Writers that are Speaking to Me

Devon Kinch, author of Pretty Penny Sets Up Shop

Today’s post is written by Devon Kinch, author of Pretty Penny Sets Up Shop. My first grade daughter attached herself to this book the minute it arrived in the mail. It’s one of those that she wants to read over and over. My husband & I read it to her, she reads it to her dolls, she hid it under her bed so no one else can have it! I just went to grab it to look through it for this post & I found her clutching it while she sleeps.

Devon inspires me to allow the things that matter most to me to influence my writing. I’m sure she will do the same for you.

From Devon —

While doing research about women and their relationship to money, I took an informal poll of about 20 of my female friends inquiring about the state of their personal finances. What I discovered surprised me: almost all of my girlfriends had debt either from credit cards, medical bills, student loans, or a combination thereof. It was sobering news, especially given the fact that women do not adequately save for retirement compared to their male counterparts. More than 1 in 10 women who are retired live on less than $10,000, a year according to the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement, That, in case you’re wondering, is below the poverty line. It can’t help matters that young women in their 20s and 30s are already shouldering debt in the tens of thousands of dollars before they put a single dime towards retirement.

Unless you were one of the lucky ones, chances are you made it all the way through high school (and possibly even college) without ever taking an accounting class. As a result, many of us don’t have a well-developed relationship with money management. Our lack of any formal education in personal finance causes many of us to just simply avoid the subject. Well, this is an attitude that needs to change.

When setting out to write Pretty Penny Sets Up Shop, I wanted to create a character that had an entirely different attitude about money. She wasn’t just interested in spending it—she was to be creative in every aspect of earning, spending, saving and investing money. Penny doesn’t necessarily have money problems; instead she busies herself solving them for others.

In Pretty Penny Sets Up Shop, she opens the Small Mall in her grandmother’s attic as a way to raise money for a surprise birthday party. In future books, the Small Mall will transform into many things – a theatre, a salon, and even a museum. Penny finds solutions to the various money problems she is confronted with by using her imagination. Most of her ideas are a bit wacky, but that’s what makes it fun. She lives within her means; she’s resourceful, energetic, and creative. It’s great attitude for all of us to adopt – young and old – as we begin to change the way we think about money.

Devon and Pretty Penny Sets Up Shop are on tour this week through the Blog World. You can find them:

Monday (1/24) Book Faerie

Tuesday (1/25) Teaching Books

Wednesday (1/26) Family Finance

Thursday (1/27) The Children’s Book Review

Friday (1/28) Booking Mama

Saturday (1/29) Two Writing Teachers

Sunday (1/30) A Frugal Friend

Monday (1/31) Random Acts of Reading

Tuesday (2/1) Mommy Savers

And one more thing . . . check out these great pages!