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Off to Paris

For as long as I've been a writer I've desired to see Europe. There's an old idea that women have a biological clock for having children, I think that's true of writer's and visiting Europe.

From the moment I read Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, Paris is something I knew I needed to see for myself and tomorrow I'm leaving on a plane to experience it for three weeks. I'll be largely disconnected to that time. I'm using the next three weeks to write a book and collect material for another, as well as drink in every sight I can imagine.

Paris is interesting to me as a filmmaker, too. I'm wondering what's caught the eye of so many of my favorite filmmakers and why they chose to set films in Paris.

I have no illusions about what Paris is. I know it's not going to be the Paris I read about at Hemingway's pen. I won't run into F. Scott Fitzgerald like Woody Allen would have me believe. It's not the old, charming city that Moulin Rouge told me it might be. No, I imagine it's like any other bustling, modern city, but with a little more character. Approaching it in that spirit, I'm hoping I can find enough there to inspire me and show me something different.

It's important, I think, as a writer, to seek out new experiences and this adventure is certainly going to be new.

When I return, I'll be putting the finishing touches on my forthcoming book, The Serpent's Head, which will be available in time for Origins.

I've got so much more going on, too, that I'm very excited to share with you. Erin Kubinek has been hard at work illustrating our presidential assassination book and it's looking fantastic. I've finished another manuscript and hope to finish yet another in Paris. Over the next couple of months I have more than a few pieces coming out in magazines and short stories in anthologies.

For all of those who read this space, this writing trip to Paris is a direct result of your support in my writing, and I thank you all for it. You've rewarded me with the enthusiasm about my work to keep me going and purchased enough books to send me. I won't forget that.

2013 is going to be the best year yet for me, and if you happen to like what I do, I think you're in for a treat, too.

(To keep up with me while I'm in Paris, I might be on Twitter and Instagram. Look me up: @swankmotron)

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