Now a writer and mother, she lives in Connecticut and California with her daughter and dog. Holly’s first book, Would It Kill You To Put On Some Lipstick: A Year & 100 Dates, details the year after her divorce as she adjusts to modern dating and finding love again while building a new and better life for herself and her daughter.

The official stuff

Holly is a graduate of Columbia University and has studied writing at the University of Iowa’s Writers Workshop, Oxford University, University of Cambridge and holds a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte.

I’m passionate about stories and the people who tell them, whether it’s someone I meet on the road while traveling or it’s someone I’m dating.  Dating, especially in the early months, is all about storytelling, the way we reveal ourselves to one another, both consciously and unconsciously.

what's inspiring me

This idea of going to a new place has inspired my second book, which I’ll probably call Drinking With Mimes.  It begins with me accepting the solo-journey-new-place- challenge and taking it even further, four new places in three weeks: Mexico, Denmark, Sweden and Portugal.  Stay tuned!

My favorite places to visit

In all my years of traveling, with numerous flights and nearly countless countries, I’ve never regretted a single trip.  On the road I’m most alive, discovering new things and meeting new people.  “Once a year, go some place you’ve never seen before,” is a wonderful piece of advice from the Dali Lama.  And to it I’d add: consider going to that new place alone.  Solo journeys are life-affirming, giving us the freedom to live for ourselves, honor ourselves, tune into our instincts and curiosities, reminding us how strong and capable we really are.