When did you know you would become a writer?
I write since my youngest age. All sorts of stories, poems, short stories, but it took me a long time to dare go to a publisher. Honestly, it did not even cross my mind at the start. I had such a high idea of literature, that I did not see how to get there. It was by becoming a literary critic and discovering contemporary productions more thoroughly that I finally dared launch myself. Many people who had read my columns advised me to write a novel, which I was already doing without letting anyone know. The hardest part is to finish....say good bye to a text and let go characters you like so much meet the vast world...
Are you a morning or night writer?
A morning one. Very early. Before my children, I would wake up at 5 am , now it is more 3.30 or 4 am. Everything is crystal clear, limpid, joyful in my mind at that time. Sentences often arrive in a chaos. Whereas in the evening - and before midnight - I transform myself into a pumpkin.
Do you write with a pen or/and on the computer?
Both. I adore handwriting which slows down the mind, forces me to be more concise and precise. And I love paper. Not having a screen in front of me. To look far away. The possibility to cross out, erase, draw... Then I polish it up but when I am in a hurry I directly write on my computer.
Would you have an anecdote to tell us around one of these two objects: a pencil case or a notebook?
Recently, I bought a pencil case with an eraser, a pencil sharpener, and a sufficiently soft-lead pencil for the writing to slip in a pleasant way. A rule, pens and colored felt-pens. It was a juvenile joy. I have everything I need to get away with this pencil case. As per the notebook, I start many and end up scattering them but when I find them again I adore rediscovering their content. One I have never lost. It was a gift. It is in a beautiful and soft orange leather. It is a notebook I like taking in hand and where I write down quotes or extracts from books I have read. It is full of other peoples' wisdom, humour and poetry.
Adélaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre introduces her book "Les Jours heureux" published by Grasset on YouTube (in French) here below: