Interview with Kristina Springer, Author of The Espressologist & CONTEST!

Today I'm thrilled to welcome Kristina Springer, author of The Espressologist, which releases October 27th! The Espressologist is a novel about a teenage coffee barista who discovers a talent for matchmaking customers based on their favorite coffee drinks. Kristina Springer has a Bachelor of Arts in English Education from Illinois State University and a Master of Arts in Writing from DePaul University. She lives in a suburb of Chicago, IL with her husband Athens and their four small children Teegan, Maya, London, and Gavin.

The Espressologist is about teen barista Jane Turner’s unique matchmaking ability to successfully set up couples based on their favorite coffee drinks (which she calls Espressology). Can you give us a little teaser into the book or sneak peek insider scoop?

Definitely! Let me give you the opening paragraph:

Large Nonfat Four-shot Caffe Latte

Cocky sex-deprived butthead guy drink. Expect only the utmost stupidity to come out of his mouth. So-so body, could stand to work out more. Crappy dresser. Dramatically stares at a woman who comes in with a boob job. He looks like he is going to hurt himself in the contortions he is twisting into…

Was there anything in particular that sparked the idea in your mind for The Espressologist? How long did it take you to write the book and how many revisions did you have to make?

Yeah, I spend lots of time in coffee shops and observing people and like my girl Jane, one day I realized I could tell what people were going to order. I thought hey, I should write a book about Espressology. Then I thought, scratch that, I’ll write a book about an Espressologist and have her matchmake based on her Espressology.

I wrote the entire book in about 4 months. Then my critique partners read it and I revised it a few more times before getting my agent. Then when I sold we edited – maybe 3 or 4 times in line edits and then copy edits.

What is your favorite thing about The Espressologist—scene, cover, character, etc?

Oooh, good question. I’ll go with the end.

What did you do to celebrate when you found out The Espressologist was going to be published?

I remember dancing around with the kids but no real big specific celebration. The book comes out on my birthday though so I think I’m going to have to really do it up!

Where do you do most of your writing and do you have any writing rituals (favorite beverage, music to play, etc)? If you have a picture of your workspace, can you share it with us?

At Starbucks! I almost always sit at the same table. And I always have a coffee drink, my laptop, and sometimes my favorite Trader Joe’s pretzels (depending on if I’m feeling snacky). Music= whatever Starbucks has going on that day- I’m pretty open.

Have you ever tried to play matchmaker with anyone you know, and how did it turn out if you did?

Not too much. I tried a couple of times in college but they kinda backfired on me from what I remember.

When you were seventeen like Jane, did you ever work in a coffee place? If you had any other jobs when you were a teen, can you tell us if there was one you ended up enjoying or conversely, one you REALLY HATED?

I was never a barista, but I worked in a grocery store—first as a bagger and then a cashier. And hoo boy, you want to see some drama, work in a grocery store! The love stories that happened there were endless and complex. And of course I loved it—constant entertainment.

Do you have any advice for authors (teen and adult) who want to become published writers?

Write, write, write! A lot of people talk about wanting to write a book but they don’t sit down and do it. Push yourself through writing your entire book. It doesn’t have to be a sparkly first draft. You can always go back and revise like crazy. In fact, you will revise a gazillion times. Trust me. But if you don’t have that first draft, you don’t have anything to revise. Like today for example, I was working and thinking to myself, oh my god does chapter 12 suck! But I had to push through it to get to chapter 13. I know I’ll have to go back to chapter 12 and fix it and I’ll probably have a great idea for how to do so in a week or two. But if I let chapter 12 stop me then the book would never get written. So to sum it up, write, write, write! And read too! You should really keep up with what’s going on in your genre.

According to your website, you have four children, ages six, four, three and one- how do you ever find the time to write?

It’s really not as hard as you’d think. When my husband gets home from work I take off for Starbucks and he does the end of the night stuff with the kids. I’m usually pretty ready to write by that point. And I usually take a few hours over the weekend too.

Of course I have to ask you--Is Espresso your favorite coffee drink? And what type of personality would Jane want to match you up with?

Uh-oh. I was afraid someone would ask me this question. Okay, um, my favorite coffee drink sorta kinda happens to be Jane’s favorite coffee drink too. An iced venti nonfat mocha with no whip. I have to stop there—I can’t tell you who I’d be matched up with!

You have another book coming out in 2010 called MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS. Can you tell us about this catchy title and any other projects you are currently working on?

Yes! I’m so excited about My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours. It’s a middle grade book and it’s about two 7th grade BFFs who each think each other’s “boyfriend” is a fake. It becomes competitive (like if one says her boyfriend sent her carnations the other says her boyfriend sent her roses) and hilarious. It will be out in the fall of 2010.

I’m also working on a new young adult book called Pumpkin Princess and I’m totally in love with it. I’m in the first draft stage with this right now.

The Espressologist by Kristina Springer

Publication Date: October 27th 2009

What’s your drink of choice? Is it a small pumpkin spice latte? Then you’re lots of fun and a bit sassy. Or a medium americano? You prefer simplicity in life. Or perhaps it’s a small decaf soy sugar-free hazelnut caffe latte? Some might call you a yuppie. Seventeen-year-old barista Jane Turner has this theory that you can tell a lot about a person by their regular coffee drink. She scribbles it all down in a notebook and calls it Espressology. So it’s not a totally crazy idea when Jane starts hooking up some of her friends based on their coffee orders. Like her best friend, Em, a medium hot chocolate, and Cam, a toffee nut latte. But when her boss, Derek, gets wind of Jane’s Espressology, he makes it an in-store holiday promotion, promising customers their perfect matches for the price of their favorite coffee. Things are going better than Derek could ever have hoped, so why is Jane so freaked out? Does it have anything to do with Em dating Cam? She’s the one who set them up! She should be happy for them, right?

With overtones of Jane Austen’s Emma and brimming with humor and heart, this sweet, frothy debut will be savored by readers.

You can order The Espressologist HERE.

******WIN THE ESPRESSOLOGIST AND STARBUCKS GIFT CARD!*****

Kristina has graciously agreed to give away a signed copy of The Espressologist,and if you are the winner, you will ALSO receive a$10 Starbucks Gift Card!

To Enter: Just leave a comment telling me what your favorite coffee drink is (if any). I personally am addicted to chai lattes. Yum!

Bonus Entry: Link/post to any social networking site (myspace, facebook, twitter, blog etc)

Contest Ends November 15th 2009 ( US residents only please)

Don't forget to stop by Fantastic Book Review each Monday for a little Monday Madness too!