Let’s start with something easy, like your name.
That depends who's asking! My family calls me Adrienne, my friends call me Andi, and in the UK I'm know as A.M. Vrettos. Here I am on tour in London.  Super glamourously British, right?

Age?
Flirty-Hive.

What?
What?

I was just asking what you just said.
I really don’t know what you’re talking about.

Let’s move on.
Yes, let’s.

Where do you live?
Brooklyn!

Did you always want to be a writer?
Yes!  Here I am at eight years old, working on the first draft of SKIN.  Or maybe it was a story about a horse. 

Are you going to write a sequel to SKIN?
I still think about Donnie a lot, because I feel like we've gone on this great book-making adventure together.  I tried so hard to leave him at a place full of possibilities at the end of the book, and I'd rather leave him those possibilities than narrow his world with a sequel. 

Why’d you use so many bad words in SKIN?
Because that’s how those particular characters talked. I don’t think all teenagers talk that way, but I know I did, at least when my parents weren’t around. It made me feel older, and my words – whether written or said aloud – were something I had control over.

Who are your favorite authors?
Oh my gosh, I love authors! Seriously, growing up, authors were my rock stars. You could keep your Flock of Seagulls* and give me a new Zilpha Keatley Snyder anytime. You can see some of my favorite current authors, here. 

As for the books  that inspired me as a kid:

*I’m sorry, did you just say who when you read the words Flock of Seagulls? Get ye to this website, stat!

Why did you want to write about psychics in SIGHT?
Why WOULDN'T I want to write about psychics?!  Why anyone would want to write about anything else is beyond me.  When I was a kid I read a book called The Third Eye by Lois Duncan - I LOVED that book, and have been counting down the days until I could write my own book about a psychic ever since.

Are you psychic?
No! And thank goodness I’m not. Psychics that are written securely into the confines of a book are fine and dandy, but real life psychics scare the sweet bejeezus out of me. They can see the future, people!  Doesn’t that make the hair on your arms stand up?

You have hair on your arms?
Oh yes, lots. 

I used to try and get rid of it any way I could. 

First, I tried shaving, which left me with silky-smooth arms for most of the first day, but then I’d get a five 0’clock shadow that was so prickly it would scratch the other kids in the hallway and they’d look down at their arms after they passed me with a “What just bit me” look on their faces.

And then I tried electrolysis, which is where they electrocute each little hair until it falls out. This probably would have worked the best, but it was crazy expensive, and I would have gone broke by the time we got to my elbows.

So faced with a choice of stubble, excruciating pain, or financial ruin, I opted to just love my hairy arms just the way they were.

Um, can we stop talking about your arm hair?Sure. Sometimes in the right light I have a mustache.  And also a unibrow if I don’t pluck.  But I think I’m in really good company.

So…anyway.  You’re really not psychic?
Ummm….sometimes? 

For example: When I was twelve I sent in five dollars to join a Romance Book club, and I waited for weeks and weeks to get the first shipment of books. Then one day I was sitting at the kitchen table, and I just knew the books would be waiting for me in the mailbox. I went to check the mail and…holy psychic pre-teen…there they were! They were in a long white rectangular box, and since they were ‘teen romance type books, they came with a heart locket necklace. 

The books were just okay.  Too much kissing.

Speaking of kissing, I knew the second my future husband walked into my dorm room that I was going to marry him. 

And I get visions of the faces of friends I haven’t seen a long time, and then I’ll see them five minutes later.

And sometimes I know who is on the phone before it rings.

And sometimes I get flashes of conversations that haven’t happened yet.   

So, like I said.  I’m just sort of psychic.

Know who you look like?
Word is I look like either Renee Zelwiger or Daphne from Scooby Doo. Which means I must look something like this:

Unless I’m having a moustache unibrow day, which puts me somewhere around here:

Where do you write?
Well, at the moment I’m on an Amtrak train returning from a book signing in Providence, Rhode Island. I’ve just scarfed down a cup of noodles and a coke, and I’m regretting the fact that I didn’t bring any trashy magazines to read. 

What are you working on next?
A new book for teens called
THE EXILE OF GIGI LANE
– it comes out Spring 2010!

Can I email you with more questions about arm hair and psychics?
Sure! Here’s my contact stuff.