Author Sarah Penner shares her journey to writing
BY LANDI RUTLEDGE
FOR THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA — On Thursday, Feb. 26 at 6:30 p.m., Sarah Penner was the keynote speaker for the Third Annual Opelika Book Festival.
The event was held at the Opelika Public Library in the Cooper Auditorium, and Penner spoke during the Author Talk, highlighting her newest book, “The Amalfi Curse,” signing books for those in attendance.
Although she was born in raised in Hillsdale, Kansas, she and her husband, Mark, currently live in Tampa, Florida.
In her free time, she said she enjoys hiking, yoga and cooking and sits on the board of directors at her local animal shelter, Friends of Strays. She said she loves posting on her social media about her dachshund, Zoe, and her current obsession is playing mahjong.
She said her recent interest has been cinematography and the art of filmmaking and this summer she plans on taking a four-week filmmaking course in London that she hopes serves her creatively.
A graduate from the University of Kansas, Penner spent 13 years in corporate finance before becoming a full-time author.
During her talk, she discussed navigating her journey from finance to being a New York Times international bestselling author.
“The Lost Apothecary” is her debut book that has sold over one million copies worldwide.
Penner shared that growing up she loved to write, owning several diaries and journals when she was younger, but struggled to see it as a practical career path as an adult.
“When thinking about what I wanted to do with my life to pay the bills, I didn’t want to be the proverbial struggling artist, so I did what I felt, and what my parents definitely felt, was the wiser decision, which was to go to business school,” Penner said.
She said accounting was too rigid, but that finance offered her more freedom. As a math lover and an analytical thinker who said she loves spreadsheets, she went on to work for a large private oil and gas company in Kansas for nine years. Halfway through her tenure, she said she started to feel “creative discontent.”
“So, we as humans we have the left side of our brain, which is very analytical and critical thinking, that’s where the numbers and spreadsheets are handled and then the right side of our brain, which really is where we play and that’s where we deal with color and design and a lot of tactical things that we do with our hands,” Penner said. “And I felt like every day from 8 to 5 I had to be at the office in a cubicle. I felt like every day I was using my left brain and then I would come home and read, but that didn’t feel creative enough, so I decided to embark on a couple of different creative adventures.”
She said she tried to take up knitting and sewing quilts as hobbies to fill her creative cup, until she returned to writing in her free time. When experimenting with the best time of day to write, she said she found night writing was not for her, but early morning writing at 5 a.m. worked.
After deciding she was going to revisit writing, she signed up for several online Gotham Writers Workshop writing classes where she received feedback from her classmates and instructors and learned to accept feedback and criticism.
After spending a year writing a historical fiction story, Penner said she had a manuscript ready to seek publication. She sent her manuscript to over 130 literary agents who all told her that her plot would not sell. After taking some time, she came up with a new idea.
She left the oil and gas company and began working at Price Waterhouse, a large consulting firm and during her time here, she finished “The Lost Apothecary.”
After sending this manuscript out, Penner said five out of the 12 literary agents offered her representation.
“So, I always tell people, this is why we don’t burn our bridges, and this is why we accept rejection with grace and gratitude because I guarantee you will be back in their inbox at some point in the future,” Penner said. “And I think that applies to every industry, not just publishing.”
She signed with her agent during summer 2019 and in November 2019, her agent, Stefanie Lieberman, sold it overnight to HarperCollins Publishers. The book was officially released in March 2021 and her editor wanted more. She drafted up her pitch for “The London Séance Society”, her editor approved and she handed in her resignation letter at Price Waterhouse two days later.
Always drawn to Western Europe, her and her husband booked a trip in 2022 to Positano, Italy, where she ended up being inspired for the setting of her third book, “The Amalfi Curse.”
Penner said she knew the setting would not be in London again because she did not want to limit herself to only being a writer of London-based historical fiction.
Her last book under contract will be released during summer 2027 and will be both the sequel and prequel to “The Lost Apothecary.”
“It’s given me more grief than I’d like to admit, but part of that is because I want to deliver something that makes you feel that same atmospheric feeling that “The Lost Apothecary” gave you when you were maybe sitting at home by your fireplace with a cup of tea,” Penner said. “I want you to feel the same thing when you read this book.”
Penner said she encouraged attendees to pursue writing regardless of how unqualified they might feel and to not stand in their own way.
“I hope that you find it inspiring and encouraging because I’m the perfect example that you don’t need to have an MFA or an English degree in order to be a writer,” Penner said. “So that’s my goal for tonight, is to walk away feeling like, wow, I shouldn’t be having this imposter syndrome.”
Penner shared that interacting with readers in person, with events like this one, shapes her writing experience and overall perspective as an author.
“This is way more fun than sitting at my desk writing,” Penner said. “It energizes me, and so seeing and hearing the way that my books have impacted people is really the only thing that I have that keeps getting me back to the laptop book after book.”
One of her true passions, Penner said is teaching readers and aspiring writers the tips she has learned that got her where she is as a successful author.
Penner lead the Writer’s Workshops on Feb. 27 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Following that, Rachel Hawkins had an author signing from 4 to 5 p.m., and on Feb. 28 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the author fair was open to the public.
Anna Coxwell, committee member for the Opelika Book Festival shared some insight about the festival.
“This year we’ve made some changes, especially with the Author Fair,” Coxwell said. “So, we’ve made it a little bit more exclusive so that people can expect a little bit of a different caliber and so we’re excited about being able to spread things out over three full days and take it to the next level.”
Coxwell shared that Penner has a great approach to giving back and educating other writers. Having a bestselling author come to Opelika and promote events like this one was really touching to her.
“It’s so important to encourage people to expand what they’re interested in, get involved in new ways,” Coxwell said. “It’s really important to bring people together for any kind of arts event. So, I think the book festival is a huge part of becoming a destination for things like reading and writing.”
Brittany Roberson, attendee, said author talks like this one enhance her reading experience.
“I think it brings it into reality because we’re so far removed from the actual author,” Roberson said. “We’re experiencing something that they’ve poured their heart and soul into, and it seems so far out of reach for us so when we get here, we have to realize that we can do it too.”
