How I became a ghostwriter after moving to France

When I moved to France in April 2014 with my then husband and our daughter Freya, now 20, it was in the hope of having more time for family, and the fulfilment of a long-held dream. I’d first gone to France aged 14 on French exchange and had loved every minute, crying my eyes out when I had to leave.

Prior to our move I’d been working as an International Project Risk Specialist in London, having started out in the insurance industry after leaving school and working my way up. It was an exhilarating role – in 1990s and 2000s London felt like the epicentre of project finance. My role took me all over the world working on different projects and I really loved my work.

Read more: How I became a beautician after moving to France

However, it was also one of those jobs where you find yourself stuck late at night in a lawyer’s office talking contracts, working long hours and travelling. It was full-on and definitely not family friendly. When I had Freya in 2004, work became more of a challenge and although I continued in the industry it was hard to juggle the challenges of work and family life. Like many, I began to explore other ideas. 

A better work-life balance

When the 2010 recession hit I took the opportunity of voluntary redundancy to create some space in which to work out my next steps. My husband and I decided that we’d take a risk and move to France in the hope of finding a better work-life balance. We sold our house in Suffolk in 2014 and bought a very run down maison de maître with land that needed almost total renovation in a tiny commune. Luckily, after selling our home in the UK we were able to buy the house outright and have enough left over for renovations.

Sadly, by the time the house was a habitable home in 2016, our marriage had broken down and we decided to separate. This meant we had to sell the home that we’d spent so long creating. It was a really difficult time, but I decided to stay in the country and build a new life for myself and Freya. During my time in France I’d connected with another English woman Maria, whom I’d met through a Facebook group. She worked for a publishing company in the UK and introduced me. Soon I was working remotely on their sales and marketing; a job that I found really interesting.

Moving into the publishing industry

I’d always enjoyed writing as a hobby so, around the same time, I joined a local English writers’ group and started having a go at some creative writing.

A couple of years on, I was ready for a change. I’d learned a lot about the publishing industry and wanted to offer services that treated authors really well. Maria, Emma, a friend we’d met through work, and myself decided to band together to create a specialist consultancy ‘Freshly Press’ (www.freshlypress.com). We ran this from 2017 for three years, until in 2020 Covid disrupted our lives. Family commitments meant the others were unable to continue, so I took the business on solo.

Read more: I moved to France and became owner of a reclamation and salvage yard

In 2022 I was working with an author who had a great concept but was struggling to write their book. I offered to help and stepped in as a ghostwriter. This led to a new string being added to my bow and I began to take on regular ghost-writing work.

Over time things have developed further, I also now book coach and mentor as well as becoming a published fiction author myself. There are challenges too in running your own business. It’s tempting to try to be everything for everybody. I’ve spent the last six months really trying to get down to the nub of what I want to be doing and how I want to spend my time.

The reality of running your own business

Running a business in France can be complicated. It’s so important to get yourself set up properly and ensure you understand which organisations you need to be registered with. Staying well informed is also a must!

My working life now bears little resemblance to 2012. At that time, all my hours were controlled by project timelines and I had to record everything I did to justify my fees. Now I can plan my day completely around my rhythm and commitments and have the opportunity to build my own working hours. There’s lots of variety too, and I’m able to explore new avenues when they present themselves.

Interestingly, I’m currently exploring an opportunity to write within the insurance and risk management industries. CEOs and experts often need a ghostwriter to help produce business focused books – and I’m in the unique position of really understanding the industry and how it works. So, although my roles seem poles apart, in some ways things are coming full circle.