Chrissy Gibbons from Savvy Girl

Savvy Girl is a fun and quirky novel by Lynn Messina about a girl who gets an internship at her favourite magazine. The magazine company has a giveaway table where their workers can snag some great freebies. Chrissy, the protagonist, is becoming skilled at what she snags!

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Yep, you CAN have chocolate for lunch!

It's Christmas at Savvy magazine (uh-huh, we work that far in advance), and the giveaway table is loaded with delicious treats from companies trying to bribe their way into our special holiday gift-buying section. Yummy-yum-yum!

So far today I've snagged: 3 milk chocolate truffles, 3 hazelnut truffles, 2 almond truffles, 2 dark chocolate truffles, 2 French vanilla truffles, 1 cappuccino truffle, 1 caramel truffle and 1/2 strawberry truffle (I spit it out when I realized it was a fruit filling-ick!). The tricky part of having an all-chocolate lunch is not letting on to anyone else, especially your fellow interns, that you're having an all-chocolate lunch. I suggest the stroll-and-grab. Stroll by the giveaway table on your way to the production department (bring a piece of paper as a prop so you look like you're delivering a memo or a proof) and grab a truffle without stopping. This part is essential. Keep moving! It may take some practice to accurately pinpoint the piece of chocolate you want (hence strawberry ickiness) but you'll get the hang of it.

Also on the giveaway: cocktail mixers, shakers, strainers and spoons, courtesy of another holiday hopeful, Uber Bar Tools. The set is sleek and silver, and one of the editors got the great idea to put them on her plant as Christmas decorations. The SiliStick ("lightweight," "ergonomic") looks great on top but the StrainRay ("tight coils," "long-lasting materials") is so heavy it drags down half the plant.

Last: Cheese, alert! No, not the edible kind (boo-hoo!). The totally lame, I-can't-believe-you-just-did-that kind. The relationship editor is leaving to go to Glamour, so she's cleaning out her office, and rather than walk another, oh, 20 feet to the Dumpster, she dumped all her old magazines on the giveaway. This is seriously not cool. 1) It blocks my drive-by access to the truffles. 2) They're really old tabloids. Who wants outdated Us Weekly and Peoplea? Stale gossip. Ewww.

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This is a great beach read! And two lucky people can get their own copy!

Prize(s): Two signed copies of Savvy Girl
# of Winners: 2
Eligibility: US/Canada

How to get entries: (please put keep it in the format below when you comment!)
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Author Interview: Lynn Messina

No Watching on Wednesday post for today (because jeezus, when do I actually sit down without squirming to watch a movie if not in theaters?) but I do have an author interview! Lynn Messina wrote the fun, hip novel about an inspired journalist working at a popular magazine company, Savvy Girl!

Her site is still under construction so you can view Chrissy's (the protagonist of Savvy Girl) site for more info: http://www.savvygirl.us/

First, I am curious to know what led you to write Savvy Girl?

I've always loved teen books and wrote a bunch of them when I was younger. I sent them out to publishers but no one was interested, so I switched to mysteries (which nobody was interested in either). Then after my third novel came out, an editor I was friendly with emailed and asked if I'd ever thought of writing a YA book. I immediately wrote back and said no, because I didn't want to go there again. But once I stated thinking about it I couldn't stop. So I emailed her some ideas.

Did you write the story from your own experience or through research?

I'm terrible at research. I can google and wiki, but my skill ends there. Almost all my stories are from experience. Right now, I'm at Self, so Chrissy works at a health-oriented women's magazine. A few years ago, I worked at In Style, so my novel Fashionistas is set a celebrity style magazine.

Who is your favourite character from Savvy Girl? Why?

Adele, the editor who makes Chrissy do most of her work because she's too busy planning her wedding. She was the most fun to write because she's over-the-top and silly.

Who do you think you relate most to in the novel and in what way?

I relate most to Chrissy because she gets a lot of things wrong and so do I. The difference is, she thinks she has everything under control and I know I don't.

Moving on to a personal level, did you see yourself going into a writing career? What else have you worked as (or still is) before becoming an author? And what do you want to be right now if you are not an author?

I decided I wanted to be a writer when I was 15. I'd just finished reading the silliest book ever (girl creates and sells video game and convinces parents to let her build house in backyard with proceeds) and thought, Hey, I could do better. So I did. Or, rather, I tried. And I've been trying ever since.

For most of my career I've been a copyeditor for magazines, which means I make sure the articles make sense and are grammatically correct. (We also fix for repeated words like "make" in the previous sentence.) I still do this two weeks a month at Self. I spend the other two weeks at home writing. It's the perfect schedule for me because I love the people I work with and after two weeks by myself I can't wait to get back into an office and chat.

I have no idea what I'd do if I weren't a writer or copyeditor. I love to sit in a big comfy chair in a cafe drinking hot chocolate and eating pastry but I don't think anyone pays you to do that.

What is the most difficult thing about being a writer? And the best thing?

The most difficult thing is unfortunately the commercial aspect. It's all very well and good to write something you love but then you have to find someone else who loves it enough to publish it. That's rare. The best part is the writing itself, the moment when you finally manage to say exactly what you want to say in exactly the way you want to say it. That's rare too.

After writing a few books, what is the greatest lesson you've learned about being a writer?

That it's always hard. Having finished one or two or even twelve books doesn't make starting the next one easier. A blank page is always daunting.

Are you in the middle of writing a new novel? Or about to release one soon? If so, can you please give a brief summary about it?

Right now I'm working on a science fiction story about robots. It's totally crazy because I've never been into science fiction or robots but I had an idea and went with it (and googled constantly). I haven't submitted it to publishers yet so I don't know what kind of future it has. But fingers crossed.

Fact about me: A hippopotamus once pooped on my tent. I was camping in Kenya and in the middle of the night I heard a sound like it was raining but it stopped immediately and I went back to sleep. In the morning, I saw--and smelled--the mess. Hippos wag their tail while pooping so it scatters everywhere. Lucky me.

Savvy Girl by Lynn Messina

Title: Savvy Girl
Author: Lynn Messina
Age Group: Teens
# of Pages: 252
My Rating: 5/5

Christina (Chrissy) Gibbons is one of four lucky teens to be chosen to get an internship at her favourite magazine, Savvy. The goal is to complete an original article within a month to become Savvy's first teen columnist. Eager, she tries to work on it but nothing comes to mind. Instead, she gets to go to many posh parties along with her idol/fashion editor, Jessica. Not to mention she is trying to charm Mr. Handsome, Michael. With all some many glamourous places to attend, who could focus?

During the course of an thrilling month, Chrissy learns about the power of friendship, honesty, and personality. To be caught in between deadlines and invites, would she be able to pull through?

This book is defintitely a great teen girl's novel that involves the fashion industry. I have read a couple in the past but they weren't as strong as this one. I think the author balances out the story nicely with different elements, like character development and drama. She doesn't go overboard with anything and I really like that. Though I wish her relationship and Mr. X (better read to see who!) is a bit more emphasized. Definitely a recommended read for all girls who enjoys realistic stories with a glamour touch.

Won copy from Book Divas.