wool& Spotlight: Penny Wincer

Penny wincer is a freelance author, podcaster, and writing coach based in London, uk.

She first caught our eye after we read an article about her 30 Day Dress Challenge experience in the UK’s Red Magazine. We’ve loved reading about her experience and asked if we could feature her in our spotlight series.

Penny wore the Rowena Swing Dress for the 30 Day Dress Challenge
Read more of the wool& spotlight series here.

What is your background?

I’m an author and writing coach based in London, England. For 15 years I was an interiors photographer, shooting for magazines and advertising before I switched to writing and coaching full time. My first degree was in film and creative writing, and I always knew writing was something I would come back to. In 2020, my first non-fiction book, Tender, was published. I’m currently writing my second work of non-fiction and I have just finished a novel. As a coach I specialise in helping writers and experts put non-fiction book proposals together for submission to agents. I also host the podcast Not Too Busy To Write. It focuses on how we can write amongst life’s many other demands, something that I have a lot of experience in (!!) as a single parent to two kids, ages 13 and 11. My eldest is autistic and has an intellectual disability. We live in south London and have a very fluffy cat called Winter.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Melbourne, Australia. I travelled quite a lot as a child and when I was a teenager— my dad moved to LA for work and I spent a bit of time there over the years. I stayed in Melbourne for my degree and then hopped on a plane to London when it was done. I have mostly been here since, except for a 2-year stint in New York, which I loved!

Where do you find inspiration?

Film has always been my first love. I grew up in a film family. My dad worked in it, we all spent a lot of time watching films and still to this day. It's the first thing my dad and I talk about on the phone after we have caught up on news. There is nothing quite like a trip to the cinema when you want to be inspired.

I’m an avid reader and audiobook listener too. Audio books have been a total saviour as a single parent. I can listen and cook/tidy/do laundry/run errands. I began listening to audiobooks years ago when I had to spend a lot of time retouching images on the computer. It is a job I found tedious, but I was able to listen [to audiobooks] as I was doing it. Now I am never without one on the go. Some of my latest favourite reads/listens have been We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman and Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson.

My podcast has been a huge source of inspiration as well. I interview a wide range of authors from all kinds of genres, best sellers and debuts, and everything in between. Having these conversations has had a huge impact on my own work as a writer, and it feels like such an incredible privilege to be able to share these conversations with a wider audience. I honestly don’t know if I would be where I am today in my career if it hadn’t been for other writing podcasts to give me a boost along the way. Writing is a solitary pursuit, especially early in your career. It feels wonderful when I get messages from other writers that they are now getting that support from my podcast.

Tell us about your writing.

My first book, Tender, is about unpaid caring and how we look after ourselves when we are caring for someone else. It’s a very personal book, which weaves in my own experience as a carer, both to my mother when I was a teenager, who died by suicide when I was 22 and now to my son, who has a life-long developmental disability.

My next non-fiction book draws on my years as an interiors photographer, when I spent countless days in other people’s homes. It’s about how we create homes that are right for us, how our environment and the aesthetics of our homes affect us, and about the choices that go into creating a home. I’ve also just finished a novel, which felt like such a huge leap of faith to put time into. But it was such an incredible challenge and I can’t wait to pursue that side of my writing further.

Have you participated in any of our challenges? How did it go? Do you have any takeaways?

I have done the 30 Day Dress Challenge and the 7x7 challenge and enjoyed them both. In fact, I loved the 30-day challenge so much that I wrote about it for Red Magazine, a leading women’s magazine in the UK. It really helped me get in touch with the creative side in my wardrobe again. I’ve always enjoyed clothes but getting into my 40s and changing my work life so that I’m sitting at a desk more meant I wasn’t sure what I was comfortable in and excited about anymore. The challenge really helped me think deeply about what I actually liked and felt good in. It completely got me out of a rut. I’ve always been a fan of the capsule wardrobe but the 7x7 challenge was fun and really streamlined my mornings. I will definitely be doing this regularly.

What sort of impact has wool / wool& had on your life?

For most of my adult life I have had a fairly minimalist wardrobe (a product of lots of travel and living in tiny flats!). But this was my first time wearing merino wool, and it is such a revelation. As a parent who had two kids in cloth nappies, I researched and understood the impact of washing many years ago and have since been careful not to unnecessarily wash my clothes. So the fact that merino wool reduces my need to wash even more is fantastic. Having a disabled child, I do a lot more washing than a typical family does, so anything that reduces our impact (and my time!) is very welcome.

In the past year, the energy prices in the UK have tripled. This combined with the growing urgency to change the way we consume energy has meant I (along with every person I know) has turned their heating much lower this winter and off completely on milder days. I often wear a wool& dress under another dress or jumpsuit, which keeps me nice and toasty for long hours while I write.

What is your favorite wool& product?

The black Rowena is my go-to. It is so easy and fun to style and I love wearing it as a base under other clothes. But I have a list of additions I want to add to my wardrobe!