Reality TV star turned
one-woman-brand Lauren Conrad signed copies of her new book, “The Fame
Game,” at BookPeople Thursday night. Conrad sat down with The Daily
Texan to discuss the book, a spin-off from her first trilogy, “L.A.
Candy.”
Conrad also spoke on the lessons she’s learned from being
an intern at Teen Vogue on MTV’s reality show “The Hills,” and on
building her own brand as a New York Times best-selling author, fashion
designer and blogger.
I feel like you’re definitely perceived
as one of Hollywood’s good girls, and in your new book, “The Fame Game,”
you switch gears from the first trilogy and write from the bad girl’s
point of view. What was that like?"It was really fun actually. I
think it’s like playing dress-up, you get to kind of be someone else
for a little bit and you get to sort of imagine what it’s like to see
things from an absolutely different perspective."
What lessons
did you learn from the first trilogy, “L.A. Candy,” “Sugar and Spice”
and “Sweet Little Lies,” that you used with writing the next trilogy for
“The Fame Game”?"The entire “L.A. Candy” series was a learning
experience for me, everything from just going through the whole writing
process to sticking to a schedule to book touring. Just learning the
whole deal was new for me, so I sort of feel like I know what to expect
with the new books."
Did you have to set certain deadlines for chapters to get it all done?"Going
into this, I had no idea how to do it, so the first book was definitely
a struggle to schedule because I think a lot of times it wasn’t as much
of a priority. It would be like I would have to write in my spare time,
but now we learned that I have to schedule whole days dedicated to
writing."
Where do you get most of your writing done?"(laughs) In bed."
Like as you’re drinking coffee?"No, usually just at night with a glass of wine. Oh, I’m worthless in the mornings."
It
seems like you’re always working on something new, but where do you
find the motivation to work on so many things at one time?"I think it’s so exciting to start something new and I’ve been lucky to work on so many things that I enjoy."
You’ve
gone from being an intern to creating your own brands. What lessons did
you learn as an intern that you carried with you to the top?"I’ve
had so many internships, gosh, I’ve worked in a showroom, at a
magazine, in a PR office, but I think that you just learn so much about
your industry. While the tasks I was doing as an intern weren’t
necessarily important, I was being exposed to every aspect of the
industry. I think I’m also much kinder to interns now."
So your beauty blog, The Beauty Department, turned a year old today.
Congratulations! How did that project start?"I’ve
been working with my hairstylist and makeup artist for probably five
years now, and we’ve talked about starting it for a while. Both of them
are so good at what they do and they just love beauty, so I think when
you really love something you just want to share all of the things
you’re learning. We wanted to create a community to discuss trends we
love but also to teach people how to get looks."
Do you have any upcoming projects that you’re working on?"Right now I’m really focused on the second book of “The Fame Game.”