Mary Kay Andrews

Introducing Log-rolling 101

Hi boys and girls! Today’s ‘Kickin’ it with Mary Kay’ will cover a concept the book world calls Log Rolling. Simply put, Gidget sez something nice about me, and then, I say something sweet about Gidget, and we are just BFF. (That’s bestfriendsforever for those of you, who, like me, are old and out of it). This is what we call Log Rolling. My friend Phil Kloer, who does a book blog at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution gave me and DEEP DISH a shout-out on his blog today. So in the time-honored tradition of log-rolling, I thought I’d give you the link to his blog to see all the nice things he said about me and my new book.
www.accessatlanta.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/
accessatlanta/book/
Anyway, Phil is an old pal from my long-ago (nearly 17 years ago) days at the AJC, so if you’re at work, and you feel like a little time-theft, stroll over there and take a peek. I’m getting pretty amped up–only three more days till DEEP DISH pubs. Yay!

Bonneville–The Movie

Tonight Mr. Mary Kay and I attended a sneak preview of a wonderful movie. It’s called
BONNEVILLE, and it stars Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Joan Allen, Tom Skerritt, and Christine Baranski. Jessica Lange plays Arvilla, a new widow living in Pocatello, Idaho, faced with a dilemma–does she scatter her late husband’s ashes, per his wishes, or return them to her resentful (and uptight) step-daughter for burial in Santa Barbara. Arvilla hijacks her two best friends, played by the always amazing Kathy Bates, and Joan Allen, who plays a good little Mormon girl tempted by everything from coffee to a Vegas slot machine. The women take Arvilla’s late husband’s ’66 Bonneville on the roadtrip of a lifetime. BONNEVILLE has virtually no naked boobies, blood splatter, high explosives, androids, or cyborgs. Will Farrell and Luke Wilson, not to mention Owen Wilson (i can’t tell ’em apart) are nowhere to be seen. It’s a lovely movie about three middle-aged women facing the next chapter in their lives. You should go. Right now it’s only being screened in select places, but if enuf people go, they’ll put it into wider distribution, and maybe the people who make movies will make MORE movies not involving plots that revolve around cyborgs and high explosives and Will Farrell. Not that I’m against those things. I just think we could maybe see some movies without those devices once in a while.

Early Review for DEEP DISH

An online publication called Romance Reviews Today sent me a nice advance review for DEEP DISH, which I thought I’d share. And it wasn’t even written by my Aunt Alice!

DEEP DISH – Mary Kay AndrewsHarper Collins (Hardcover)ISBN: 978-0-06-08376-5March 2008Contemporary RomanceGeorgia, Present DayGina Foxton hosts a cooking show on Georgia Public Television called Fresh Start, dedicated to the idea of healthy Southern cooking using the freshest ingredients. The season’s filming is nearly done when Gina finds some unpleasant changes in the show — experienced crew replaced by newcomers, and cheaper ingredients substituted in her recipes. Gina is furious and confronts Scott Zaleski, the producer and her boyfriend, about what is happening. An angry discussion reveals that their sponsor, Tastee-Town, has withdrawn their advertising dollars, dropping the show. A separate conversation with a crewmember reveals more — Scott was caught in a compromising position with the wife of the owner of Tastee-Town. Faced with the loss of everything she has worked for, Gina agrees to go along with Scott one last time; she will participate in a cooking contest sponsored by the Cooking Channel. The winner will host their newest show on Southern cooking.Tate Moody, host of Vittles, a hunting, fishing, and cooking show, is her only competition. Tate is more serious competition than she realizes; he is a hunky outdoorsman who can really cook, making him very popular with the fans who watch his local show, as well as a definite distraction to Gina. Their competition is held on Eutaw Island, and they will have to dig up, hunt, or fish for anything they cook. Tate has been on Eutaw Island before, but Gina has more determination and ability than anyone suspects. What seems like an easy win for Tate, the experienced hunter, is complicated by the fact that he is more attracted to Gina every day.DEEP DISH is a bright, breezy and humorous story full of Southern charm, and with a few touches of big city wit provided by secondary characters. Ms. Andrews has drawn on her Southern roots to provide a believable set of characters and a setting that rings true. The small, primitive island on which the competition is held throws the two likable characters into close proximity, but they don’t fall right into lust and bed; there is a lot of interesting detail to delight us. Even better, some of the recipes for the dishes Tate and Gina fix are at the back of the book. Who wins the competition? Pick up DEEP DISH and find out!Lisa Baca
Romance Reviews Today

The dog ate my keyboard. No. Really.


Weezie is in B-I-G trouble. Today I was writing away on my laptop, on the sofa in the sunroom, where I like to write on sunny days. I took a potty break, and when I got back, I found Weezie, happily chewing away on several key keys of the laptop. She was unapologetic. In fact, she was defiant, even gleeful. I think she is channelling Marley, who only THINKS he was the world’s worst dog. Weezie is definitely in the running after today. I promptly sentenced her to the afternoon in time out. I hied myself over to the Geek Squad guys, who gave me the sad news that I will need a replacement keyboard. This costs $100 and takes about two weeks to get. And I leave for the DEEP DISH tour next Wednesday. So now I have this funky keyboard that plugs into my laptop, and it’s unwieldy and awkward and it’s just one more thing to have to lug around airports and hotels for a month or so. In the meantime, I finally paroled Weezie. I was watching the final round of Jeopardy’s teen tournament, when the phone rings. I have to get tough with the people on the phone. When I hang up, the little recidivist is back in the sunroom–AGAIN!–munching on some apres’ dinner keyboard keys. She is incorrigible. And it makes me wonder how she got to be so bad. Is she like, hanging out with the rotweilers and dobermans down at the bowling alley, sneaking Beggin’ Strips and humping anything with a shiny collar? I just hope she’s not too much of a bad influence on Wyatt. Altho–come to think of it, he’s been up to some very naughty shenanigans lately too. Last week he swiped a pork butt off the kitchen counter. The week before that it was a stick of butter. Hoo boy. We got trouble. Right here in River City. That starts with T and it rhymes with P and that stands for PUPPY!.

The dish on DEEP DISH LAUNCH

So, I had some details wrong in yesterday’s blog about theDEEP DISH launch party. Here’s the real poop. No $100 tickets, thank gawd. It’s $35–and you get a book and drinks and yummy food. Or come for free later, and bring your own sippy cup and buy books.
http://www.wordsmithsbooks.com/deepdish.html

From a hotel room in Columbia, SC

From a hotel room in Columbia, SC
I’m here in beautiful downtown Columbia–no, really, it is a lovely city, despite the fact that the school colors for USC are red and black–and they play UGA in the SEC, and we love all things UGA. We are celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Richland County Public Library, and a lovely library it is, big and bold and accessible and staffed by the smartest, most enthusiastic staff I’ve seen in a long time. Friday night they had a cocktail reception for Friends of the Library and staff, and I got to meet lots of nice folks, including the other two guest authors, Dr. Andrew Billingsley, who is a distinguished professor of family and African-American studies at USC and an author, and Anita Lobel, who writes and illustrates charming children’s books. This morning was the coolest thing ever. They had us read aloud at Children’s Storytime. It was such a blast! There were about 150 children and their parents, and I got to choose my book. Called, LLAMA, LLAMA, RED PAJAMA. Oh, how I wish I’d written that book. It is clever and funny, and the children seemed to love it as much as I did. And then, some of the library staff and friends took me to lunch–and junking. Now, what more can you ask from an organization? Free food, free bed, reading to adorable children, and JUNK!. We went to an antique mall called The Old Mill, and I got lots of goodies for Maisy’s Daisy, my antique booth at Tybee Island. I bought a paint by number scene of fishing boats, a way cool painting of people fishing on a boat and catching a swordfish that appears to be twice the size of the boat, and a vintage tin child’s cash register, probably from the 50s. I’ll fly home to Atlanta today, then it’s back to work on the FIXER-UPPER. Oh, and in the meantime, we’re finalizing arrangements for the launch party for DEEP DISH, which will be at Wordsmith’s Books in Decatur, on Feb. 25th. It’s the first time I’ve had a launch party. We’re selling tickets–$100 for the VIP cocktail portion–you get a goody bag with the book, and other freebies–and profits from this go to a charity that helps provide education for young people interested in culinary school. Regular tickets cost $35, and that gets you the book, goody bag, cocktails, food, ect. Of course, if you come at 7 pm, you get in for free to buy your book. And everybody who buys a book gets their name put in the hat for a great door prize–a $500 gas grill that’s being provided by my friends over at ATLANTA GAS LIGHT.
Cool, huh?

My brand new baby!


When I got home from my beach jaunts to Savannah and St. Pete I had two big boxes on my doorstep. My new baby has arrived! The finished copies of DEEP DISH are here, and I couldn’t be more pleased. Having a book published really is kinda like giving birth–except no stretch marks, poopy diapers or midnight feedings. I did the happy dance all around the house when I saw the finished book. We worked really hard getting everything right with this book. Of course, story always comes first, but once the story is written, copy-edited, proofed and set in type, the visual and marketing stuff comes into play. I’ve been so fortunate to have a great team at HarperCollins, from my amazing editor Carolyn, to the art director, marketing and pr folks to sales reps. And my agent, Stuart, is an important part of that team too. And my daughter Katie, who spent her teens working in a bookstore and is getting a degree in marketing, plus she’s visual, plus she’s Katie, always consults on this stuff. You can’t believe the nit-picky stuff we worked on to get the look of the jacket. The color swatches–I wanted coral–flirty, fun, beachy–not orange, not pink. Coral. And lime green for the type. Three or four different tries for the paper before we got it right with the finished product. The typefaces on my books are all custom done by an artist to get just the right “MaryKayAndrews” look–these are not stock fonts that you can get on the internet. And then there was the illustration. I lost count of how many variations we tried before we came up with a man and a woman playing tug of war with a chef’s toque. First the man’s arms were too wimpy, then the woman’s wasn’t right, on and on it went. And all during this time, of course, I’m also working on the new book, and the folks at Harper are getting ready to publish gawd knows how many other books. But the books are done. I think they look peachy and beachy and luscious, and they will cry out to be bought and taken home and devoured like a big ol’ Mary Kay-flavored slushie. So. Not to nag or anything, but have you pre-ordered your BOATLOAD of DEEP DISH–due out Feb. 26?

More Beach junking

When last we left our intrepid author/junker, she was lounging around Tybee Island for a couple days.So. Monday morning I went wandering around Tybee, and what did I spot? A table–in the ditch! Yes, friends, people really do throw out perfectly good furniture. Because the back of my car was already full of junk, I went back to my friends, the Garners, and told them of my find. Ron Garner is a dream man. He loves to junk, does household chores, and is a fabulous dancer. And yes–believe it or not, he’s straight! He and his wife, Leuveda, even met at one of the shagging conventions at Myrtle Beach years ago. A couple years ago when I was staying at Garner Cottage, I was out for a bike ride when I spotted a huge dumpster in front of a cottage that had been moved to a vacant lot down the road from the Garners. Peeking out of the top of the dumpster was the corner of something metal and jadeite green. I pedalled back to Garners just as fast as my chubby little legs would go and alerted Ron and Leuveda. We all went back to stare at the dumpster. It was very tall. But so is Ron. And Ron loves a challenge. So he performed an amazing feat of dumpster diving–actually climbing up and crawling inside this giant trashbin. Once inside, he told us that the find was an old two-door locker cabinet–about six feet tall. He promptly fashioned a chute from a couple of discarded boards, and slid the locker down the chute to where we were waiting. Today, the cabinet sits on the “veranda” level of their cottage. It has watering cans on top, and gardening tools inside. Quel cute! Monday’s find was a little pine table, painted lime green. It has snazzy turned legs. Leuveda has plans for that table. I spent the rest of the day–which was sunny and glorious, painting the little Eastlake dresser I’d picked up at the yard sale. It is now a sweet jadeite green too. I supposedly sold it to my friend Diane, who owns Mermaid Cottages. But it turned out so cute…I’m having second thoughts…Later that day, somebody told me that when you find good stuff on the curb/ditch, that’s called “shopping at the Tybee Mall.” In the meantime, I’m having a little family reunion down in my hometown of St. Pete, with my sister Patti, who is an actress/playwright/director in England. We’ve had a couple of great junking trips on Central Avenue already, and have plans to hit some estate sales this morning too. On Thursday, I scored a pair of large yellow McCoy flowerpots, a pink and teal chenille bedspread, a great little watercolor painting of Bermuda, and a large paint-by-number hibiscus picture. Yesterday I got a rusty red metal toolbox–for fifty cents! Of course, St. Pete is where I honed my junking skills with my mom. One time she and I went to an estate sale down the beach from her real estate office–and she ended up buying the house and everything in it. I’ve actually also managed to fit in some writing this week. THE FIXER UPPER is now officially at the 105 page mark! Yay me!

Post-Festival Chill-Out

The Savannah Book Festival was really great. Saturday morning dawned bright and beautiful, so you KNOW I went junking. Found a yard sale in Ardsley Park (very nice Savannah neighborhood–aka old money, old junk)and bought a cool Eastlake dresser with glass drawer pulls. I’m going to paint it jadeite green and put it at Maisy’s Daisy. My talk seemed to go well. It was at Trinity Church, a beautiful old church on Telfair Square. To my surprise, we had a packed church. Of course I couldn’t say bad words in church, and I had to restrain myself from genuflecting when I got near the altar, but other than that it was all good. I made everybody swear to run out and buy multiple copies of DEEP DISH so I can make the New York Times bestseller list and buy a beach house. As I’ve said, they really know how to party well in Savannah. A trolley picked up all the authors at their hotels and took us to the aforesaid Ardsley Park for a progressive dinner party. No surprise, several members of the Ardsley Park Supper Club were our hosts. The fabulous Johnathon Barrett and Tom White served appetizers and cocktails (fried oysters on little Chinese porcelain spoons, gorgeous shrimp, teensy little ‘mater sammiches which were the work of my friend and cookbook writer Martha Giddens Nesbitt). Then we tottered down the block to the home of Brooks and Carolyn Stillwell for our entree and yet MORE alcohol. After that we staggered over to the Belfords for desserts and after dinner libations. I had the chance to chat with Charles Shields, who wrote MOCKINGBIRD, the biography of Harper Lee, which I read and loved recently. At some point we were loaded onto a trolley and delivered back to our hotels. Thank Gawd for the trolley.
Yesterday Mr. Mary Kay flew back home and I stayed in Savannah to chill out. I resisted the urge to attend SuperBowl parties. Instead I climbed into the big fluffy white bed at my friend Ron and Leuveda Garner’s cottage. I read decorator porn and slept. At some point in the night I dreamt I got fired from the Atlanta Journal Constitution. It was very upsetting, despite the fact that I have not worked for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in nearly 17 years. When I’m stressed or worried, I always dream either that an AJC editor is forcing me at gunpoint to write some stupid story on deadline, or that they are firing me. I may need counselling.

From a hotel room in Savannah

I’m down here for the inaugural SAVANNAH BOOK FESTIVAL, and I must say the weather gods are smiling–it’s supposed to get up to 70 today. We’re promised a sunny, gorgeous day to wander around the most beautiful city I know, listen to authors, buy books, talk books, breathe books. Last night’s kick-off talk was by my friend Terry Kay. Terry is another fellow AJC alum. His new novel, THE BOOK OF MARIE, is getting rave reviews, but many of you know him from the book that was made into the movie,
TO DANCE WITH THE WHITE DOG. The talk was given at the gorgeous old Lucas Theatre in downtown Savannah. What fun it is to sit in a restored 1920s movie house and see some 800 people raptly listening to talk about Southern writing. Terry was introduced by John Berendt, who wrote a little thing called MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL. After the talk, there was a cocktail reception in another restored building that now houses Harry Norman Realty. My hostess for the weekend,Carolyn Stillwell, is one of the top agents for HN, and not coincidentally, one of the charter members of The Ardsley Park Supper Club. If you’ve read SAVANNAH BLUES, you may remember the scene where a very nervous Weezie attends a dinner given by the APSC. The scene was inspired by my own evening with the supper club. Let me just say that in Savannah, you will never be thirsty! Not to be a name-dropper or anything, but last night I got to chat with fellow authors Michael Malone (HANDLING SIN), Paul Hemphill, (LONG GONE, THE NASHVILLE SOUND, ect.), his wife Susan Percy, who edits Georgia Trend magazine, the aforementioned Kay, and lots of Savannah book-lovers. I even struck up a coversation with another fellow former journalist, and we discovered we went to the same junior high–Bay Point, in St. Pete. My talk will be at 12 today, so if you have a chance, come on down to Savannah to say hey.