Description:

Lesley Tither, known to many as @Tottielimejuice on Twitter, has written a book about her family decision to up sticks and move from the UK to France. The new book, released as an eBook for the Amazon Kindle, is entitled 'Sell the Pig" and the eBook, 'Sell the Pig' can be purchased here from Amazon.co.uk. 

 

Lesley recently spoke with Martin Parker, owner and editor at our sister website Guide2 Midipyrenees, and the interview appears below. Over the coming weeks we will be publishing a number of excerpts from the book, with the first instalment to follow shortly.

 

“Hi Tots!! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?  

 

My name is Lesley Tither but I've written this book under the pen-name of Tottie Limejuice. But you'll have to read the book to find out where that name came from!

 

I was born in Cheshire but as my father's family are from Luxembourg, I've always considered myself as much European as British and numerically have far more relatives on the continent than in the UK.

 

I originally trained, qualified and worked as a journalist but for the last 12 years I have been working as a freelance copywriter, producing advertising copy in English for clients, mainly those from the UK.

 

 

What brought you to France?

 

My book explains that I fell in love with France on school exchange visits in the UK.  Then my brother and I became very disillusioned with the way our elderly mother, who had dementia, was being looked after by the UK system. So we decided we ought to try for a new life together, for however much longer Mother had left.

 

 

Tell us a little about your book Sell the Pig.

 

Well, the product description on Amazon says: “What happens when dementia, depressed dipsomania and downright dottiness decide to uproot from the UK and move to France together.” It's a largely amusing, I hope, account of the circumstances which led us to make the move and to accomplish what most people said would be impossible – moving our 89-year-old befuddled mother to a new country for a new start. What makes it unique is that we're a very unusual family, not run of the mill, so our story is a bit different.

 

 

What was your motivation for writing the book?

 

I love writing! But because I do it for a living, I hardly ever have time to do it for myself for fun. It's like farriers' children's ponies never have shoes on when it's the show season. Friends have always said my emails about our various adventures were amusing and would make a good story. Workwise, I'm often quiet over Christmas and the New Year so I decided to spend the time pulling the tale together. I work very fast, the book was written in just over a week, then I spent perhaps another three weeks editing and rewriting before publication.

 

 

Any plans for a sequel!!

 

Very much so! Sell the Pig describes the events leading up to our momentous move but there is so much more to tell about what happened when we got to France. And I'm delighted to say that people who have read Sell the Pig are already asking about a sequel.

 

 

You also have a business in France, could you briefly explain what your business is about.

 

I write all kinds of advertising copy – brochures, catalogues, press releases, website copy, I even write a lot of tweets and Facebook posts for various clients! I only write in English because copywriting is very specific, it would be hard to tackle the nuances and word-play in my second language.

 

 

What made you decide to start the business?

 

I fell into it rather by accident. I used to be a riding instructor, at one point, and was teaching a pupil who later became a very good friend and telling her I needed a change of career direction. She's a writer put me in touch with one of the best copywriters ever, the late Patrick Quinn, and I did a distance training course with him to convert. My journalism background gave me a good head start. Because I work remotely, by internet, it's a job I can do anywhere I have a reliable broadband connection. 

 

 

Have you faced any particular difficulties in France running the business?

 

Trying to find where to register and to whom to pay my various cotisations was a nightmare. To be fair, freelance copywriters are rare and people in the UK have as much difficulty knowing what to do with us in terms of which pigeon-hole to put us into. Once I got myself registered it's been very straightforward ever since. But I did have to trudge all round Clermont-Ferrand one day from pillar to post trying to find where to register and at one point was even told I'd have to go to Paris to register!

 

 

Did you receive any help from local organisations such as trade organisations or chamber of commerce?

 

None of the local ones had a clue what to do with me! I finally joined a groupement d'employeurs who are incredibly helpful, they see to all my paperwork, accounts etc and help out by making various phone calls for me, and it all costs me less than it would to go via an accountant. It's invaluable to me as I'm dyscalculic – confronted with columns of figures, I can translate them easily into several languages but adding them up is beyond me.

 

 

Any advice for others wanting to start a business in France?

 

Do it! Yes, you'll get the runaround with bureaucratic stuff but quite honestly, I've had as much problem in the UK with people like HMRC. If you're committed to living in France and want to buy into the healthcare system, you just have to bite the bullet and get on with it. But don't expect everyone to speak English because they won't and why should they?

 

 

Any other comments?

 

I'm very committed to France and am just about to embark on my application to become a French citizen. I can only speak from my personal experience, of course, but I find overall my quality of life is much better here than it was in UK and I've met some very nice kind and caring people. I don't actively seek out other ex-pats. I'm friends with some but I also have very good French friends.

 

 

Thanks for the chat Tots and I really hope the book does well."

 

* You can now read the first extract from 'Sell the Pig' here on Guide2PaysdelaLoire

 

Please click on the link below to see a preview and browse the ebook on Amazon.