Emily in France 🇫🇷 Work is Life
My life: a to do list.
When I first set out to work as a freelancer, it was... not particularly well-received by those around me. Some suggested I get a "real job": as a lawyer, maybe, or interpreter for the state department (both of which sound so stressful I might actually implode). Others worried how I'd pay my bills. Still others worried about what it would be like when I was no longer surrounded by colleagues on a daily basis. (Would I become a cave person? Lose what little sense of social propriety I do have?)
Well, I like to think that now that I've published clips in the Wall Street Journal and the BBC (and am thusly paying my bills) that people worry a bit less about the first two. As for the third, I'm actually lucky enough to have colleagues... though this doesn't necessarily look like what others might expect.
Over time, more and more of my close friends have opted for the freelance lifestyle. We meet up in cafés and work side-by-side. We encourage one another. We read one another's pitches. We celebrate each other when we succeed, and plot against strangers when we're scooped. It's a support system like no other, and while it's far from the comfort of coming to work every day and seeing the same people, I love that every day feels different.
Recently, a close friend of mine who has made the freelance transition asked me how I keep my life from feeling like a constant to-do list. I couldn't help but laugh. Because honestly, life has felt like an unending to do list since about 2014. That said, I try to keep it fun: I add "write in my journal" and "read that awesome new article" to the list; I take time in the middle of the day to go for a walk or watch Eric Singer's newest YouTube video and call it "research." I take meetings – with restaurateurs, with producers – in the middle of the day and walk there and back, through Paris, or through the countryside.
Yes, in this lifestyle, I never get a day off. But you know what? That cliché about doing what you love and never working a day in your life? Most of the time... it feels incredibly true.
Where I'm Eating
I first visited Substance for lunch last year, but I was even more impressed with the dinner menu. This spot has catapulted itself onto my ever-evolving list of my favorite Parisian restaurants (which you can find here).
Where I'm Going
1. Laurent Dubois, for an exciting upcoming story (and maybe to snag one of my favorite croque monsieurs in Paris, while I'm at it.)
2. To Belleville, in an attempt to grab a seat at Cheval d'Or, one of the most talked-about restaurants in Paris.
3. To the father-daughter Coppola retrospective at my favorite movie theater in Paris.
What I'm Writing
1. I got the chance to visit the famed brasserie Fouquet's in honor of its 120th anniversary and wrote all about it on my blog, Tomato Kumato.
2. I demystified the flexitarian diet for Eat This, Not That.
3. I did a deep dive into the origins and meaning of the untranslatable flâneur for the BBC.
What I'm Reading
1. This story about why it's a good idea to make time for yourself for the New York Times.
2. This funny guide to making friends in bathrooms for Man Repeller.
3. This breakdown of "OK boomer" in the Guardian. (And, even better, this super-on-point Tweet.)
A bientôt !
Emily in France