Awesome Authors: Anita Liberty

Author Anita Liberty joins us today to discuss being bitter, the origin of blogs, and why she doesn't like to talk about her old books with her current publisher. She's got just the right amount of snark to fit in with the Bradford girls. Welcome!

A short author bio, in her own words: Anita Liberty is the author of The Center of the Universe (Yep, That Would Be Me), How to Heal the Hurt by Hating, and How to Stay Bitter Through the Happiest Times of Her Life. She writes television scripts, screenplays and Facebook status updates. Her website is www.anitaliberty.com, her blog can be found at anitaliberty.blogspot.com, her friendship can be had at www.facebook.com, and her merchandise can be bought at www.cafepress.com/staybitter. Is that enough for you people? Sheesh.

Blogs are a central part of the Bradford Novels universe. If you have a blog, why did you start blogging, and how did you come up with the name for your blog?
That’s so interesting, 'cause blogs are a central part of the Anita Liberty universe, too. Do you think I should call my lawyers? Or were blogs part of the Bradford Novels universe first? Which came first? The Anita Liberty chicken or the Bradford Prep egg? I have a feeling I’m not gonna win this one. I did have an actual blog, for a while, on MySpace. And then I moved out of the MySpace neighborhood and into the Facebook neighborhood and I’m still unpacking my blogs. I keep another blog on blogger.com. But I haven’t quite figured out how to, or what to, write at the moment. My blog is called ANITA LIBERTY’S BITTER BLOG. And I came up with the name—funny story—'cause my name is Anita Liberty and I’m bitter and it’s my blog.

What's your favorite thing about blogging?
I like blogging when I hit on a topic that resonates with readers. Just blogging for the blog of it actually is sort of annoying and feels like navel-gazing. Not that I don’t enjoy gazing at my own navel, but I like to find things to write about that feel fresh and interesting and aren’t just about my own little myopic view on the minutiae of my life. Although sometimes that kind of blog topic can end up getting a lot of response. For instance, the time I wrote about being unable to blog without biting my nails. It brought a lot of nailbitters out of the woodwork and we formed a spontaneous support group. Raise your stubby little fingers high and unite!

What's the difference between a blog and a diary?
Is this a trick question? The answer seems too obvious to be what you’re looking for from me. But maybe you underestimate me and my ability to answer questions in a straightforward manner. My answer to this question is that a diary is a (traditionally) private place to record your thoughts, feelings and, life events and a blog is a (traditionally) public place to record your thoughts, feelings and, life events. Although, when I used to keep a diary, I always wrote with the sense that my words might be made public one day. Like when I die and my audience has an insatiable hunger for more of my writing and Simon Pulse approaches my “estate” and begs them for the rights to publish my private journals posthumously and my “estate” says, “How much ya got?” And Simon Pulse throws opens its coffers and dumps a buttload of cash in the lap of my “estate” and I make way more money dead than I ever did alive.

What are your most recent books? What new projects are you working on now?
My most recent book is The Center of the Universe (Yup, That Would Be Me). That’s the book published by Simon Pulse. It’s my first Young Adult book. It’s sort of a “prequel” to my other two books, How to Heal the Hurt by Hating and How to Stay Bitter Through the Happiest Times of Your Life. Those two were published by another publisher. But I don’t like to talk about that in front of Simon Pulse, 'cause then Simon Pulse gets all insecure and starts interrogating me about my time with the other publisher and what did it have that Simon Pulse doesn’t and then it gets to a point where nothing I say is reassuring enough for Simon Pulse and Simon Pulse would rather sulk than get over it and we end up spending the rest of the evening sitting in uncomfortable silence. (But the make-up sex is always hot.)
As to what new projects I’m currently working on . . . I’m working on some ideas I have for another book, contemplating a screenplay version of the Anita Liberty story, developing a web series, writing an hour-long television pilot, and doing rewrites on a half-hour television pilot I wrote last year that may (or may not) go into production this winter.