Spotlight: Niki Burnham {Breaking Up (Is hard to Do)}

Breaking Up (Is Hard to Do) is a collection of four short stories centered around the theme of surviving breakups. I wrote the first story, Last Stand, which is a breakup told from the guy's point of view. The other stories are by authors Terri Clark, Ellen Hopkins, and Lynda Sandoval. 

I'm (thankfully) different than my characters. I keep my life interesting by traveling whenever I can find cheap airfare; they keep their lives interesting by making glorious mistakes! I will say, however, that I was a study machine when I was in high school, which also goes for both Jenna Kassarian (from Sticky Fingers) and Peyton Lindor (from Shot Through the Heart.) Unfortunately both Jenna and Peyton have the tendency to use schoolwork as an excuse to hide from romantic trouble. 

I was a huge reader, and still am! I read everything I could get my hands on, which was usually whatever the library carried at the various army posts where my father was stationed. Lots of Robert Ludlum, Agatha Christie, Jean Auel, Jack Higgins and Helen MacInnes mixed in with SE Hinton and Judy Blume. I didn't have any favorite author; I was always happiest with whatever I was reading while I was reading it. 

Jennifer Echols has a couple of releases planned, and I'll snag both of those the moment they come out. I'm also looking forward to the book Carolyn Mackler is writing with Jay Asher. I'm a huge Mackler fan. 

I'm currently working on a novella. However, just this week I released a new romantic comedy called Shot Through the Heart. I'm very excited about it, as it's my first new book in a few years. It follows four teenagers through a senior year water gun tournament with a two-thousand dollar grand prize. Writing water gun combat scenes in between kissing scenes was a lot of fun!