Kristen Kemp didn't have to dig too deep to find inspiration for her book What a Friend! Friendship Tips from 2 GRRLS. She's been hanging out with some of her best friends since middle school! We asked Kristen to let us in on how she keeps her friendships so solid.

Q:   How did you come up with the friendship tips in What a Friend! Friendship Tips from 2 GRRLS?
A:   I have lots and lots of books on friendship, so I felt like I had a really good background. I did interviews with experts, people who know a lot about friendship. I also consulted some of my very best friends who I've been running around with since middle school, and they're still my closest friends!

Q:   Wow! How do you think you've stayed friends with them for so long?
A:   I think that when you have a background with people- middle school and high school, there's just nothing else like that ever again. You can make new friendships and you certainly do make some wonderful ones, but you don't have the background of going through your first period together and your first kiss and your parent issues, you just don't have all these back stories. I think that's the glue that keeps us together.

Q:   What does being a good friend mean to you?
A:   It means loyalty, and it means the utmost respect. They don't call on me for every little problem, but when they really need somebody they know they can. And I think that's been the case with my friends. We certainly have been through a lot from high school boyfriends to divorces. Nobody has kids yet, but that's next. Marriages, families, lots of stuff.

Q:   Do you live in the same city with your friends?
A:   One of them lives here and we went to middle school, high school and college together. We've been running around a long, long time. And I always say she's much more like a sister at this point. The other ones pretty much live in my hometown. I go back and visit a lot. They come here a lot..

Watch for Kristen's next teen novel, Dating Diary (Scholastic, 2004). It will be on bookshelves next summer!