Welcome to the very first column of My Author Crush.  Each month I’ll be featuring an author I’ve read and want to know more about.

While there will be some book talk here, the purpose is really to get to know the author a little more. I think it’s fun to know a little bit about the person behind the words.

A very special thank you to Meredith Schorr, author of Just Friends With Benefits,  and the soon-to-be-released Planet of the Flakes for being my inaugural profile.  I wanted to know more about Meredith because I identified so well with Stephanie in Just Friends With Benefits.

So, here we go:

TBF: Tell us a little bit about your new book, Planet of the Flakes.

MS: I’m going to cheat and give you the blurb: 

“Jane Frank is ready to fall in love.  It’s been a year since her long term relationship ended and far too long since the last time she was kissed.  With the LSAT coming up she needs to find a long term boyfriend (or husband) before acing law school and becoming a partner at her father’s law firm.  There’s just one problem: all the guys in New York are flakes.  They seemingly drop off the face of the earth with no warning and no explanation.  Should she join her best friend Marissa in singlehood, making cupcakes and watching True Blood?  Or should she follow her co-worker Andrew’s advice and turn the game back on those who scorned her?  As Jane attempts to juggle her own responsibilities and put up with the problems of everyone around her, she starts to realize that the dating life isn’t as easy as she originally thought.”

Although this book is completely fictitious, I will admit that the inspiration was born out of my own frustrations with the dating scene in NYC.  Although I have since found a boyfriend who is not the slightest bit flakey, he’s also not from New York… 

 

TBF: What’s your favorite part of the writing process- and by that, I mean the process from inspiration to writing to editing to publishing and marketing?

MS: My favorite part of the process is definitely the writing.  If I didn’t enjoy writing so much, everything else wouldn’t be worth it.  

Notwithstanding my love of the writing process, getting “the call” (or in my case “the email”) and later reading my published novel for the very first time were both magical moments I look forward to experiencing over and over again.  

 

TBF:  If I picked up your iPod, which song would you be most embarrassed to have discovered in a playlist?

MS: There are so many songs on my iPod I should be embarrassed about, but I’m not!  The theme songs to Welcome Back Kotter, Mary Tyler Moore and Greatest American Hero are up there, along with oldies like Summer Breeze, Just the Two of Us and You Make Me Feel Like Dancing.  I could go on and on and on, but I do have some cool and current music on their as well.  I swear!

TBF: Do you have a guilty pleasure magazine/movie/book/TV show? If so, what is it?

MS: My current television guilty pleasure is The Bachelorette.  I find the concept utterly ridiculous yet I am riveted to the small screen every Monday from 8pm-10pm.  

Movie – I just saw Magic Mike and it was quite the pleasure, but I didn’t feel the slightest built guilty  (smirk) Additionally, I think I have watched 13 Going On 30 about 5 times in the past few months.  That movie is so adorable and Jennifer Garner was perfectly cast – I can’t get enough of it.  

But my guiltiest pleasures of all are Chicklit and YA books.  I like to get lost in a book that I don’t have to think too hard to read.

 

TBF: Where is your dream vacation destination?

MS: Lake Como, Italy.  

 

TBF:Do you have a dream you’d like to see come true?

MS: With respect to my writing, I dream of seeing one of my books made into a movie or television show (me and every other author!) For now, I would simply be thrilled to spot someone (a complete stranger) reading one of my books.

I also dream of having a small, tight butt that looks fantastic in really short shorts.

Generally speaking, while I am a very happy person, I always want more and I dream of a time when I’m truly content with my life exactly the way it is.  I’m not sure it’s possible because I dream big in all things (except my butt), but I’m getting there!   

 

TBF: What’s the best thing you’ve heard from fans of Just Friends with Benefits?

MS: That Stephanie and her group of friends are so real, they could have been plucked out of any of their worlds. From the beginning, my goal has been to write books about “real” women and so to hear readers tell me they saw themselves in Stephanie and her friends, means so much to me.  Oh, and I smiled all day when one blogger said she was surprised it was my debut novel and could see it play out on the big screen.  

 

If you want to know more about Meredith Schorr, you can check her website, find her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter.

Another thank you to Meredith for her time in answering my questions.