Meeting the Author: Sarah Addison Allen

It’s been a while since I posted about meeting an author! I need to get back on track with my reports! I also need to start taking pictures… But anyway, on to meeting Sarah Addison Allen!

First of all, let me just say that Sarah Addison Allen is about the cutest thing you’ll ever meet. She is friendly and funny and has the sweetest smile! She’s another Asheville area native, so I’ve been fortunate to see her speak a few times now.

I took my mom to Malaprop’s on Friday for the book launch of Lost Lake. I thought it would be pretty crowded so we got there about an hour early. There were probably already 10 people there! As time passed, the store kept squeezing in more and more chairs until finally we were at standing room only and barely even room for that. Yay! Let’s show our local authors some love! As time got closer, we heard a little murmur and looked around and realized that Sarah herself had crept in to take a picture of the packed house. She beamed at us and snuck away again. It’s nice to see that she still gets excited when a crowd shows up to see her!

It was finally time for the event to begin. After a few opening remarks, Sarah took the bull by the horns and just started talking about her battle with cancer. I applaud her for that. It was inevitable that someone would ask about it, so she took control of the conversation. She made us feel how surreal the whole thing had been for her at first with some lighthearted descriptions that culminated with something like, “I felt like I was lost in the woods in the dark in a blinding snowstorm…being chased by gnomes. Because this just couldn’t be real.” She obviously had a year that I can’t even begin to imagine, but she says that she’s made some much-needed changes in her life because of it. To paraphrase, she said, “I was happy enough before my cancer, but I’ve realized that life is too short for happy enough; I want to be truly happy.” Then she encouraged us to pursue the lives we want to live, to realize we are the only ones holding ourselves back, and to not wait until we experience a terrifying event to take control of our lives. It was all very inspirational without being too overbearing. She struck the perfect tone.

She read the prologue of Lost Lake to us, and I have to say I loved it. I can’t wait to dive in!

She took questions afterward. She is currently working on a sequel to Garden Spells, which she had mentioned the last time I saw her speak. Everyone was thrilled to hear that! Someone else asked if she’d ever write a book about the daughter from The Girl Who Chased the Moon but she said that’s not in her plans. She did say that you never know what the future holds though! Another person asked if she would ever write about her cancer. She said again that you never know but right now it’s way too close to home. She’s just trying to have days where its not the last thing she thinks about at night.

I know there was a lot more but those are the highlights. The signing line was so long, we had to wait almost an hour! Luckily the line snakes through the store, so we had plenty of books to browse as we waited.

When we finally got back to meet her, she was very charming and gracious. She had Lost Lake postcards and luggage tags to give each of us. I loved them!

I found a few tour dates on her website. If she’s going to be near you, you should definitely go see her!

You can listen to a podcast of the event here.