SP: Hi Ronie! We’re so excited to have you here on the Spinning Pen! We’ve heard in the YA sphere everyone loves your Droseran saga. Word on the street is you’re an incredible writer and your books have mind-blowing twists! Tell us all a little bit about your series.

RK: I’ve spent the last dozen years writing to my brand—Rapid-Fire Fiction—but I finally found a publishing home for my much-beloved series, The Droseran Saga. I’ve always dubbed it Firefly meets Dune … and warned people that while this series falls solidly into the Science Fiction genre, it’s a Space opera, light on science (Ronie doesn’t “science” and liberal with the melodrama and romance for an epic adventure across Quadrants.

SP: Hi Christen! We’re so excited to have you here on the Spinning Pen! Word on the street is you just got a book deal! CONGRATS! We want to hear more! What’s your book about? And most importantly, WHEN can we order it??

CK: I’m so excited to be here! Thanks for having me!

SP: Hi Emilie! We’re so excited to have you here on the Spinning Pen! You are such a diverse writer! You write YA, adult, thriller romance, and you’re a successful bookstagramer, create & sell bookish items, you’re a graphic designer, and cover designer. Is there anything you don’t do?? How did you get into all of this to start with?

EH: Ha! Well, I don’t do math 😉 I started freelance writing and photography about ten years ago alongside my main job and loved it so much I vowed that someday I would just do that as my career. Little did I realize I would get into graphic design as well!

SP: Hi Brianna! Thanks for joining us! Before we get into book stuff, we’d LOVE to hear a bit about you and your writing journey!

BT: Thank you for having me! My writing journey feels like a voyage I’ve been on my entire life. I’ve always loved stories, and I have several old notebooks filled with my early attempts at novel writing. While they’re highly entertaining, the partial novels I wrote in elementary and middle school aren’t likely to ever see the light of day. I started treating being an author as a career in 2015, after finishing my degree and getting a few years of work experience under my belt. Going to conferences, networking, learning from my peers, and steadily writing that entire time resulted in a lot of growth for me, and definitely led to all my successes so far!

SP: Word on the street is you just signed your first book deal! Wahoo and congrats! How does that feel? What was your response? Crying, sitting in shock, partying all night, or…?

BT: Yes, thank you! I’ve signed a book contract once before, for a children’s novel called The Knight in Battered Armor (released in 2019). This new contract is for my first ever full-length novel though, so it definitely feels like something big, new, and exciting! Because of an email I’d already been sent the week prior to the offer, I knew that a decision was coming soon, and I was on pins and needles, constantly refreshing my inbox. I was hoping for an offer, but didn’t know for sure what to expect.

SP: Hi Meg! Thanks for joining us! Before we get into book stuff, we’d LOVE to know a bit about you and your writing journey!
Sure! I started getting serious about writing back in 2014. By 2016, I was attending some writing conferences and had even finished a YA sci-fi book which I pitched to a few agents but didn’t get far with it. A few manuscripts/years later, I applied to Pitch Wars in a different genre, adult mystery, and got chosen by Kellye Garrett and Mia P. Manansala to be their mentee. Even though I worked really hard on that story, it didn’t go far in the query trenches. But while I was lamenting through query rejections, I started drafting a wild story about a girl and a wolf and a sled race! And that was the book that my agent’s grabbed out of their slush pile and is also about to become my debut at Wednesday Books.

SP: Hey MJ! So excited to have you on the Spinning Pen! Before we get started, we want to hear about YOU and your writing journey! What made you want to write and what’s a fun fact you don’t mind sharing? 

I loved writing ever since I was a kid. It was a way for me to escape and be creative. I loved reading stories, writing my own version of them when I was done reading (I guess that’s early fanfic?) I also liked to write little serial stories starring my friends and then pass them out every week for them to read. By middle school I was writing fantasy novels by hand but when I got to high school I had to focus on getting a “real job”. Two degrees, a soul-sucking job, and a two kids later I returned to my love of writing, deciding to make a career out of it.

Fun fact: My first published novel was in the 3^rd grade. Our teacher had us write and illustrate our own stories. Then she bound them and put them in the school library for the everyone to check out. I still have that book to this day!