Author Interview with Lisa Burstein

Yay! Lisa Burstein has agreed to be my very first interview! Isn't she brave?!

Thanks for the interview, Lisa, it's awesome to have you here!

Let's start with something fun. I hear that you're pretty funny, and judging by the snippets of PRETTY AMY I've read, I'm sure that rumor is true! So, could you give us your favorite joke? Well, I have to admit, I'm not really a jokey kind of person. I prefer one-liners myself. But I do love to laugh and make other people laugh. How about I list some of my favorite funny writers: Lorrie Moore, Laurie Notaro, Helen Fielding, and the KING Phillip Roth. I can only dream to make people laugh as much as these authors have made me laugh.

I will definitely have to check those writers out. I've also heard you say you and Amy are a lot alike. How so? I would say we are both cynical and snarky. Amy's voice is like mine times 1,000x, the very hyperbole of who I am. I was also a lot like her in high school: scared, unsure, lost. Wondering if I would ever figure out who I was. Wondering if I would ever find people who liked me for me. Wondering if I would ever like me for me.

If you could go back to high school, knowing what you know now, would you? If so, what would you do differently, if anything? Go back to high school, that sounds like torture! ;) But, if I knew then what I know now, I would definitely have NOT dated some of the boys I dated. I had very low self esteem and was amazed that any boy liked me. I pretty much never said, no (to a date, get your minds out of the gutter). But guess what? My mother was right, a lot of them were TOTAL LOSERS!

What has been your favorite part of your publishing journey, so far? Working with my editor Stacy Cantor Abrams. It is honestly so amazing to have someone who can see your work and make it 100x's better than what it is. And guess what? She did! She helped me shape this book into something that makes people think and feel and for an author I don't think there is a greater experience than that your book resonates with readers. PRETTY AMY was a completely different book before I started working with Stacy and its been an incredible journey making it what it is now.

That is wonderful! Stacy sounds awesome! What are you most looking forward to? Holding my book in my hands, which I get to do THIS WEEK! I still can't believe I am having a book published! A dream of mine since I was a little girl.

I can relate to that :) Can you talk about what we can look forward to seeing from you in the future? A companion novel to PRETTY AMY, titled DEAR CASSIE about the aftermath of the girls’ arrest and its effect told through diary entries of Amy’s best friend Cassie.

Oooo, that sounds interesting! Now, how about a quick game of Top Two?

What are your top two:

-Desserts? Carrot Cake and ANY type of candy

-Movies you could watch at any time? BETTER OFF DEAD. My absolute favorite! I have it on DVD and watch it at least two times a year. (I also have the movie poster in my office at home).