From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess: Royal Crushis available now.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What made you decide to tellThe Princess Diariesstory from Olivias perspective?
But now this makes me feel so old but now, I have some readers who have kids!
Credit: Lisa DeTullio Russell; Feiwel & Friends
So they want stuff thats at a reading level for their kids.
Ive always had this problem where the books were slightly racier than the movies.
Some parents didnt agree, so this is a nice way to kinda ease into it.
Was Olivia inspired by your own siblings?
Yeah, a little bit.
I actually have a biracial younger brother.
I actually specifically wanted Princess Leia to come and save the day.
I mean that was literally my dream, so this book is basically for me.
Youre one of the writers contributing to theStar Wars: From a Certain Point of Viewanthology.
Howd you get involved with that project?
I started writingStar Warsfanfiction, of course, because thats what you did back then.
That really is how that came about.
So I had to be all the other characters [laughs].
I can be anyone.
Ive been them all, but Ireallywanted to be Aunt Beru because I just love her.
Is this all from theNew Hopeperspective or timeline?
I was gonna ask.
Yeah [laughs].
I mean he is completely alive in all of these bookswhich is why there is this character of Olivia.
And he plays a big role too.
He plays a big role in the books.
I was like, Oh, oh, my God, what did he do?
And I was like, Well whos the actress?
And they were like, Julie Andrews.
I was like, Oh my God, kill the dad.
[Laughs] I was like, its Julie Andrews, sure.
Youll do anything for Julie Andrews.
And she is just sosuch a nice, fun person, and great to be around.
She had Joe though.
So that was kind of a nice, sweet, and very Garry Marshall-esque little touch.
And Hector Elizondos in all of Garry Marshalls movies, so that was a really nice role for him.
And Kathleen Marshall, who played Charlotte, was inPretty Woman.
Yeah, and I think that shes his daughter.
Garry Marshall lived in San Francisco.
I was so excited just to know that Garry Marshall was doing a movie version of my book.
How do you enjoy writing for each audience in different ways?
Cause I watchDatelineall the time, so.
Everyone watchesDateline, oh my gosh.
I tape it sometimes.
Do you think youll have anything where Olivia is solving a little royal mystery, or?
Kind of likeHart to Hartstyle, likeI just really aged myself.
How did you come up with any of their relationship problems inThe Princess Diariesbooks?
I just kept a diary until, I think, probably my senior year in high school.
And I still have them.
So all of her weird anxieties almost all of them really did come from me.
They were kind of exaggerated.
I was not a vegetarian either.
