Eileen Cook

Well this would officially scare the s#@% out of me

In general I’m not a nervous flyer. I don’t like to fly, but that’s more because I can’t afford to fly first class on a regular basis. I’ve flown first class before and I can tell you- it really is much better beyond the curtain. There is champagne before you take off, comfy seats, and they often bring you warm cookies mid flight. If your flight is delayed they send you to these wonderful lounges in the airport that are like the land of Oz with helpful staff, plugs so you can recharge your laptop and a near living room like environment in which to relax.

However this would make me a nervous flyer. On a recent British Airways flight they accidentally played a message over the PA announcing that the plane was about to crash into the ocean. They then announced that “oops” it was just an accident. Ha ha ha. Nothing like a little airline humor.

September 8th, 2010 | One Comment

Hello Beautiful!

I am thrilled to show off the cover for my new book! Writing is a solitary venture, but publishing is a team sport. I am very lucky to have a great team at Simon Pulse, including the divine Cara P. who does my covers.

The Education of Hailey Kendrick will be available Jan 4, 2011. Feel free to begin your official count down.

Hope everyone is having a great long weekend. What are you doing with your extra day off?

September 6th, 2010 | 11 Comments

GCC has a Fake Boyfriend!

Please welcome Kristina Springer! Her new book, My Fake Boyfriend Is Better Than Yours is out now. Since I only had fake boyfriends in high school, and a disturbing tendency to have crushes on boys who would later admit they were gay, this book’s premise called out to me.

About the book:
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. Toriknows 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.

Kristina stopped by to answer some questions:

1) I love to know the behind the scenes story- what was the inspiration for your book?
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.

2) What do you like best about being a writer and what do you like the least?
Writing the first draft is my absolute fave! Promoting the books is probably the hardest for me.

3) What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Hang out with my hubby and four kids (2, 4, 5, and 7), hanging out with my friends, reading and going to book club, and working out—especially going to spin classes.

4) What was the last movie you saw? Love it or hate it?
Watched Unthinkable on DVD last night. I didn’t love or hate it—it was all right for an action movie. I prefer romantic comedies though!

5) How would people in high school have described you? Is it the same as how you would have described yourself at that time?
Dork and yep!

Crafty

I like to make things. I’ve gone through various crafty phases, there was the painted Christmas ornaments, cross stitch, and needlepoint phases. The past couple years have been knitting. I really wish that I could paint. Well, I guess if you want to be technical I can paint, it is just that the resulting picture doesn’t look like the thing I set out to paint.

Devoted husband came across this guy. I’m not entirely sure what gives people the idea to go into pencil point art. The little shoe was one of my favorites. Which one do you like?

September 1st, 2010 | 3 Comments

Not this week

I’m sure all of you are as shocked and amazed as I am to discover that once again I did not win the lottery this week. Devoted husband calls lottery tickets a tax on people that can’t do math. With that kind of attitude I’m not sure I plan to share my millions with him when I finally do win. Or if I do I will force him to repeat daily that I was right and he should always listen to me.

The fun of the lottery ticket is the imagining what you would do if you won. My list would include the following (although not in any particular order)

- I would never fly coach again. First class all the way. I DETEST flying, not because I am afraid, but because I hate being shoved into a small seat with someone in front of me laying all the way back so that my tray table is wedged into my chest and some small child throwing crayons at my head and kicking my seat for the entire flight.

- I will hire someone to do all the chores in my house that I hate. This will include cleaning the bathroom, putting away laundry (I don’t mind doing the laundry, but for some reason getting it off the top of the dryer and back into closets is difficult), mopping the floors, and clearing the backyard of dog poop. I’ll still cook on occasion so that I don’t forget what it’s like to be “the little people.”

- My house will always have fresh flowers.

- I will go to the spa for a massage once a week. I may also toss is some pedicures and manicures.

- I will rent a flat in London and live there for a few months. I may also try this out in other great places I want to visit. No more rushed one week running around trying to see everything. Not for me. (Needless to say I will be flying first class and bringing my bathroom cleaner to London as well.)

Sigh. What would you would do if you won the lottery? No paying off bills or giving it all to charity- I want the decadent answers.

August 30th, 2010 | One Comment

My Dad Totally Would Have Done This

Despite what you might believe based on exaggerated tales from my family, I was generally quite a good kid. This was due to two primary reasons:

a) I was rather dorky and as a result not frequently invited to wild parties. When I was invited it turned out I couldn’t stand the taste of beer so I dumped the bottle out in a planter and then filled it up with water from the bathroom sink in an effort to look cool. No one was fooled.
b) Abject fear kept me from doing anything too bad because I was pretty sure my dad would kill me. Plus, he was clever so I thought there was a good chance he could get away with the murder.

Brilliant writer, Joelle, alerted me to this story: Dad Takes Out Ad in Paper to Punish Missed Curfew. My first thought after reading this article was, my dad totally would have done this.

For the record I still don’t get invited to many wild parties and I’m still not a big beer drinker. Now, a martini is another thing.

August 26th, 2010 | 4 Comments

Manic Monday

It feels like summer has entered some type of time vortex. How is it possible that we’re coming up to the end of August already? Where did all the time go? It feels as if I should have accomplished a lot more by this point. Soon Vancouver will enter monsoon season again and the rains won’t stop until spring.

I’ve been busy this summer getting ready for some book releases. The Education of Hailey Kendrick will hit stores in January. If you love boarding school books where pranks go very wrong and there is some man stealing, you’ll want to check it out. My middle grade series (check out the first cover, it’s adorable), Fourth Grade Fairy arrives in April.

I have a very exciting project coming up for the paperback release of Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood. Stay tuned here for more details.

Enough shameless promotion. At least for now. What have you done this summer?

August 23rd, 2010 | 2 Comments

Undercover dog

Our dogs are roughly the size of a bread box. Or for those of you who never saw a bread box, we’re talking the size of a couple of shoe boxes, only with fur. They aren’t exactly intimidating. Bailey is 13 and can’t see or hear very well so she tends to wander these days in a good natured fog. She sort of assumes if anyone is touching her it must be a good thing. Cairo wants to be a tough dog. I suspect in his own mind he is a doberman sized fur and teeth killing machine. Alas, it is hard to be scared of something that can be picked up and shoved in the spare bedroom if he won’t stop barking.

However, there are people who have scary dogs. Large dogs who despite their size are actually quite sweet. Now someone has come up with a disguise for these dogs so they can blend in among other dogs without intimidating others.

Dog Disguises. This also works if you happen to have a dog in the witness protection program.

August 19th, 2010 | 3 Comments

I tweet, therefore I am

I didn’t want to join Twitter. I figured I didn’t really have anything interesting to say that could be summarized in a small 140 character line. Then my editor asked me to join. The truth is I happen to love my editor. Not only is she generally nifty, but she loves dogs, cupcakes and crafts. I feel destiny brought us together. Thus, if she asks something of me I do it.

The first thing I discovered about Twitter is that it doesn’t seem to really matter if you have nothing to say. The Twitter world is full of people who can’t wait to share with the world at large that they are “off to lunch!” or “watching re-runs of America’s Next Top Model.” As a result I began sharing random tidbits of my life in the hope that it will make all of you want to buy multiple copies of my books.

Then suddenly Twitter had meaning. I tweeted (God, I hate using that word) about Judy Blume. It is a well established fact that I have a serious writer crush on Ms. Blume. If I could grow up to be her I would be just fine with that outcome. Then she TWEETED BACK. Now I get Twitter. Touched by technology, I figure Ms. Blume and I are now best friends. Soon we will spend lazy days by the pool discussing the plot to Blubber and Tiger Eyes. I will share how I hid my copy of Forever so that my parents wouldn’t know there were smutty parts. She’ll offer me writing tips and I’ll laugh at all of her jokes.

If you are on Twitter- stop by and follow me. You never know who we’ll meet out there in cyberspace.

August 16th, 2010 | 10 Comments

The calm before the storm

I am excited to announce I have finished my final fairy book, for my middle grade series, Fourth Grade Fairy. (Feel free to pre-order your copy now) I get a thrill when I get to write- THE END.

I haven’t started my next book yet. In fact, I’m not entirely sure what I want to write next so I’m in that lovely stage of thinking through various options and looking at everything as a possible plot or character. I’ll be focusing on some marketing things (details to come soon) to celebrate the paperback release of Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood in September.

In the meantime I’m reading a lot and watching things grow in my garden. Behold! Things I have managed not to kill.

August 12th, 2010 | 4 Comments