Reader Questions – “Are you Amanda?” and many more!

So to begin, I thought I’d answer some of the most frequently asked questions and if I miss one that’s really obvious, let me know:

1) Are any of the characters actual people you know and if so, who are they?

No. I’ve said repeatedly that I was tempted to make it obvious it was someone all my friends knew but I knew if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to do anything worthwhile from my own experience which was the whole point of doing the book. In other words, had I done that, I wouldn’t be behaving any better than the people I was highlighting. All the characters are a blend of a half dozen people so no one could look at one character and say with certainty, “oh, that’s so and so”, but it hasn’t kept people from doing that. From the same small group of women that would’ve made for great characters in the book, there was a lot of pot stirring, trying to convince certain people they were certain characters. One of my mom’s best friends, Carolyn W, is just an awesome lady and knows exactly who she is. One meddler went to her and tried to convince her she was in the book when it first came out. She knew better but was still curious as part of the problem had been this person was VERY experienced in these reindeer games and could be quite persuasive at times. Carolyn read the book and was able to immediately respond with, “I read that book and I’m not in it.” What a novel concept…. no pun intended.

2) Are you Amanda?

No, I think we all have a lot of Amanda in us, especially those of us who are single Moms. I think of Amanda as the person we all would like to be and try to be before we get out of bed in the morning- until we have to face how human we really are throughout our day. Amanda’s pretty perfect and someone I think we could all aspire to be like. Her character was again a blend of my own experiences and also a couple of my close friends while they were going through their divorces.

3) How much are Gigi and your Mom alike?

More so in the show than the book. In the book I made Gigi a chain-smoking ace golfer so no one could even remotely try to make her my mother. My mother doesn’t smoke and is working on her golf game. We are very close and very dear friends like Amanda and Gigi are on the show but because I didn’t want people to try and make me Amanda I had to make her mother very different from mine, too.

4) Which jeweler did the cross Carlene wears in the show?

The cross Carlene wears in almost every episode is a Jude Frances design and can be found at judefrances.com along with many other beautiful pieces. They’ve graciously provided jewelry for many things GCB and we love Jude and Frances!!! They also have Jude Frances jewelry at Neiman Marcus… what a shock!!!

5) Are you a Christian? Yes I am. I was born and raised in a Christian home and have raised my children in a Christian home. I’ve been a member of Highland Park Presbyterian Church since 1983 and the church nor my church family had ANYTHING at all to do with any of the experiences I wrote about in “GCB”. Since they were my home church, it seemed logical (at the time) to make the fictitious Hillside Park have a beautiful, grand, monumental church like the one I loved and I named it Hillside Park Presbyterian. I felt like I was doing the right thing by using my own denomination, never thinking they might experience any backlash or being perceived as anything other than the wonderful church community they are. Call it inexperience, naivete, whatever you like, but that’s my only big regret with GCB is that my church home was thought to be a hostile environment because it is very loving, warm, and welcoming.

6) Who was your stylist on the “Dallas Hotel Magazine” photo shoot?

The very fabulous and talented Cristen Swearingin. She’s amazing and is at Salon Lucien in Preston Center in Dallas.

 

Send in any questions you have and I’ll answer what I can… just email kim (at) goodchristianbitches.com