Funday Friday! Featuring.... Elizabeth Eulberg!

Okay, okay. I know it's Saturday. I COMPLETELY forgot about posting this yesterday. But! It is here now and it's only like, 24 hours late. So I don't think it's that bad, right? Anyway, this week's Funday Friday (Saturday) is featuring Elizabeth Eulberg. I met her while in NYC and she was super nice! We had a cool conversation and she was full of fun-ness. Here's the interview:

1. Where did you get the idea for The Lonely Hearts Club?

"I was out one night with a friend that we all have – the one who only wants to hang out when her boyfriend isn’t around. She was, once again, getting attention from guys and I started having a pity party for myself, but then I thought “I have so many awesome, single girlfriends, we should get together every Saturday and enjoy being single!” I realized that would be a great idea for a book and The Lonely Hearts Club was born!"

2. Have you always been good at writing/ wanted to be a writer?

"I’m continually working on being a better writer, but I really didn’t think that I would ever be a writer. I still have a hard time considering myself an author. An author – who, me? I did always enjoy writing, but it wasn’t until I was encouraged by an author I worked with (Dav Pilkey) that I had the confidence to try writing a book."

3. If you could work with any other author, who would it be?

"Jane Austen, but since that’s impossible, I’m currently working on a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, entitled Prom and Prejudice, which will be out in early 2011."

4. Are there any parts of your books that are based on events in your own life?

"Unfortunately, a lot of the break-up stories in The Lonely Hearts Club are based on either something that has happened to me or one of my friends. Like Penny, I also worked in a dental office (but it wasn’t my father’s) and my sister wasn’t paying any attention to me when I was two and I fell off a bunk bed. I put that story in mostly to make my sister Meg laugh and I believe that is her favorite part of the book."

5. How long did it take to find an agent/publish your book after finishing the manuscript?

"I started writing The Lonely Hearts Club in the spring/summer of 2004. I didn’t send the manuscript to an agent until mid-2006. Fortunately because of my career in publishing, I already new some literary agents which helped me to secure one. Even so, I worked on many edits of LHC with my agent and we didn’t send it out until mid-2008 to publishers. I signed with Scholastic in July 2008."

6. What advice would you give to people who "run out of creativity" when writing?

'Get up from the computer and do something else, take a break. I find when I need to rethink a line or plot point, I’ll go to the gym or get some coffee. Staring at a computer screen has never helped me so I’ll do something else and generally an idea will come to me when I’m least expecting it!"

7. What's your favorite part of a book?

"I really like it when a character either gets his or her comeuppance or a character is finally vindicated for something. I like happy endings!"

(Now for a couple fun questions)
8. Favorite song?

"So hard! I have so many favorite songs, but my song of the moment is Elbow’s “One Day Like This” – I listen to it a few times a day. It is so beautiful and uplifting."

9. If you were going to be stuck on a deserted island, which book, movie, food, and person(s) would you take?

"Pride and Prejudice; Moulin Rouge; if refrigeration wasn’t an issue, my mother’s cheeseball (I am from Wisconsin after all!); and Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol because I’d make him sing to me (what else would he have to do?)."

10. Five of your favorite things?

"My iPod (I can’t leave home without it!)
My Les Paul electric guitar
Going to Concerts
Glee (is it possible to NOT smile while watching that show?)
Friends – I don’t really consider them “things” but I can’t imagine life without them!"


Hope you guys enjoyed it! I Love Snow Patrol and Glee also! I'm a huge Gleek :) Make sure you guys check out Elizabeth's website at Elizabetheulberg.com! She also has Facebook and Twitter.
Keep on checking in with the blog because next week there will be another contest! I also have more reviews lined up-- I've been reading like crazy! :)
Happy Reading!