’d gone.