Diary of a Bestseller: Jeff Kinney on 21 Books and a Worldwide Following

Thank you so much for having me.

I'm excited.

Okay.

So I am amazed, because you're super dedicated to your craft.

21 books.

So when you-

Yeah

... started working on the original Diary of a Wimpy Kid, did you ever imagine that Greg would still be getting around and getting into trouble all of these years later?

Well, first of all, nobody's ever called what I do a craft, so thank you for that.

That's new for me.

[laughs] But I, you know, I never thought that I would get past b- book five.

You know, that felt like a dream to me to be able to fill out enough, uh, pages for five books, and then it just kept going and going, and now 21, and who knows how long this will go.

Yeah.

And let's talk about the new book, Fight or Flight, which sounds like something we all deal with today, which is most of the time anxiety.

But what can you tell us-

Yeah

... about this new installment, and what kind of trouble Greg is getting himself into this time?

Well, I learned about fight or flight when I was in college, which is a little bit late to be learning about it.

When, when an animal is, like, trapped in a corner and, you know, it has to choose between fighting its way out or, or d- or flying the coop, basically.

And I thought that's a funny idea for, for a Greg Heffley book, where Greg's worst nightmare is to get into a fistfight, so he does everything that he can to avoid bullies.

You know, he starts to study them almost like a zoologist would study animals, so he knows their patterns, their territories, everything.

But of course, at the end, he ends up in a fight, and, and I can't tell what happens because that's, uh...

You'll have to get the book to read it.

Is it a fistfight?

Well, I can't be too, uh-

Thank you so much for having me.

I'm excited.

Okay.

So I am amazed, because you're super dedicated to your craft.

21 books.

So when you-

Yeah

... started working on the original Diary of a Wimpy Kid, did you ever imagine that Greg would still be getting around and getting into trouble all of these years later?

Well, first of all, nobody's ever called what I do a craft, so thank you for that.

That's new for me.

[laughs] But I, you know, I never thought that I would get past b- book five.

You know, that felt like a dream to me to be able to fill out enough, uh, pages for five books, and then it just kept going and going, and now 21, and who knows how long this will go.

Yeah.

And let's talk about the new book, Fight or Flight, which sounds like something we all deal with today, which is most of the time anxiety.

But what can you tell us-

Yeah

... about this new installment, and what kind of trouble Greg is getting himself into this time?

Well, I learned about fight or flight when I was in college, which is a little bit late to be learning about it.

When, when an animal is, like, trapped in a corner and, you know, it has to choose between fighting its way out or, or d- or flying the coop, basically.

And I thought that's a funny idea for, for a Greg Heffley book, where Greg's worst nightmare is to get into a fistfight, so he does everything that he can to avoid bullies.

You know, he starts to study them almost like a zoologist would study animals, so he knows their patterns, their territories, everything.

But of course, at the end, he ends up in a fight, and, and I can't tell what happens because that's, uh...

You'll have to get the book to read it.

Is it a fistfight?

Well, I can't be too, uh-