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.

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?

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!

Author Bio

Kristina Springer is the author of THE ESPRESSOLOGIST, MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS and the forthcoming PUMPKIN PRINCESS (fall 2011). She has a Masters in Writing from DePaul University and she resides outside of Chicago with her husband and children. Visit her at www.KristinaSpringer.com.

Online
Web-site: www.KristinaSpringer.com
Blogs: KristinaSpringer.blogspot.com, author2author.blogspot.com
Other: @TinaSpringer on twitter, facebook.com/KristinaSpringer

What People Are Saying About My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours
“The sheer exhaustion of a fake-boyfriend arms race, with the need to create fake email accounts and to come up with competing romantic gestures on the fly, is cleverly depicted.” –Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“The themes will resonate with any girl who’s ever gone through the hardships of middle school: friendship, boys, popularity, and, most importantly, choosing to do the right, but often more difficult, thing. A fun read.” –School Library Journal

“The dialogue is realistic, and Springer brings refreshing personalities to standard character types; Tori’s parents are divorced, but both parents are active in her life, for instance, and the popular girls aren’t mean.” –Kirkus Reviews

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?

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.