Q. What is your favorite word?
A. Luscious. I love the way it rolls off your tongue.
Q. What is your least favorite word?
A. No.
Q. You mean you don't want to answer this question?
A. No, I mean my least favorite word is "no." I don't like saying it, and I certainly don't like hearing it!
Q. Um, okay. Moving along .... What turns you on, creatively, spiritually, or emotionally?
A. Watching someone do the thing they love to do best.
Q. What turns you off?
A. Liars/lying.
Q. What's your favorite curse word?
A. The one I'm not supposed to use in my books (a.ka. "the f-bomb"). I know it sounds coarse but sometimes no other word will do.
Q. What sound or noise do you love?
A. The "you've got mail" thing on AOL. I'm obsessed with my e-mail.
Q. What sound or noise do you hate?
A. Sirens. I have hyper-sensory awareness, so what sounds like a normal siren to you is about ten times louder and more obnoxious to me.
Q. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
I'd say screenwriter, but it's not far off from novelist. So, I'll go in a completely different direction and say party planner. Or, ooh! A crime scene investigator. That might be fun, too.
Q. What profession would you not like to do?
A. There are many, but I'll settle for anything in finance. Because my God, how BORING.
Q. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
A. Can I get you a cup of coffee?
Q. Hey, didn't you steal these questions from that old dude on Inside the Actors Studio?
A. Yes, although I prefer the term "borrowed" instead.
Q. Two more questions, okay?
A. Uh, okay. I guess.
Q. Good. Now, how did you come up with the idea for True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet?
A. I wanted to write a diary format book, because it seemed fun and challenging. But it's not exactly a novel concept (no pun intended), so I tried to think of whose diary I'd want to read. Of course, I immediately thought of Drew Barrymore, and on a long drive at 2 a.m. I fleshed out the basics of the story.
Q. Yeah, what's up with you and Drew Barrymore, anyway?
A. I've always, always identified with her. I've wanted to be her since E.T., but the real obsession started when she was in Irreconcilable Differences. My parents had been through a similarly nasty divorce, though they weren't rich screenwriters and we didn't have a live-in Spanish maid. To this day, that movie makes me bawl.

Then, when she wrote her book Little Girl Lost, and talked about her relationship with her real-life mom, I felt like, "Whoa, I totally know what you mean." Because I'd struggled with my mom, too. And then she made this incredible comeback ... it just embodies everything I admire about the human spirit.

Q. I hear there's going to be a sequel to True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet. Tell us about it?
A. Hey, I thought you said only two more questions!
Q. Okay, I lied. Now tell us about the sequel!
A. It's called More Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet, and it picks up about a month after the end of Book #1. You can read more about it here.


If you have any questions for Lola Douglas, send them to her at lola@loladouglas.com. She can't promise to respond to all messages, but she'll do her very best. Sending expensive chocolate and pieces from the latest Marc Jacobs collection could result in a speedier response.