Author Interview: Kimberly Pinzon
- fridaynightwritesi
- Jun 13
- 9 min read
Hello, everyone! Welcome back to Friday Night Writes! As always, our goal is to shine a spotlight on members of the book community and introduce readers to awesome authors, narrators, event hosts, influencers, and more.
This week, we'd like to introduce our featured guest, author Kimberly Pinzon. This week, Evie will be participating in the interview.
Kimberly, thank you for joining us!
So, Kimberly, to kick everything off, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself. Who is Kimberly Pinzon?
Whenever someone says “Who are you?” all I think about is Mushu yelling, “Who am I? Who am I? I am the guardian of lost souls. I am the powerful, the pleasurable, the indestructible Mushu. I’m pretty hot, aren’t I?” And I guess that gives a small view into how my mind works. I lived in NYC for most of my life and then moved to “Upstate” New York (the Hudson Valley, which, if you grew up in NYC, you know why that’s upstate). Most of my time there I worked as a juvenile Probation Officer with high risk juveniles. Eventually I moved out to Pennsylvania where I now work as a 911 Dispatcher and have found a real passion for the job, even though it sometimes makes me question whether or not we’re meant to survive as a species. When I’m not working, reading, or writing, I can be found outside ostensibly getting lost on a trail, trying to keep my vegetable garden alive, or doing something else creative.
It sounds as though you enjoy the outdoors as much as being an author. Did you always know you wanted to be an author? How did you know?
Yes! I knew being an author made sense for me when I couldn’t get the stories out of my head.
I know that feeling, the characters are always yelling at me. Let me circle back for a moment, you said you enjoy getting lost on a trail. I'm assuming that means hiking. Is that a hobby of yours? Do you have other hobbies? Does your characters have the same hobbies as you?
I love to hike and one of my goals is to eventually section hike the Appalachian Trail. I’ve got about a hundred miles down, so only 2,100 more to go. I like to cosplay when I find the time to sew or build a piece. I love a good horror survival game. I grew up playing Doom on PC, and that has shaped a lot of what I like. I’m really looking forward to Resident Evil 9 and Silent Hill F.
My characters don’t tend to share my specific hobbies, but they are usually creative and like the outdoors.
I played Doom a lot when I was a kid too. You're a very passionate person with all that you do. Is there are cause/project/charity that you support?
In college I needed to pick a project to helm as a Resident Assistant and I chose “Take Back the Night” which is meant to raise awareness about sexual assault. I have carried that into my adult life, and I’ve become really passionate about domestic violence prevention as the two can sometimes go hand in hand. I think if people realized how often they come into contact with someone who is a survivor of either or both of those things, they might be more invested in its prevention.
You are absolutely right. Domestic violence and sexual assault are a major issue that deserves more attention, especially when it comes to prevention. While I'm sure we could both talk about that topic for hours, we are here to talk about your books! Tell me, how long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing since I was 9, so about…many years now. I can’t do math which is why I’m a writer.
You and me both! I stopped being good at math once letters got involved. You've been writing for a long time, what genres do you write in?
Non-fiction, horror, science fiction. Those are my favorite things to read, so it makes sense. I have lots of ideas for other types of stories, but, we’ll see if I ever move forward with them.
I love those genres. I read just about everything, so I love when authors write in multiple genres too. Are your books independently published? Or did you go the trad publishing route?
I decided to independently publish this way I could have all the creative control. After doing a lot of research, I realized how arduous of a journey it would be to even attempt trad publishing and that I would still have to market the book on my own, so I decided to skip the middle man, so to speak.
That seems to be the common answer among indie authors, myself included. So, then what is your favorite part of being an author? The least favorite?
I enjoy meeting new authors and readers, connecting with people who have a shared interest. It is such a delight to talk to someone who wants to fangirl about the same things you enjoy, and I still get so giddy when I see readers at multiple events who bought a book and then come tell me how much they enjoyed reading it.
My least favorite thing is marketing and talking to strangers. I have a very loud personality, and I love promoting others, but I am very shy about promoting myself which makes marketing extremely difficult.
Same. I'm awkward around new people. I never know what to say! But this is the time to promote yourself! How many books do you currently have published? Can you tell about them?
Four! My very first was a nonfiction about women in horror movies, whether the genre is misogynistic, and how women’s role in these movies has changed since horror was first being developed in 1898.
My second was my short horror story collection, Creeping Shadows which involves a range of things from body horror to psychological horror, demons, and my personal favorite where a man is slowly going crazy in a lighthouse (or is he?).
The third is Through the Mirror which is a cozy sci-fi involving two Earths where one is too hot and the other is too cold, and two sets of people are trying to figure out how to save themselves. It’s a short read inspired by a dream that my dad had.
The final one is Dreaming in Bones, my futuristic crime thriller where people are encouraged to use virtual reality to commit crimes as a way to reduce crime in real life. Except, the murders that are happening in the program start happening in real life and you follow the detectives trying to figure things out.
Those sound amazing! Where do you get the inspiration for your stories?
I find inspiration everywhere. A few of my short stories came from me driving down the road and seeing something interesting and running with it. Or learning an interesting fact about something random. Inspiration is everywhere. The hard part of turning it into something readable.
I understand, I like using music to help with the vibes of a scene/book. Do you prefer standalone books or a series?
I like standalones. When I was in my teens/college years I loved series because that’s a lot of what was available and interesting to me. Now, if I see that a book is part of a series, I’m a lot less likely to pick it up. Unless it’s a series where you don’t need to read the others in order to follow along.
Of the books you have published so far, which one do you wish received more love than it does?
I wish Through the Mirror got more love than it does. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite, necessarily, but I think it gets overlooked because it’s smaller and has teenage protagonists. Or maybe I’m just marketing it wrong. I don’t know, it’s probably me.
I feel that. Marketing is the worst, and you never know if you're doing it wrong or not. That leads into my next question. As indie authors, we wear a lot of hats; writer, editor, graphic designer...basically all the hats. How do you handle the author/life balance?
One day at a time. I try to plan out when I will work on author things otherwise I will skip it because I feel like there are more “pressing” things to get done: laundry, weeding, exercising, decompressing from my job. I work twelve hour shifts and don’t have time to do much of anything when I get home from work other than eat and get ready for the next day, so my days off tend to be busy. So, yes, scheduling time and actually keeping to that schedule.
It sounds like you're busy 24/7. So, what do you do for your mental health?
I go out and experience nature or I go to the gym to kind of wash away any negativity.
It's good that you have those outlets. I know for some, writing is that outlet. Do you have any advice for new authors/writers, or people hoping to become published authors?
Just write. Take the leap of faith and do it. You’ll never know what’s possible unless you actually put words on paper, make the accounts, and get the books out there. Find people you trust to get their opinions. Use the writing community to find resources for editing, cover design, beta/alpha/ARC readers. I’m always terrified to put a new book out there, but I just do it and hope for the best. Write the story you would want to read, because I guarantee you’re not the only one with those interests or loves.
That is all good advice. That's why we wanted to start Friday Night Writes, to build community and help authors, not just promote their books, but find resources.
We're moving on to the fun questions! I hope you're ready. What was your most recent 5-star read?
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak. I love a book that keeps me guessing because my mind is always going and I hate when I guess right.
What is the most daring thing you've ever done?
I flew to Colorado by myself and climbed a 14er* with little preparation and being ill quipped. This might actually have been more stupid, than daring, but I guess since I made it up and down the mountain without injuring myself it is daring. I did almost pee my pants after drinking four liters of water over the course of five hours though.
(14er* is a mountain peek with an elevation of at least 14,000ft.)
Do you collect anything besides books?
Physical media, like DVD’s, CD’s, Blu-rays. I don’t like trusting streaming services to have the movies that I want, and to have them unedited. If you stream Twister, the movie was changed to have this ugly green tint when the tornadoes are present except it’s so obviously CGI-ed.
Then you have Star Wars (4, 5, 6) which George Lucas kept messing with (making Jabba the Hutt walk around instead of being carried around for example).
With 28 Years Later coming out, everyone scrambled to find copies of 28 Days Later because it wasn’t streaming anywhere but I have a DVD copy because I love that movie and didn’t have to pay to stream it when it became available.
Also animal bones from when I find dead ones on the side of the road. I’m definitely the weird kid everyone side-eyes.
Do you believe in aliens? Ghosts?
I feel like you can’t write in the horror and/or science-fiction genres without believing. The movie The Fourth Kind scared the life out of me, and when I visited Alaska two years ago I was so scared to sleep near any windows and blockaded doors. I also had a scary experience in St. Augustine at the haunted ghost tour at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum. We went into one of the rooms and I started to feel like I couldn’t breathe because something was wrapped around my throat, and I tried to write it off as I was being scared and getting myself worked out. But then the tour guide (who wouldn’t enter the room) said women often felt like they were being choked in this room because women had been choked to death and murdered here.
What are you interested in that most people aren't?
Dead and morbid things. Whenever someone asks for a fun fact they often regret it. Like, did you know that one of the ways time of death is developed is based on the potassium ions found in the vitreous humor in your eyes? Or that women used to paint watches with radium in the early 1900s and they would get the paintbrush into a fine point by licking the radium tainted bristles and many of them developed sores in their mouths that led to their jaws falling off? Well now you do.
We're just about done for the show, but before we sign off, can you please let everyone know where they can find you?
Do you have any events coming up?
Before we wrap up, I believe you have a giveaway you're hosting?
DM me your favorite weird fact. I’ll enter everyone’s names into one of the magic spinning wheels, and let fate do its job. Winner will receive a book of their choice plus some stickers. I'll keep the giveaway open for a week (until June 20th).
United States and Canada only due to shipping costs. I will DM you if you win, I will also make a story and tag you in it.
Good luck everyone!
Once again, thank you so much for joining us this week, Kimberly! It's been great getting to know more about you and your author journey. We hope you've had a wonderful time with your interview!
To all of our readers, thanks for spending some time with our guest author this week! We hope you've enjoyed this interview, too! Be sure to follow Kimberly Pinzon on her social media platforms so you can keep up to date with her journey.
Check back next week for another interview. Next time, we'll be chatting with Shazara Brooks!
See you soon!
The Friday Night Writes Crew
Evie Black & Samantha Moran
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