Last year, I found the courage to give voice to ideas that I’d been noticing were asking me for attention but I’d been pushing them to the side. They were big and beautiful (and therefore of course daunting) ideas about imagining what my writing life might look like if I dared to go outside of the box and how I might expand my work and resources by finding the right support.
The person I gut-instinct knew I needed to share my ideas with was Alice Wood. Who, since 2015 has been a ride-or-die friend, colleague, champion, and was the Campaign Manager at HarperCollins Australia responsible for so much of the stratospheric launch and success of my debut novel, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart. (At which time in 2018 I affectionately nicknamed her, Whiz, which sticks to this day.)
2018: Our first photo together: Alice and I on the road, one week in to a 4 week book tour for The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.
The result of sharing my ideas last year with Alice created an opportunity for both of us, if we were willing to take the leap - Alice was going freelance, launching her own small business in author publicity management, and I knew that my ideas wouldn’t grow if I didn’t invest in the extra publicity support that I needed. The stars were on our side: I was lucky enough to become Alice’s first client.
So. Why am I sharing all of this with you?
Over the next six months, I’m going to be giving almost my all to my third novel, The World Beneath Her Feet, which I’m writing at the moment. I don’t want The Joy Rise to suffer while I’m novel-writing; we’re growing such an enriching space here together. So, Alice is going to join us. This might mean that you’ll hear from her in our Chat threads about our One Single Sparks, or Our heARTworks, or you might hear from her in the occasional newsletter from time to time. Of course, you’ll continue to hear from me, as always.
To introduce you to each other, I’m sharing a delightful little Q&A about creativity that I’ve had with Alice.
(Let it be said that if I had my way we’d have this conversation in person, all of us together at a long lunch, with picnic tables full of flowers, a simple, nourishing feast, and an open air view of the sea or gum forest. Alas, being together via the glow of our screens will have to do. But wouldn’t in-person Joy Rise gatherings be the best? Hmmm… adding to Ideas Notebook.)
Dear readers, please meet Whiz, AKA Alice (and her favourite chocolate-date torte recipe)!
Holly: Ok, Whiz. Let’s introduce you to The Joy Rise Community with an easy one: what expressions of creativity do you love most?
Alice: Hello Joy Rise Community! Well, that depends if I’m the creator or admirer. My favourite creative outlet is cooking - sweet or savoury, for a big gathering of loved ones or just for myself. Some of my earliest memories are of cooking at home with my Mum and my brother (two of the best cooks I know), and there’s nothing I love more than an afternoon devoid of plans so I can get in the kitchen and cook. As someone with a pretty busy mind, I think it’s as close as I get to a meditative state. In recent years, this passion has been slightly tested by the seemingly endless snack requests from my two small children, but even on the days when it feels like I’ve made and served (and cleaned up!) 10 meals by 9.30am, I still find joy and peace pootling round the kitchen in the mid-afternoon or at night when the house is quiet.
I have been fortunate enough to make my living from working with and supporting creative people for my entire adult life, and I think that’s no accident. I love so many different types of creative work and I have been lucky enough to work with painters, photographers, documentary makers, actors and chefs, but to me it’s writers who really have my heart. I’m a words person. I’ve been a bonafide Book Nerd since the age of 4 when I taught myself to read, and I think I've had a book glued to my person ever since.
H: Where do you notice creativity showing up in your day to day?
A: In the kitchen mostly, but also increasingly in my garden - much to the delight of my Mum! I never thought I’d be a gardener, it always seemed too intimidating. Like some sort of secret society with encyclopaedias of assumed knowledge. But, as with so many creative endeavours (and, as in life), sometimes you just have to get stuck in don’t you? I’m a Baby Gardener for sure, but so far I’m finding that it brings me the same kind of quiet as cooking - something to do with busy hands and a single focus I think…
H: What do you struggle with creatively?
A: Time! What a boring answer, but it’s true. I am in the season of my life of very little ‘spare’ time, with two small children and a small business, so often it feels like I’m sprinting through the day just getting everything done. But I notice that when I take the time to do things properly and to actually be mindful as I’m doing it, then suddenly getting dinner on the table can feel like my little burst of creativity for the day. Of course, some days it just feels like getting-the-bloody-dinner-on-the-bloody-table, and that’s fine too.
H: When do you feel most enriched by creativity?
A: Oh for me, this is when I’m consuming creativity, more than actively creating myself. I’m a words person (as discussed), and for me there is nothing better than watching or listening to a really fabulous discussion between writers, which is something I’m very lucky to get to do as part of my job!! Strangely, I don’t think I’d ever been to a book event before I found myself working as a book publicist in 2011, and then suddenly my weeknights were filled with library events and my weekends were spent at writers’ festivals and I couldn’t believe my luck - all these amazing stories and big ideas. I think in many ways, doing this job for the past 15 or so years has been more valuable than any university degree ever was, it’s like the ultimate masterclass in thoughtful expression and the power of connecting through stories.
H: You and I met in 2015 (!!) and became fast, firm friends, and colleagues. Favourite Alice and Holly story you’d care to share?
A: Does this mean we’re about to hit our 10 year anniversary?! I demand a dinner date. Gosh, we’ve done a lot together in those 10 years, haven’t we? Including traversing the eastern coast of Australia in a tiny red hire car which I almost lost for us in Newcastle. There have been thousands of texts and emails, video calls at all hours of the day, reader events of all shapes and sizes, tears, glasses of wine, long walks solving all the world’s problems and a fair few pinch me moments.
2019 - Alice and I together on our way to the Australian Industry Book Awards where my debut novel, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, was nominated for General Fiction Book of the Year…
… and won, with Alice right by my side (also pictured to my left, our dear friend and my incredible publisher, Catherine Milne).
Alice: This will embarrass you, I think, but actually my favourite Alice and Holly moment of late was a Holly moment which left me in total awe. Last year, I pulled myself out of parental leave to see you in conversation with the inimitable Julia Baird at Sydney Writers’ Festivalspeaking to a packed out crowd of 1200+ people about creativity, joy and grace (as if I was going to miss that!). We’ve worked together for so long, and it has truly been such a joy seeing you step into this life as a storyteller and to embrace your power to connect with people using your warmth, your honesty, your vulnerability and your giant brain. I know that none of it is easy, it is work. But the electricity in the room that night was undeniable - over the course of sixty minutes you and Julia lit a spark for every single person in that room on an otherwise dreary and drizzly Saturday night.
H: Ahem. Just recovering from that reply. Ok. Favourite book?
A: Sacrilege! As if I could ever choose. I offer to you instead, some boos I’ve read and loved lately:
Australian Gospelby Lech Blaine - I read a review somewhere that said this is like Boy Swallows Universe meets Cloudstreet which is true, but then it’s also non-fiction and it’ll just blow your mind.
Orbital by Samantha Harvey - I mean, it won The Booker…
The Mademoiselle Alliance by Natasha Lester - Natasha spins the most fascinating story about one of history’s most remarkable women
A: I’ve been totally obsessed with Natasha Bieniek’s work for a few years (especially her miniatures), but this self-portrait that she entered in the Archibald Prize speaks to me on a visceral level.
H: Favourite song?
A: In 2018, my husband and I got married in the garden of my family home, and I walked down the aisle to Feels like Home covered by my very clever, multi-hyphenate pal Annie Hamilton.
H: Favourite cake to a) bake and b) eat?
A: Holls! I thought you promised me these questions wouldn’t be hard hitting?! I find it difficult to go past a really good carrot cake, but I can seldom be bothered with all the fuss of grating the carrots. So, if someone else is baking, that’s what I’m eating.
I love making Stephanie Alexander’s chocolate and date torte (find link) because the finished product is so delicious and it appears so sophisticated but it actually couldn’t be simpler to make. Plus: dates and chocolate. Yum. Here’s the recipe - taken directly from my very well-thumbed copy of The Cook’s Companion, chocolate splatters and all.
H: What do you look forward to most about connecting with The Joy Rise community?
A: This is such a lovely, warm and interesting part of the internet - I couldn’t be happier to be here. I know that everyone is creative, but I guess as someone who considers themself creative adjacent, I’m looking forward to hearing from likeminded Joy Risers who maybe aren’t working on a grand piece of art as such, but just finding ways to weave creativity into their busy daily lives. Oh, and I expect my TBR pile will explode because I know lots of Joy Risers are doing clever creative things like writing - and I want to hear all about those projects too!
2024: our very first team meeting working together
Coming up in future issues of The Joy Rise:
A Q&A with an author and artist who changed my writing life;
A tour of my new writing office;
On My Corkboard: words of women writers that are nourishing my heart;
The stack of books that I keep close to my desk while I’m working;
How I use the internet to help, not hinder, my daydreaming for novel-writing.
Love it. Two brilliant women being brilliant. You are both aces.
Welcome Alice! I loved reading your Q&A and can't wait to see what magic you bring to the community.