Carrie Jones is quirky, sweet, and has a thing for Grover, John Wayne, and Postum. She's also penned a young adult contemporary novel, Tips On Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend (released May '07), and its sequel, Love (and Other Uses For Duct Tape), which comes out on her birthday, March 1st. That's right, just a few more days until you can have it in your hands, via Amazon, Chapters, Barnes and Noble, or your local independent bookstore. Meanwhile, why not peruse her website, her blog, or stick around for our interview!

What was the first thing you ever wrote, and how do you feel about it?

The first thing I remember was a haiku I wrote in second grade. Our teacher went to GREAT LENGTHS to explain syllables and the history of the haiku. I remember sitting there, staring out the window at the woods next to our school and not being able to get the last line and then -- poof-- I saw a robin.

So I wrote:

SPRING IS FUN YOU SEE
BECAUSE FLOWERS GROW WITH RAIN
AND ROBINS COME HOME.

For some reason, Mrs. Snierson thought this poem made me an absolute genius. I think this was:

1. Because it didn't have to do with trucks. All the boys were writing about trucks.
2. Because it didn't have to do with puppies or cupcakes. All the girls were writing about puppies and cupcakes.
3. I put the syllables in the right places.

Anyway, she wrote the poem in her big perfect handwriting on super sized paper and tacked it up on the wall. She wrote my name under it: CARRIE BARNARD.

I felt pretty famous.

It also inspired Mrs. Snierson to declare me a gifted and talented kid. I was suddenly in all the smart kid reading groups, taking IQ tests and sent to Kids College, which was this program on Saturday morning that taught enrichment classes to kids. I took a lot of poetry writing classes there. It was the end of my Scooby Doo obsession, as well. Scooby was on Saturday mornings. I was in love with Scooby in a I-Want-To-Marry-A-Cartoon-Dog kind of way.

Thank you for saving me from years of therapy and possible arrest, Kids College.

The first non-poetry writing I remember was a MASSIVE Star Trek story of 200-plus pages that I wrote the summer before fifth grade. I wrote it for my brother, because I didn't have enough money to buy him something cool like golf balls for his birthday. I think my brother would have preferred the golf balls, poor guy. He didn't even actually like Star Trek, I just thought he did. I spent the whole summer watching old Star Trek episodes for reasearch. Then I wrote a story about a short, brown haired girl who slurred her s's and how she saved the universe while Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy, Sulu and Checkov all fell in love with her. My poor brother ...

What's one thing that you have to have in your writing area, other than pen/keyboard and paper/computer (and Grover)?

Postum, baby. The elixir of the blue-haired set.

How will you and your main character, Belle, survive without Postum?

I think we are both going to suffer greatly. But we've stockpiled thanks to some of our friends. Imagine a bomb shelter full of clear glass bottles of grain beverage cereal.

My super cool writer best friend, Emily Wing Smith, thinks we should buy the patent and get a mill and make it ourselves and sell it. This is brilliant idea because Emily even knows how to vacuum seal things, but the problem is that Emily lives in Utah and I live in Maine and Emily is allergic to Maine.

While writing LOVE (AND OTHER USES FOR DUCT TAPE), you were inducted into the Sexy Writer Hall of Fame. What are the pros and cons of "writing and writing and writing, not necessarily in order"? Would you do it this way again?

Well. Hhmm....

Pros:
1. It makes you sexy to write that way.
2. It makes you sexy to write that way.
3. It's freeing to write that way.
4. It's a cool way to work on the shape of your story when you're revising.
5. Girlfriend, did I say it makes you sexy to write that way? And it's a much easier (and less messy) way to be sexy than stilleto heels, lacy underthings, and chocolate pudding

Cons:
1. It's hard to catch all the consistency issues, which may still be there in the ARC, but are NOT THERE in the FINAL VERSION. I swear!
2. The cut and paste buttons on your computer get tired.

Will we be hearing more about Belle after LOVE, or is this the Fond Farewell?

I'm pretty sure this is the fond farewell. I know what happens to Belle and Emily and Dylan, Bob, Tom and everyone after this book, but LOVE feels pretty conclusive in an open-ended way.

Which of your characters would be voted "Most Likely to Drive Carrie Jones Crazy"? Why?

I'm limited to the characters in TIPS and LOVE, right? Because those are the only two out. Um.... Um....

I actually think that Drew/Andrew has the most potential to dive me nuts. He's a pretty minor character, but he has this great potential to be good, but basically he's just a sex-on-the-brain idiot a lot of the time. I want to sit him down, force feed him some strudel and say, "Honey, look. There's more to you than this. You've got potential.... A hickie line down the middle of your chest is not a sign of ultimate manhood coolness, okay?"

Note: Drew/Andrew is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY inspired by my Super Cool Manly Editor Andrew Karre. They just randomly have the same first name. I double dog swear.

Thank you so much, Tori.

***

Thank you! This was a blast.

Watch out for Carrie's other literary creations over '08 and '09 (Girl, Hero, Need [a "fantasy with touches of magical realism"], and a nonfiction picture book).