GCC Presents: Kristina Springer!

For my first Girlfriends Cyber Circuit tour of the year, I'm happy to present one of my old Illinois SCBWI buddies, Kristina Springer, who is here to talk about her new book, My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours!

About My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours: 

Seventh grade was supposed to be fun, but Tori is having major drama with her BFF, Sienna. Sienna changed a lot over the summer—on the first day of school she’s tan, confident, and full of stories about her new dreamy boyfriend. Tori knows that she’s totally making this guy up. So Tori invents her own fake boyfriend, who is better than Sienna’s in every way. Things are going great—unless you count the whole lying-to-your-best-friend thing—until everyone insists Tori and Sienna bring their boyfriends to the back-to-school dance.

About the Author:

Kristina Springer is the best-selling author of THE ESPRESSOLOGIST, MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS, JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS, THE PAPARAZZI PROJECT and BOY SWAP. She has a Masters in Writing from DePaul University and she resides in a suburb of Chicago with her husband and children. Read more about her at http://www.kristinaspringer.com and follow her on twitter @TinaSpringer.

The Interview:

Q: What inspired you to write this book?

Kristina: I had my own fake boyfriend in 7th grade and I was thinking about that time and the idea for this book came to me.

Q: The main character of my first book, I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE, is the kind of girl I wanted to be (a rock star!), the MC of my second book has a lot more in common with teenage me. Is your main character someone you wish you could be, someone a lot like you, or your total opposite? How so? 

Kristina: She’s a lot like me actually. She comes up with crazy ideas/schemes and just has to carry them out.

Q: If there was a soundtrack for your book what are five songs that would be on it and how do they relate the story?

Kristina: I can’t even start to think of five songs. I listen to music in the car but can never remember names of songs/bands.

Q: In addition to writing books, I also write for a website for teens called Rookie, which has a regular feature called "Literally The Best Thing Ever," wherein we write about a thing that we think is super mega awesome (even if it is the type of thing that others might call a guilty pleasure, we believe there is nothing guilty about pleasure!) and explain why we think it is literally the best thing ever. It's generally a kind of unexpected thing, for example I wrote one about the soap opera, One Life To Live. I don't expect you to write a whole essay obviously, but can you briefly tell us what either you or your character (or both!) would say is "Literally The Best Thing Ever" and why?

Kristina: Gilmore Girls is literally the best thing ever. I can watch any episode again and again and never grow tired of the story line, people, the town etc. It’s like the perfect comfort show if I’m having a bad day. I love it and want to move to Stars Hollow, CT.

Q: What are you working on for us next?

Kristina: Another fun middle grade. I don’t want to jinx myself by saying too much but I’m loving it. 

Contest!

Kristina is running a My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours Release Contest until 1/15/14.
Here’s what the winner will get:
 • A $20 gift card (Starbucks or Amazon, your choice!),
 • Autographed copy of My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours,
 • Fake Boyfriend Emergency Kit, and a
 • Variety of bookmarks/stickers from all of her
books