Clearing space for creativity and writing in the sides of life with Alice Vincent.

#06 ATELIER, a collaborative interview series exploring our creative spaces, processes and rituals.

Lyndsay Kaldor

Apr 28, 2024

“I write about life. It has to be everywhere”.

—Alice Vincent on inspiration.

Hello everyone,

I hope you are doing well and these closing days of April are treating you kindly…

I am very fortunate to be soothed by a view of the Aegean sea as I write to you — where snowcapped mountains rise up from the horizon and the formidable presence of mythical (yet very real) Mount Olympus can be felt, and seen on a clear day.

Though I am taking a week away from writing my usual letter, I am dropping in this Sunday evening to bring you the latest ATELIER interview, with writer

Alice Vincent

I am so delighted to feature Alice’s words as it was her writing that first drew me to

Substack

. I was signed up to Alice’s noughticulture newsletter after first coming across her work as an arts/garden journalist in the early days of my work in Interiors PR, where homes often overlap with gardens. I looked forward to the glimpses into life from Alice’s ‘treehouse’ in South East London, which later spilled into fragments of memoir alongside botanical history in her book Rootbound: Rewilding a Life.

Since then, I have fallen deeper for Alice’s way of talking about gardens and growing — both flowers and ourselves, ideas explored in her most recent book Why Women Grow: Stories of Soil, Sisterhood & Survival — as I continue to discover the relationship with my own garden and the latest iteration of myself as a mother. Alice also writes savour, a newsletter dedicated to the delicious stuff of life and is co-founder of In Haste with

Charlotte Runcie

, a literary magazine and podcast dedicated to reading and writing books around the edges of life.

Before we dive in to the interview with Alice, below is a short update on my own developing creative space and practice…

My atelier update.

Since I last wrote, my writing room has become something of a greenhouse, housing optimistic seed trays and young seedlings (it actually feels quite strange to be away from them).

The act of sowing the seeds felt comforting and nourishing — to use my hands to fill the trays and pots to the brim with soil, to methodically write labels and firmly but lovingly press each seed of hope into a layer of darkness. Since the seeds were sown, I have been going to the pots and trays each day, watching quietly and waiting patiently, finding myself elated by tiny shoots as they emerge. Seed sowing feels like an act of deep trust in beauty, and not unlike writing in many ways…

Whilst I continue to gather inspiration and add to my moodboard for the space, I am collating insights into how and where others create, and the rituals they intentionally adopt to elevate the space for creativity. This gathering of inspiration and ideas led to the idea for the ATELIER series…

ATELIER, noun, [French atuh-lyey].

a workshop or studio, especially of an artist, artisan, or designer.

Where do you write?

Formally: the hut in the garden. It's a clear space with a big screen computer which I find infinitely easier to focus on than a laptop. But informally: everywhere — the tube, the kitchen table, while feeding the baby, the notes app.

How do you like to approach a workday?

I like to get up and out early, before anything else can filter into my brain and I get bogged down in admin. If I can get a good chunk of words down or deadlines met by lunch, I can piffle away the afternoon on busywork (emails, admin) and, on a good day, getting out to see and do things that can spark other work.

Are your surroundings important to you?

Yes! I'm a Virgo, lol. Deeply tied to the space I'm working in if it's creative work. In an ideal world it is clear and tidy, I have the resources I need at hand (books, notebooks, the right pen), I will burn incense, I will have tea in my favourite mug. This is very much the ideal for when I'm working on my books.

If it's journalism or a newsletter, aka something shorter, then kitchen table detritus is permissible but it is a rare deadline that encourages me to get to the laptop before clearing the side first.

Alice Vincent, both portraits by Lydia Goldblatt.

How do you like to feel whilst you are working?

Calm, engaged, steady. Not always the case.

How do you set the tone and energy of your environment?

I'm a joyful minimalist: my home is painted in warm colours, I like colliding prints and sentimental old tat and photos and keeping greetings cards around for months. I like having lots of seasonal flowers in the house.

But I write against white wooden walls, on a white desk. It's important that I'm not distracted by too much visual faff. There's also a noticeboard with the plot and structure of my current book behind me that is useful for when I need to get up and have a little think.

Do you have one place dedicated to your work/creative pursuits, or do you move around?

Mostly the hut, but at times it's been the garden, on the bike, and the aforementioned kitchen table (which, in my last place, was the everything table. There's a lot to be said for dining and writing in the same place. Both are hugely important in my house).

Narcissi and a laptop on Alice’s dining table.

Where do you source inspiration?

Going to a gallery / museum if I can, but otherwise: the lido, the corner shop, the bus.

I write about life. It has to be everywhere.

What would your dream creative studio space look like?

I'm pretty lucky in that I was fortunate enough to create it last year. Or near enough. Perhaps the dream one would have proper lighting and the space for a little daybed for inspired naps...

Do you have any rituals around your work?

Not really. I like to buy a new notebook when I've finished a manuscript, though!

Alice Vincent is a writer. Her books include Why Women Grow, Stories of Soil, Sisterhood and Survival and Rootbound, Rewilding a Life. A columnist for The Guardian and The New Statesman, Alice also writes for Vogue, The Financial Times and The Times. She is the co-founder of In Haste, the host of the Why Women Grow podcast and her bi-weekly newsletter, savour.

alicevincent.co.uk | IG @alicevincentwrites

I would love to hear about how you clear space for creativity around the edges of your life? And what that space looks like for you…?

Thank you for reading — as always, your thoughts are very welcome in the comments.