Welcome, KeePers! When we posted about our new writing interns and director of marketing several weeks back, we thought that would be all the changes to the Kingdom Pen team for a while, but apparently God had different plans.

As most of you probably know from our previous posts, our illustrious editor-in-chief Reagan Ramm and amazing editor Haley Long are currently engaged to be married! With marriage, however, comes many new responsibilities, which have pulled our two core members away from their work at Kingdom Pen.

In their absence, editor Josiah DeGraaf has stepped up to be the next editor-in-chief of Kingdom Pen. Reagan and Haley will still be involved as part of the newly formed “Kingdom Pen Board,” and they hope to be able to return in a more active role sometime in the future. In the meantime, though, Josiah will be assuming Reagan’s position of leading the team as we continue to put out great content for you all. We have a lot of cool plans laid out already for the upcoming year, and we’re excited to begin showing them to you.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to introduce two new team members to the staff.

Brianna Storm Hilvety is our new copy editor and assistant graphics designer! Brianna has actually been working with the team for a couple months now, but somewhere along the way we forgot to announce her position. *Cough, cough* She copyedits all the posts that appear on the website (which is why you may have noticed an improvement on that front lately) and she also helps to create some of the beautiful graphics that accompany our articles and the quote images we post on Facebook.

Hannah Carmichael is our new editor-in-training! Hannah has been Haley’s apprentice for the past few months and will be transitioning into taking over the editor role from Haley by the end of this year. She will be reviewing all poetry submissions with Mackenzie and uploading the majority of the content (articles, poems, short stories, etc.) to the website.

You can read Brianna’s and Hannah’s bios below.

Brianna Storm Hilvety

Processed with RookieBrianna Storm Hilvety was born with a rumble in her veins. She finds the tap of a keyboard to be soothing like the pitter-patter of rain. She has been a writer for a decade, a freelance editor for a few years, and a bibliophile from the moment she pronounced her first syllable.

By the age of twelve, she had devoured several books about the writing industry, could wield a thesaurus with deadly skill, and knew how to format a manuscript for submission to a publisher. During high school, she authored columns in two small Christian periodicals and won an assortment of short story and essay contests. In 2011, she composed a three-part treatise for Homeschool Enrichment Magazine that described the lessons she’d learned while tinkering with two fantasy novels (which still have not been developed or refined to her satisfaction).

After suffering a debilitating case of writer’s block, she struggled with guilt that her own perfectionism was hindering her from fulfilling her calling. But then God placed people in her life who needed her aid in polishing their manuscripts for the cause of Christ, and she realized that her weakness could become a strength if it were channeled differently. Now proudly a Silver Member of The Christian PEN, she serves on their team as graphics coordinator. She exudes her passion for speculative fiction and helping young writers by being on the staff of Castle Gate Press and Kingdom Pen magazine.

As a homeschool graduate and an introvert, she is an independent thinker who is not afraid to express her opinions—provided it’s on paper. When she isn’t poring over words, she may be spotted shooting her Canon, riding The Breeze (an all-terrain vehicle), or romping with her dog, Zookie. Purple is her signature color, and she refuses to recognize all other claims to it. To explore Brianna’s realm, visit: www.TheLiteraryCrusader.com

Hannah Carmichael

Hannah Carmichael dreams of a world where she can be fully paid to work from home with her three cats and a jar of Nutella, all while wearing her pajama pants.

Hannah is delusional; don’t be like Hannah.

All joking aside and the Lord willing, she hopes to someday be a published author and kick off a fabulous career as a freelance illustrator to glorify God and bless those around her.

Most of her days are spent helping to homeschool her siblings, reading, and editing her two novels in the making.

Although born in Florida, Hannah far prefers her home in Indiana where she lives with her large family and amazing OTP parents. (That she ships very strongly.)

Because of all the awesome support her family and friends provide, someday she may even be famous! Or, at the very least, you might pass her on the street while exiting McDonald’s, but that’s close enough, isn’t it?

If you like, you can follow Hannah on Instagram where she frequently posts her art under the code name watersnail1.
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Finally, we want to thank all of you for following us the past several years and for participating in the Kingdom Pen community! We love the work we do and are excited to be taking these next steps!

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