Eight Years as a Writer Abroad

Today marks Writer Abroad’s eighth anniversary of being an American writer in Switzerland. To celebrate, she’d like to list eight reasons it’s great to live abroad as a writer.

One: Living abroad improves creativity. Research from INSEAD proves this.

Two: You’ll differentiate yourself. Abroad, you’ll find you have unique skills in the marketplace—especially if you’re living in a country where English is not an official language.

Eight years after moving to Switzerland:
Writer Abroad's first book signing

Three: You’ll understand where you came from. If you never leave your country of birth, you’ll never see it clearly because you’ll never have anything to compare it with.

Four: You’ll learn to take initiative. With no English-language writing instruction in Zurich, for example, Writer Abroad had to offer it herself by founding the Zurich Writers Workshop or it wouldn’t exist. Bonus? Now she has event planning skills too.

Five: You’ll learn new skills. Besides event planning, Writer Abroad has learned to diversify her skills because living abroad gave her those opportunities. German to English advertising adaptations, proofreading, editing non-native English, travel writing, blogging…and the list continues.

Six: Isolation. Writer Abroad knows it helps her get more done. Writing can also be an escape from the pressures of living in a place where you’re not fluent in the local language too. It makes you prolific.

Seven: Inspiration. Stories come naturally when crazy things happen to you every day.

Eight: You’ll never have to think “what if?” Most writers have romantic notions of living abroad. While the reality can be much less romantic, living in another country is still a rite of passage for many writers. Why think about it when you can do it?

Why do you like being a writer abroad?