Welcome Lauren from Shooting Stars Mag to today’s fLiP iT fRiDaY! Follow her at @Shootingstarmag on Twitter. Shooting Stars Mag is a bit different in that Lauren blogs about music and movies in addition to her YA book reviews, so definitely check it out!

Describe a typical day in your life.

A typical day in my life, huh? Well everyday is usually different though nothing completely out of the blue. I normally have at least one class since I’m a freshmen in college at the moment. My favorite class, since I figured I’d share, is Philosophy and Sexuality. It’s very interesting. Anyway, besides class then I’m writing papers, reading for class or for fun, spending time with my family, doing stuff for the blog, maybe writing for other sites/blogs (normally a book review), and trying to keep in touch with people. So yeah, that’s my life at the moment. Nothing too extraordinary!

Um, how can you so casually mention a class like Philosophy & Sexuality, and then not say anything else about it?!

What is your favorite YA book and why? Or, which YA book has had the most profound effect on you and why?

Oh wow, a favorite…you know this is constituted as torture right? Okay okay, I’ll answer. My very first thought was The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton so I’ll go with that one. I just love it and think the characters are amazing. I mean, I honestly want Ponyboy to be my best friend. And I love how Sodapop gets “high on life” and not drugs.

Ah, such a classic. *Love* The Outsiders.

What are 5 of your favorite things?

1. All of my books (yes, that counts as one!)
2. My family, because I’m very close to them.
3. My computer because honestly, how could I write my stories and blog if I didn’t have one?!
4. My friends because they are all pretty awesome and totally get my weirdness. 🙂
5. And finally…my music. It’s an addiction.

How long have you been blogging, and how did you get your book blogging start?

I’ve been blogging since August of 2007, so I’m getting close to two years now. I started out with just music and then I found all these blogs for books and since I love to read, I added that to the zine and made it all about various forms of entertainment.

Are you planning any upcoming new features or special content on your book blog and/or is there anything specific you want potential new visitors to know about your blog?

Nothing too exciting coming up. I held a “party” of sorts all month long in May in honor of my birthday because I think it’s fun when other blogs do it. As for anything specific concerning my blog, like I said before, it’s not just books, so I hope that it’ll stand out in that way at least.

In addition to blogging, what other creative pursuits do you enjoy?

Oh gosh, I wish I could dance or sing or something, but sadly, nope. I do love to write…so creative writing for sure! I used to make crafts all the time when I was little as well. 🙂

Yay! Writers unite! 🙂

What do you want to be when you “grow up”?

When I grow up, I want to be an author. That doesn’t mean I have to do well enough for it to be a full-time job, but I want to at least be able to publish one of my own books. Besides that, I’d like to either write for a magazine or work in publicity for a book publisher.

What are 3 things you’d like to do or accomplish in your lifetime?

1. Write and publish a book.
2. Visit England and see all the places I’ve heard about.
3. Have a house with a wrap-around porch and a porch swing.

Oh, I love wrap-around porches! I’m totally coming over to sit on your swing, sip lemonade, and chat about book ideas!

Tell us something that people who know you in real life would be surprised to learn about you.

Hmm…people in real life, huh? Not a ton of people know about my blog and the various things I’ve done with it so honestly that would be a surprise for some. However, I guess I’d have to say that they might be surprised to learn that I have really odd taste in music from Garth Brooks to Eminem to Jesse McCartney to My Chemical Romance to Tegan and Sara to The Academy Is…to Miley Cyrus and on and on and on.

This is kind of random, but I’d pay money to see Miley Cyrus and Eminem in a cage match. Will the real Slim Shady please… show Hannah Montana what’s up?

Now, it’s time for Apocalypse Mad Libs!

If I ever had to face a moment when book publishers began shutting down and nobody was selling books anymore I’d want Meg Cabot on my side, because she writes so many books it’s like she’s a machine and I know that she wouldn’t stop, so she’d be out there making people buy her books and other authors would get jealous and we’d all have to have a huge YA book party

If she wasn’t available, I’d take Mia from the Princess Diaries books, because she’s a freakin’ princess and could make people listen to her and show us all that books need to be made, sold, bought and devoured over and over again, and devoured through the eyes not the mouth…stupid zombies!

In any case, if I only had 1 day to live before the end of the world, I’d eat this amazing pizza where I live called Dewey’s and then I’d tell everyone, “Crap, I forgot to eat the ice cream, too!”

I have no doubt that Meg Cabot could see us through this kind of crisis. But just in case the book industry really does shut down, you might want to head over to Shooting Stars Mag to get a few YA recommendations before this publishing apocalypse hits!

Thanks for chatting with us on fLiP iT fRiDaY, Lauren!

fLiP iT fRiDaY is a weekly feature at SarahOckler.com showcasing the fabulous YA book bloggers and reviewers who share young adult fiction with the world and inspire raves, rants, intelligent discourse, and a whole bunch of book-lovin’ among readers everywhere. If you’d like to be featured on fLiP iT fRiDaY, contact me!