Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 2:03
The London Séance Society | Let's talk writing with bestselling author Sarah Penner
I loved learning more about your life, Sarah, because it sounds like the perfect place to have developed such an incredible imagination. I also loved learning a bit more about your story as a writer and how you came to be where you are today. I'm so excited to be talking to you on Swell and to share your story and more about your forthcoming book with our community here. Thanks so much for being with us
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:01
I absolutely loved learning more about how you got started as a writer and that you shared that on your website because I think it's so inspiring for other aspiring writers. You said that you began writing seriously in 2015 after you attended a lecture by Elizabeth Gilbert. I'm a huge Elizabeth Gilbert fan. I actually recently listen to Eat Prey Love while I was training for a half marathon this past year. And I also found Big Magic. Just super wonderful. And her Ted Talk
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:51
One of the reasons I am such a fan of your work is I love how imaginatively we get to enter older worlds and worlds that are ours and not quite ours all at the same time. For example, for those who haven't read Sarah's first novel, The Lost Apostecary, it takes place in 90 91 in London, and it's about a female apothecary who secretly dispenses poisons that liberate women from men who have done them wrong
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:02
I write a newsletter and do a series here on swallow called aska Failure, in which it's all about ways that failure is embedded in our lives and our cultures and also what we can learn from or grow from when we experience failure. I'm curious how failure has been a part of your journey as a writer or just as a human being and how it has led or played any sort of part in where you are today with a second book forthcoming?
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:42
All the writers I know tend to be a little obsessive or passionate. They get really into the things that they're into. Now that the London Science Society is about to make its debut in the world at large, I'm so curious what you are finding yourself obsessed with or excited about. Now. It could still be something in relation to the book, or it could be a new recipe, hobby, another period in history, a TV show, anything, you name it