Feature Friday

Author Interview: Kim Vandel

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Pen Friends~ Indie author Kim Vandel is here to share about her first book. She has a giveaway too! The first one to email us at thespinningpen@gmail.com receives her book for free!

Welcome Kim!

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SP: Who are you? 
My name is Kim Vandel. I’m a wife, mom, writer, and science nerd. I wrote short stories for fun when I was in junior high, but I didn’t pursue writing as a career until years later. I earned a degree in biology and worked in the field of environmental testing before staying home to be a full-time mom. When my boys were little, I felt the call to return to my love of fiction, so I honed my writing skills in the spare time I had. It was a long process, but all the hard work paid off last year with the launch of my debut novel Into the Fire.

SP: Can you tell us about your book? Blurb? Part two?
Into the Fire is a young adult urban fantasy set in the Seattle area. It’s sort of a mash-up between the X-Men and the book of Judges. Continue reading →

Feature Friday

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Pen Friends, today we have an unpublished Young Adult Fantasy novelist writing us from Alaska.

SP: Who are you?

Hello! My name is Rebecca Henry. I grew up in Southern California, with a lot of sisters and a big backyard, perfect for acting out the stories we made up! I began writing down my stories soon after I discovered my older sister had her own writing journal. When I turned six and the question was put before me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I answered with conviction, “A teacher, mom and writer.” Through the unpredictability of a child, teen and college student, those three remained constant and describe who I am now.

SP: What do you write?

I love to read and write MG/YA fantasy fiction, and anything for children!

SP: What are you working on now?

I am always sifting through new ideas and adding extra details to old manuscripts, but my main project right now is SPEAK, a Young Adult Fantasy Fiction.

Continue reading →

Feature Friday: Editor Talk

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Pen-Friends 🙂 Today’s feature is a professional editor sharing her insight of self editing and the publishing industry.

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Welcome Jessica Barnes!

SP: Please tell us more about you? 

I’m a small-town girl from Kansas who was lucky enough to get an editorial assistant position at a publishing house shortly after graduation. The fiction editor there took me under her wing and taught me how to edit novels, and I’ve been doing it ever since. Going on 12 years in the industry now!

SP: What do you like about being an editor?

I like collaborating with authors to make their story as good as it can be. Sometimes it’s just a matter of polishing things up, but sometimes there’s a problem-solving aspect, where an element of the plot just isn’t working, and the author and I have to put our heads together and brainstorm a way out of the situation.

SP: As an editor what do you wish you could tell writers?

Don’t take it personally! Continue reading →

Feature Friday

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Pen Friends, todays feature is a Canadian poet and aspiring novelist.

Welcome Natalie Bearg!

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SP: Who are you?

My name is Natalie and though I was born in Canada I don’t consider it home. I actually spent much of my growing up years in Asia, mostly Mongolia. It may be because as an introvert I tend to live inside my own head but writing has always appealed to me, especially poetry.

SP: What all do you write?

I love to write poetry, but in terms of fiction I write fantasy, steampunk themed stories with maybe some supernatural elements thrown in there, and heart wrenchers 🙂

SP: What am I working on now?

Life, The Afterlife, & Everything Inbetween — That’s what I’m calling my story at the moment.  It’s a story that I started for nanowrimo in 2011 and the book is about just that. It’s a fantasy that follows a young girl who is trying to find herself in the world.

Continue reading →

Feature Friday

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Hey Pen Friends! Today’s feature is an aspiring Young Adult author.

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SP: Who are you?

My name is Dana Black,  and I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. I’ve had a love of story for as long as I can remember, but I’ve been seriously pursuing fiction writing for the last four years. In my spare time, I enjoy photography and baking, and a few times over the years I considered going to pastry school or film school. Writing ended up winning out, and it continues to do so. But I make it a point of including food and baking in my stories as often as possible, and I dream of adapting my novels into screenplays.

SP: What do you write?

After trying out a few different genres, I have found a home writing young adult speculative novels, and I focus on fantasy. I’ve also got a time travel series in the works as well as a dystopian/fantasy waiting to be written.

Continue reading →

Feature Friday

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Hey Authors, today we will feature an author and professor of fiction and American Literature. Come hear his tips!

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Jim Schaap

SP: Thanks for joining us! Please tell us about yourself.

My name is Jim Schaap, although you’ll find me at Amazon under James Calvin Schaap. I mark my genesis as a writer from reading a novelist from the region where I lived then (and still do) named Frederick Manfred. When I read a novel of his (he’s an acquired taste, believe me), I thought it would be a joy to be able to write stories, because he made it clear that I didn’t have to be from New York or even some kind of literary family or sophisticated tribe. All of that happened when I was a freshman in college.

Continue reading →