Author Heather Rose offers a profound reflection on the true nature of work and reward, drawing from her family's enduring motto and her own decades-long journey as a writer. In a heartfelt exploration, she reveals that while financial compensation exists, it has never been her primary driver. Instead, she credits love—love for her craft and the contributions she makes—as the fundamental force behind her perseverance and success.
The Foundation: A Family Ethos of Diligence
The principle that "it's amazing how lucky you get if you work really hard" was instilled in Heather Rose from childhood. This family motto, deeply embedded in her upbringing, shaped her worldview. Her father, one of five children, left formal education after grade nine and immediately entered the workforce. Demonstrating remarkable dedication, he returned to night school in his early twenties and subsequently devoted over forty years to public service. Her mother pursued a career as a secretary, and together, they laboured tirelessly to provide their children with the best possible educational opportunities.
This powerful work ethic left an indelible mark on Rose. Throughout her school years, she embraced various jobs, working in a department store, a health food shop, a ship chandlers, and even as a gardener. Her first paid writing role was a column for the Hobart Mercury, an early step on her creative path. Later, while travelling across Asia and Europe, she sustained her adventures through diverse employment: pulling pints, waiting tables, cleaning hotel rooms, managing a youth hostel, planting trees, harvesting grapes, and herding goats.
Learning Through Labour and Passing It On
Although she sometimes regretted not attending university, Rose learned that work was the key to enabling her explorations and ambitions. She has consciously sought to impart this lesson to others, encouraging her children, their friends, and her writing students to commit wholeheartedly to their passions and to pursue them with diligence. She acknowledges that work, duty, and responsibility are not always synonymous with immediate joy, but argues there is a profound and deep-seated satisfaction found in genuine achievement.
Her career path exemplifies this. She spent many years in advertising as a copywriter, finding fulfilment in the craft of language and the discipline of meeting deadlines. Whether composing copy for a hardware catalogue or a jeans commercial, she honed her skills. Now, as an established novelist, she continues to work against deadlines, experiencing with each completed book a sense of agency and clarity, feeling she is actively shaping her future.
Love as the Ultimate Motivation
For Heather Rose, the greatest rewards are not monetary. "Love has been my motivation," she writes. "Love of what I do and the contribution I am making." She cites parenting as a prime example of immensely rewarding, yet unpaid, work. Her life is also rich with contribution through volunteering in her local community, reading manuscripts for fellow writers, baking for friends, and preserving food. This spirit of contribution, she asserts, provides its own unique and valuable form of remuneration.
The Reality of Creative Work
Dispelling the myth that an artist's life is easy, Rose emphasises the sheer labour involved. It takes her years to craft a single book. Her earliest novels were written late at night, after full days of paid work and motherhood. She has learned to cherish the entire process: the labours of research, reading, thinking, drafting, crafting, and the inevitable fumbling and questioning. This persistent striving, writing "more and more words year after year, book after book," has expanded both her knowledge and her perspectives, and, in her view, has seemingly expanded her luck as well.
Now older, with her children grown, she acknowledges her good fortune in being able to write during the daytime. She also enjoys that rare sliver of security for a writer: a growing readership in Australia and internationally, supported by a dedicated publishing team. Nevertheless, with years often passing between publications, she and her family live simply, growing much of their own food. Writing remains her work, and she feels profoundly lucky to love it.
Gender, Creativity, and the Weight of Responsibility
Rose offers a poignant observation on the specific challenges faced by women pursuing creative lives. She notes that throughout her life, she has watched women carve out space for their art "amid the time-bound, food-stained walls of duty and responsibility"—a reality she has personally inhabited. She references recent Stella Prize statistics indicating that 47% of women, compared to just 17% of men, report their creative work being restricted by caring responsibilities, highlighting a significant ongoing disparity.
The Fulfilment of the Long Road
"It's unbelievably hard to write a good book," Rose admits, sometimes wishing it were easier. Yet the fulfilment derived from the immense effort is profoundly reassuring. Looking at the books she has written, lined up on a shelf near her desk, she sees a tangible record of her commitment. The journey has been long, but rich with unexpected gifts: meeting fellow authors, receiving enthusiastic notes from readers, enjoying the support of passionate booksellers and library staff, and seeing her work published overseas and translated into other languages.
Heather Rose has chosen the path of a writer. As her father still reminds her, she never knows just how lucky she might get if she simply keeps at it. Through hard work, guided by love, she continues to build a meaningful and rewarding creative life.
