Authors Interviewing Characters: Kristin Nilsen

Kristin Nilsen

ABOUT WORLDWIDE CRUSH

Worldwide Crush is a middle grade novel about the heartbreak and hilarity of what is often a very one-sided love affair: that first celebrity crush. Rory Calhoun is the perfectly perfect teen superstar who’s inspiring first crushes all over the globe. Millie Jackson is just one of the millions of fans who love him—but that doesn’t mean her heart doesn’t break for him every single day in this laugh-out-loud coming-of-age story. How many of Rory’s fans collect “data” about him in a special notebook hidden in their underwear drawer? Or fake a fascination with whale migration for a chance to visit his hometown?

Millie may not be Rory’s only fan at Susan B. Anthony Middle School, but she’s convinced she’s the biggest—and the best. Rory’s new song “Worldwide Crush” is climbing the charts, and his lyrics are clear: he’s looking for love—and he’s looking in the audience. Meaning Millie’s secret fantasies of running in the surf and eating waffles with Rory may not be crazy after all . . . she could be that girl! But first she has to get to his concert—his completely sold-out concert in a city nowhere near her home for which she does not have tickets or a ride. She just has to figure out how. 

Instead of a fluffy romance, Worldwide Crush tackles that sometimes rocky transition from childhood to adolescence, trying to figure out which things go with you and which things stay, and who you’ll be when you get to the other side.

“… this is less a book about getting to a show than it is a story of a teenager coming to realize how much she is loved …” —Foreword Reviews, 5 stars

“A delightful, nostalgic tribute to innocent fandom.” — Kirkus Reviews 

Kristin interviews Millie

KRISTIN: Hi Millie – would you like to talk about Rory Calhoun?

MILLIE: (blushes) Ummm — maybe? 

KRISTIN: Why are you laughing?

MILLIE: (laughing) I’m not!

KRISTIN: Yes you are. How is that not laughing?

MILLIE: (pulls a straight face) Okay, I’m better now. (laughs) 

KRISTIN: Seriously! Okay – here we go. Who is Rory Calhoun?

MILLIE: (laughs)

KRISTIN: Millie!

MILLIE: Okay I’m good! I’m good! Rory Calhoun is the five-time Grammy winning singer from Bodega Bay, California whose song, “Worldwide Crush,” is the biggest selling song by a teenage male solo artist since Justin Bieber’s 2010 hit song “Baby.” 

KRISTIN: Uh – wow. 

MILLIE: I got that from TeenTALK Online.

KRISTIN: Yeah. I can tell. It sounds like you know a lot about him. Like – a lot. Do you keep records or something?

MILLIE: I’m a seventh grader, not an accountant. 

KRISTIN: I just mean … you said all of that off the top of your head; do you write that stuff down somewhere? Or do you just have it all memorized?

MILLIE: Well … I have a notebook. I know that sounds weird. But it’s not! I just like to collect research. And acrostic poems. Sometimes I make the research into acrostic poems. It’s hard to explain.

KRISTIN: Ah – a notebook. Plus poetry. No, that’s not weird. I have lots of notebooks. What kind of notebook is this? Is it like a special journal or something?

MILLIE: No. It’s just a plain, spiral bound notebook. And I used a pencil eraser to scratch the letters R and C into the cover. Get it? RC?

KRISTIN: Yes, I get it. For Runny Cheese.

MILLIE: Ha! No.

KRISTIN: Rampant Calligraphy.

MILLIE: You’re teasing me now.

KRISTIN: Rabbit Commingling.

MILLIE: STOP IT! Although my neighbor, Tibbs, has rabbits and they have to be super careful about the commingling. I probably wouldn’t even know the word commingling except for Tibbs and her rabbits.

KRISTIN: Good to know. Does Tibbs like Rory Calhoun?

MILLIE: Everyone likes Rory Calhoun.

KRISTIN: But you like him best.

MILLIE: I think so.

KRISTIN: Why?

MILLIE: Because – everyone is all ‘I luv him i luv him smoochy smoochy whatever – ‘ but I’m serious. I’m not just about his looks and stuff.  I like to get to know him for real. Like as a person instead of just someone to stare at. I know more than just his eye color (blue) and his signature color (aquamarine) and his shoe size (nine) and that my heart tightens a little bit every time he sweeps his bangs out of his eyes; my notebook also tells me he wants to buy his mom a Mini Cooper, and his pet peeve is lying, and he went to Mill Street School, and his favorite subject was music (duh). And his dog, Sgt. Pepper, died this summer, and they had a funeral for him in his grandma’s backyard, and he’s worried he’ll never have another dog he loves so much, and all he wants for Christmas is to be at home with his mom and his grandma and maybe get some Funyuns in his stocking. And THIS  is why I love him. In addition to the blue eyes and the honey blonde hair and the amazing teeth, of course. 

KRISTIN: Do you feel like your mom and dad get that?

MILLIE: Hmm. No. But sometimes yes. 

KRISTIN: Tell me more about that.

MILLIE: My dad makes fun of me. He takes my TeenTALK magazine and pets it when Rory’s on the cover. My Grandma Cheryl thinks his name is Richard Calhoun. And my mom messed up my one opportunity to meet him because she thought some work thing was more important than buying concert tickets. You have to buy them the minute they go on sale or THEY’RE GONE! And she was like hum-dee-dum work work work. I could not make her understand.

KRISTIN: But you also said ‘sometimes’ yes. Tell me about that.

MILLIE: Well … even though my grandma thinks his name is Richard Calhoun, she actually cares. She STILL loves Paul McCartney. She calls him a “hunk.” She said one time, when she was like 13, she slept over at her friend Carol’s house and Carol’s older sister Barb drove them to Milwaukee to see the Beatles drive by in a limo. That’s like four hours away and she didn’t even tell her mom. They just left. She said she saw them for just a split second – but it was worth it.

KRISTIN: What about your mom? Does she ‘sometimes’ get it?

MILLIE: I used to feel like she wasn’t listening to me. But then she made me go to this thing called You, Me & Puberty (don’t even ask me about it, I can’t talk about it, seriously, I’m traumatized, DO NOT ASK) and we got into a big fight and … I might have been wrong. I found out that she does know what it’s like – she just forgets sometimes. (Whispers) she told me she still has a poster of Leonardo DiCaprio hidden in the attic somewhere and she made me promise not to tell my dad.

KRISTIN: Huh…so she actually had her own Rory Calhoun at some point?

MILLIE: Well, Leonardo DiCaprio doesn’t have quite the same appeal as Rory Calhoun; he doesn’t even sing anything. But I guess he used to be cute. Ouch that actually sounds super judgey. Can you edit that part out? 

KRISTIN: Don’t worry, I won’t say a word to Leo. But tell me this … do you talk to your friends about your crush? Or do you just talk to your RC notebook?

MILLIE: Truthfully, I’m super careful about who I tell. And what I say.  And most of it just goes in my notebook. I feel like I have to hide it so people won’t think I’m crazy or hysterical. Which seems weird because the more I talk to people, the more I find out that everyone has a crush. Or had a crush. My grandma, my mom, even my social studies teacher gave us this whole lecture on the cultural importance of the Backstreet Boys. And I was like ‘Did Dr. Marion have a crush?’ So there’s this thing that everyone feels but they all pretend they don’t. And I just wonder if people would still think we were crazy if we were boys.

KRISTIN: Wow. I did not expect that. But, sadly, I think you might be right.

MILLIE: Crumb. Sometimes it’s better to be wrong.

KRISTIN: I know. And when I say I know, I mean I KNOW. Because you’re right, everyone had one. And they often pretend they didn’t. Even me.

MILLIE: SEE??!! It happens to everyone!

KRISTIN: Do you want to know who my crush was?

MILLIE: Yes please.

KRISTIN: It was Shaun Cassidy.

MILLIE: Shaun who?

KRISTIN: Oh stop it! Please! Do not tell me you’ve never heard of Shaun Cassidy.

MILLIE: Okay, I won’t. But also I’ve never heard of Shaun Cassidy.

KRISTIN: UGH THAT HURTS MY FEELINGS! But just trust me, he was my Rory Calhoun. 

MILLIE: It is SO WEIRD when you find out that old people had crushes, too! What was it like having a crush in the olden days?

KRISTIN: It was not the olden days! My God! And I’m only … okay whatever, nevermind, let’s just say it feels like five minutes ago. But you’re right in that it was different. I didn’t have Youtube, I couldn’t stream anything I wanted whenever I wanted,  there was no social media. Shaun Cassidy played one of the Hardy Boys on TV but I could only watch it when it aired on Sunday nights. I had to wait 7 days to see the next episode! And if I missed it, it was gone; I could never see it again! If I wanted to hear Shaun Cassidy’s songs, I had to listen to the radio and WAIT. Either that or I had to save my money and buy the album. That could take a long time! But then I actually had a piece of Shaun Cassidy to hold in my hands. I could stare at his face on the cover. I read every word of that record jacket like it was the most important book ever written. And if I had a little money leftover, I could buy a Tiger Beat magazine, chock full of posters to tear out and put on my wall. Yes, it was different. And harder. But I don’t think I’d want it any other way. 

MILLIE: I can’t even imagine. That is so weird. But still … it makes me kind of happy for you. Even though he wasn’t really Rory Calhoun.

KRISTIN: Well, actually … your crush is my crush. 

MILLIE: What now?

KRISTIN: I wrote Rory Calhoun based on my memories of Shaun Cassidy. His hair, his eyes, his songs, his sweetness, even his love for his mom. It’s all based on Shaun Cassidy.

MILLIE: What are you even saying?!

KRISTIN: I’m saying that Rory Calhoun is Shaun Cassidy. 

MILLIE: I LOVE SHAUN CASSIDY?!

KRISTIN: Kind of? At least my fantasy of who Shaun Cassidy was in 1977. It’s a good thing, I think. It’s like you’re creating a vision in your mind of what kind of person would be worthy of your affection.

MILLIE:! YES! TOTALLY! If I’m ever going to be in love with someone real, they’d better be as nice (and caring and creative and poetic and adorable) as Rory Calhoun.

KRISTIN: Millie, promise me you’ll remember that always. You deserve all of that. And nothing less.

MILLIE: I promise. Will you promise, too?

KRISTIN: I promise. Thanks so much for chatting with me like this. 

MILLIE: You’re welcome. And thank you for caring about how I feel.

BUY WORLDWIDE CRUSH HERE

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Kristin Nilsen has been a children’s librarian, a bookseller, a perfume seller, a horse poop shoveler, a typist (on an actual typewriter), a storyteller, a seventh grader, and a mom to both humans and dogs. Today she is a self-proclaimed Pro Crushologist who talks about Gen X pop culture on The Pop Culture Preservation Society podcast. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, one of the only big cities in the world where you can look out your window and see a lake. Which she likes. A lot.

 

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing