We were lucky to catch up with Holly Crowe recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Holly, thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I was raised by a single mother in a time when not everyone had constant access to entertainment. No cell phones, no tablets. Just imagination. I spent years living inside my own daydreams, building stories I didn’t really know how to hold onto yet.

I think it was around middle school when it clicked that those worlds in my head could actually be written down. That something fleeting could become real. Looking back, I do wish I had started preserving those stories then. There are still little pieces of them that come back to me now and then, and I can’t help but wonder what they might have turned into.

I don’t know that I necessarily wish I had started sooner, but I do wish I had taken myself more seriously earlier. Not just the stories, but the idea that they were worth keeping in the first place.

At the same time, I think starting when I did gave me something I wouldn’t have had otherwise. The stories I write now are shaped by more than just imagination. They’re shaped by experience, emotion, and a better understanding of what I actually want to say.

So while part of me wonders about those earlier stories, I don’t think I started too late. I think I started when I was finally ready to listen to myself and actually follow through.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

My name is Holly Crowe, and I write romantasy books.

I’ve never been someone who can just sit in silence. My brain is always moving, always picking at something and asking ‘what if?’ One idea turns into another, and before I know it, I’ve plotted out an entire book, which can spiral into a full series. That part comes naturally. Sitting down and actually writing it all out is where things get a little harder.

A few years ago, I fell back in love with reading after a long stretch of not really connecting with books. That flipped a switch for me. I had all of these stories in my head, and suddenly I didn’t want to keep them there anymore. I wanted them out in the world. I wanted readers to hit those moments that make your jaw drop, or the kind of scene you immediately need to talk about with someone else. That borderline obsession you get while reading? That’s what I want to create.

When it came to publishing, I was terrified. I had no idea what I was doing, and self-publishing felt completely outside of anything in my normal life at the time. I had a close friend, Belle Shaw, who had published before me, and I leaned on her heavily through the entire process. I second guessed just about everything until I finally had a physical copy of my book in my hands.

Since publishing, seeing people talk about my work has been surreal. I’ve had reviews posted online, friends sending me screenshots of conversations, people recommending it to each other. It’s one thing to write a story, but it’s something else entirely to watch it exist outside of you. The best way I can describe it is like the Grinch’s heart growing three sizes. Every single time, it hits just as hard.

At the core of everything I do, whether it’s writing or creating in other ways, it all comes back to storytelling and atmosphere. I want to create experiences that people don’t just read, but feel. Something that stays with them after they’ve finished the last page.

More than anything, I’m proud that I started. That I took something that lived in my head and turned it into something real that other people can connect with.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think one of the biggest things society can do to support artists and creatives is to start valuing creative work as real work.

There’s still this idea that creative fields are meant to be hobbies first and careers second, and that mindset makes it harder for people to take the leap or even be taken seriously when they do. Writing a book, creating art, building something from nothing, all of that takes time, discipline, and a lot of behind-the-scenes work that people don’t always see.

Support, to me, is choosing small. Small artists, small brands, small stores. Every sale, compliment, or show of support for someone doing it on their own means so much more than people realize.

For me personally, creativity has never stayed in one lane. It shows up in my writing, but also in the way I’ve built and created Pomegranate & Spice. It all comes from the same place: storytelling, atmosphere, and creating something people can connect to. Supporting creatives means supporting that entire ecosystem, not just one part of it.

When people start to see creative work as something valuable, not just something extra, it changes everything. It gives artists room to grow, the courage to take risks, and the ability to keep creating things that others connect to.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Honestly, it’s the reactions.

There’s nothing like seeing someone connect with something you created. Whether it’s someone asking when the next book is coming out because they need it, or someone lighting a candle and immediately falling in love with it, those moments never get old.

It’s one thing to create something on your own, but seeing it exist outside of you and actually affect someone else is a completely different feeling. That connection, that excitement, that emotional response, that’s what makes all of it worth it.

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it, and I don’t think I want to.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hollycroweauthor.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/hollycroweauthor
• Other: Tiktok user name is @hollycroweauthor

Image Credits

I took all of the pictures. The artwork used on the books themselves is by a local artist in Wilmington North Carolina named Angela Fernot.