Melanie Simms
Who: Melanie Simms
Where: Coventry, England
What: Writer and academic. Melanie is an associate professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Warwick just outside Coventry.
In Her Words:
What do you consider most valuable about your time at La Muse?
La Muse was such an amazing experience. Peaceful time for writing, cooking, walking and meeting new people - some of my favourite things ever.
I wanted to make a good start on my book (Union Voices: Tactics and Tensions in UK Organizing) while I was there and I did. I wrote about half of it in a month.
An indication of how productive my time at La Muse was is that alongside normal life, the other half took about 3 years to complete. Finally it’s finished and I’m delighted with the result.
What advice would you give future residents?
Prepare in advance. Although it’s an inspirational place, I can only really start writing once I know roughly where I’m going. But equally, don’t beat yourself up too much about not working every hour in the day. It’s such a beautiful area of the world that it would be a shame not to get out to see some of it.
Finally, your three French (or English) words to describe La Muse?
tranquille, accueillante, salutaire
You can buy Melanie’s book here on Amazon.