Editing Georges Simenon (section)

=== Literary apprenticeship, 1922{{En dash}}1928 ===
Now in Paris, Simenon found a menial job with a far-right political group headed by the writer [[Binet-Valmer]]. In March 1923 he returned to Liège to marry Régine. Although neither Simenon nor Régine were religious, they were married in a Catholic church to please Simenon's mother, who was devout.<ref>Marnham (1994). pp. 108-09</ref>

The newly-weds moved to Paris where Régine tried to establish herself as a painter while Simenon resumed work for Binet-Valmer and sent articles to the ''Revue Sincère'' of Brussels for which he was the Paris correspondent. He also wrote short stories for popular magazines, but sales were sporadic.<ref>Manham (1994). pp. 109-10</ref>

In the summer of 1923, Simenon was engaged by the Marquis de Tracy as his private secretary, which obliged him to spend nine months of the year at the aristocrat's various rural properties. Régine soon moved to a village near the Marquis's principal estate at [[Paray-le-Frésil]], near [[Moulins, Allier|Moulins]].<ref>Marnham (1994). pp. 110-11</ref>

While working for the Marquis, Simenon began submitting stories to ''[[Le Matin (France)|Le Matin]]'' whose literary editor was [[Colette]]. Colette advised him to make his work "less literary" which Simenon took to mean that he should use simple descriptions and a limited stock of common words. Simenon followed her advice and within a year became one of the paper's regular contributors.<ref>Marnham (1994). pp. 111-12</ref>

Now with a steady income from his writing, Simenon left the Marquis' employ in 1924 and returned to Paris where he and Régine found an apartment in the fashionable [[Place des Vosges]]. Simenon was writing and selling short stories at the rate of 80 typed pages a day, and now turned his hand to pulp novels. His first, ''Le roman d'une dactylo'' (The Story of a Typist) was quickly sold and two more appeared in 1924 under the pseudonyms "Jean du Perry" and "Georges Simm".<ref>Marnham (1994). pp. 112-15</ref> From 1921 to 1934 he used a total of 17 pen names while writing 358 novels and short stories.<ref name="Beckerp3792">Becker, Lucille Frackman. "Georges Simenon (1903-1989)." In: Amoia, Alba della Fazia and Bettina Liebowitz Knapp. ''Multicultural Writers from Antiquity to 1945: A Bio-bibliographical Sourcebook''. [[Greenwood Publishing Group]], 2002. {{ISBN|0313306877}}, 9780313306877. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3Xv6R5qiDEQC&pg=PA379 379] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506101909/https://books.google.com/books?id=3Xv6R5qiDEQC&pg=PA379|date=6 May 2016}}.</ref>

In the summer of 1925, the Simenons took a holiday in Normandy where they met Henriette Liberge, the 18-year-old daughter of a fisherman. Régine offered her a job as their housekeeper in Paris and the young woman accepted. Simenon began calling her "Boule", and she was to become his lover and part of the Simenon household under that name for the next 39 years.<ref>Marnham (1994). pp. 117-19, 199</ref>

Simenon began an affair with [[Josephine Baker]] in 1926 or 1927, and became her part-time assistant and editor of ''Josephine Baker's Magazine''.<ref>Marnham (1994). pp. 122-24</ref> However, the Simenons were tiring of their hectic life in Paris, and in April 1928 they set out with Boule for a six-month tour of the rivers and canals of France in a small boat, the ''Ginette''. Without the distractions provided by Josephine Baker, Simenon's tally of published popular novels increased from 11 in 1927 to 44 in 1928.<ref>Marnham (1994). pp. 123-27</ref>