Bar Yarns w/ just_a_girl, Kirsten Krauth (Merry Christmas Giveaway)

Some of you already know this demure debut author – sort of! Kirsten Krauth is not only a great new Aussie author to watch, she’s Editor of the NSW Writers Centre mag, Newswrite.

Kirsten and I met last September – author panel virgins at a NSW Writer Symposium.

A promotion powerhouse, mum, business owner – and more – Kirsten is a fun lady (as you can see by her profile pic – LOL) and a generous author, running a program on her blog for other debut fiction authors, so be sure to check out her blog addy.

But first, here’s a beer coaster, Kirsten. Would you mind jotting down the blurb for your book, just_a_girl, on the back?

just_a_girl tears into the fabric of contemporary culture. A Puberty Blues for the digital age, a Lolita with a webcam, it’s what happens when young girls are forced to grow up too fast. Or never get the chance to grow up at all.

Layla is only 14. She cruises online. She catches trains to meet strangers. Her mother, Margot, never suspects. Even when Layla brings a man into their home. Margot’s caught in her own web: an evangelical church and a charismatic pastor. Meanwhile, downtown, a man opens a suitcase and tenderly places his young lover inside.

just_a_girl is a novel about being isolated and searching for a sense of connection, faith, friendship and healing, and explores what it’s like to grow up negotiating the digital world of Facebook, webcams, internet porn, mobile phones and cyberbullying – a world where the line between public and private is increasingly being eroded.

Come on in. Grab a pew. What can I get you to go with your beer nuts? (Shandy? Wine Spritzer? Pink Lemonade?)

I’ll have a tequila slammer. Apparently tequila is the only drink you can have a lot of without getting depressed. Don’t forget the worm.

Hey, did you hear the one about …

Why did the man cross the road?

Because he couldn’t get his hat out of his underpants. Actually, that is my son’s favourite joke (at four). And my daughter has started saying it (at two). There are many variations including cats wearing underpants, pooey nappies, undies on head, bums with no underpants. But when my kids tell them, I find myself giggling hysterically. Some things never change.

I’m a beer nut nut! What bar snack would you be and why?

I’d head to San Sebastian and become a tapas in one of the bars in the old quarter. I’d be a skewer with anchovies, olives and peppers. Sharp, spicy, salty and slippery.

Ahh, that beer hit the spot. Let me slip a drink coaster under your glass while you tell us—on a scale of 1 to 10—as a writer are you a messy desker or tidy desker? (NB: 1 = “I am a neat nut case” and 10 = “What desk? Where? Is there a desk here somewhere?”)

That’s tricky. My ideal is about 2, where I can sit down with a clear, neatly ordered space and start. In practice, at the moment it’s about 8. On my desk I have a Carmen Miranda headband with plastic fruit (from my tap dancing concert a few months ago), three mugs with cold tea, a plate hidden up the back with some kind of banana on it, a phone that’s not plugged in and never used, three years of receipts for my BAS (I must get round to), a yoghurt pot from the Basque country and a black lipstick that I bought the other day when pretending to be a punk (see my profile pic).

The publican offers you free drinks all night if you will:

1. Dance to Gangnam Style
2. Sing John Denver’s ‘Take me Home Country Roads’ on the Karaoke machine
3. Spend an hour washing dishes

Which do you choose?

Oh, there’s no choice. Gangnam Style. I’ve been dancing to it for years. Only if I can play the part of the horse, though. And someone else does the whipping bit. I have a weakness for dancing. Some people will wait for the right song to come on. But not me. I love disco. I have learnt tap, hiphop, salsa, African, jazz, belly dancing — but never ballet. Who can be bothered with it?

Time to liven the place up. Got a buck? We can crank up the old jukebox in the corner. You get to pick three songs.

1. Stone Roses, Resurrection – to get the party into action
2. Salt + Peppa, Push It – the best dance song in the history of the world when you’re very inebriated
3. Nick Cave + The Bad Seeds, The Weeping Song – to regret your earlier actions (they lied about the tequila)

An author, an agent and a chicken walk into the bar… how do you know which one crossed the road?

Perhaps this links to my earlier joke. Look for the one with hands in their underpants. I don’t think many authors or agents can walk past a bar, even if it involves going on a long detour around the block – lushes, the lot of them. NEVER let an agent buy you a drink before signing anything.

There’s a stapler on the bar. Tell me what it’s doing there.

The publican uses it to murder all those who refuse to leave after last rounds, and insist on staying until ugly lights. Staple in the temple and locked up in an old warehouse ready for demolition. Sounds like The Wire, doesn’t it.

The pub is the heart of a small town and most locals would be lost without one. What are three things you’d be lost without?

1. My kids waking me up at the crack of dawn every morning, while my husband snores beside me.
2. A book, and a couch to read it on.
3. Green spaces.

There are a few good prizes up for grabs in the bar jackpot. Do you have a lucky number?

7 (apparently nearly everyone chooses 7)

Last drinks, my friend! It’s been great. But before we go, tell us how we can find out more about you and your writing/books.

Come over and spend more time with me at Wild Colonial Girl or, if you’re in Castlemaine, always happy to smash a tequila down on the bar with you.

Find out more about just_a_girl: http://uwap.uwa.edu.au/books-and-authors/book/just_a_girl/

Buy my novel (paperback or ebook) at Amazon

Follow my blog at Wild Colonial Girl: http://www.wildcolonialgirl.com

Hang out with me at Goodreads

Visit me on Twitter (@wldcolonialgirl) or Facebook /wildcolonialgirl

GIVEAWAY TIME: It must be Christmas because Kirsten has pressies for two lucky readers: one printed and signed copy of just_a_girl and one e-book version.

Leave a comment below (and if you have a pref).  Comp closed. Congrats Elizabeth and Brenda.

If you enjoyed this Bar Yarn, there are lots more to come including more great giveaways. So you never miss a post, whack your email in the TELL ME! box (above/right).

Just wait until you see who’s dropping by for a Bar Yarn next. Prepare to giggle.