1.  First things first... How do you take your coffee?
I take it with tea leaves, hold the coffee beans.

2. What was your favorite character to write? Why?
Not quite a character, but I loved writing the sample chapters from the actual Girls' Guide to Dating Zombies, which Hattie wrote and are included in the book. I had a total blast writing in fake-advice-column style. I work in women's magazines, so I know the tone really well and how to mix it up—one chapter is a quiz, another is a chart, a third is a list of misconceptions. The absolute best part was poking fun of guys and relationships by exploring all the ways a relationship with a zombie resembles a relationship with a man. As the author of the Girls' Guide, Hattie Cross is a a zombie apologist, and she constantly takes little digs at human men, implying that zombies aren't that much worse. For example, she concedes that, no, your zombie boyfriend won't notice your fabulous new 'do, but, she points out, when was the last time your human boyfriend noticed you got your hair cut? At one point, she even implies that dating a zombie is better than dating a man,

3. Do you personally identify to any of your characters?
I identify with Hattie's attempt to make the best of a bad situation and the way she convinces herself that everything is great. I do that all the time, only I'm not so good at the convincing part. I'm better at the worrying. But still, I try.

4.  How long have you been writing?
Since I was fourteen. I read a book with an absurd plot, thought, "I can do better than that," then sat down and tried. I'm not sure I achieved the goal, but more than two decades later, I'm still trying.

5. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Keep at it. Fashionistas, which was the first book I sold, was actually the eleventh book I wrote.

6. Many authors have a play list set to their story. Do you have a playlist? Care to share if you do?
I don't have a playlist. I can't listen to music when I'm writing, and I've never imagined what my characters would listen to. My iPod is stuck in the midnaughts, anyway. I don't think I've downloaded a new song since 2008.

7. Who is on your elevator list?
I never take the elevator. I stick with the stairs. I need the cardio.

8. In a few words, why should people read this book?
Laugh-out-loud funny with great suspense.

9. Why zombies?
I couldn't think of anything in the world less date worthy, and that challenge of making them so was irresistible.

10. What has been the best book you have read so far this year?
Manhattan When I Was Young by Mary Cantwell. It's a memoir about being a writer and mother in Greenwich Village, and since I'm a writer and mother in Greenwich Village, so much of the landscape, both real and emotional, is familiar.