Ada Bienkowska lives with her family in Warsaw. She speaks German and Polish as her mother tongue and moved into the Hermitage for 3 weeks with her husband and son. She found the Hermitage through the site Literaturport.de and the ad came as if on cue. Of her time here, she says, "It was magical!"

Timeout at the Hermitage to work on her debut novel

She has been working on her book, a crime novel with elements of nonviolent communication, for 1.5 years and had writer's block for a long time. "In the city, I had lost touch with my story. I knew exactly what it was about, only I no longer felt the story. I managed to do that again here in the Hermitage. I realize I need nature and space to write. Then I get into the flow."

So she has made unexpectedly fast progress with her writing here. Ada takes a very structured approach to her work. The chapters are already written, the length is predefined and the rough storyline as well. At the same time, the stay unleashed a new creativity in her that resulted in several chapters getting 14 pages instead of 5. "In nature, my mind could relax. We watched animals every morning and fell asleep in the evening, looking at the sunset." Morning jogging, yoga and breakfast were part of her daily routine. After that, her husband and Ada took turns caring for their son for two hours. They also went for a bike ride and shopping in the city once in a while.

She wrote in the Hermitage and in the garden of the Landscape Park. "60-70% of writing takes place in the head," says Ada. For a long time, the law graduate, with a focus on victimology and criminology, had her own doubts about whether she would be considered a writer and taken seriously. But after this stay, she realizes, "I write, therefore I am a writer. No matter how many books I've already sold."