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Cooking has always been a challenge for me. When I first got married, my repertoire
consisted of anything that could be opened, heated, and served. Seventeen years
later, I am proud to say that I have added sauté, boil, and broil to
my vocabulary. As for baking, if it weren’t for my sister-in-law,
Christine, I would be so toasted. Not only can she whip up the most delectable
confectionaries at the drop of a hat, but also she always finds a way to make
my latest baking blunder seem like it wasn’t my fault Take
it from me. Life is so much sweeter when you have someone like Christine
in your family.
This month’s
jewel, New York Times Bestselling Author Mary
Kay Andrews, is best known for her sweet Southern c harm and witty humor that
make each of her novels a sure hit with her fans. In her latest release, DEEP
DISH, she puts a hilarious spin on the reality show craze as
her lead characters stir up a comical yet flavorful cook-off on a remote
barrier island. Even Paula Dean, one of my favorite hosts from The
Food Network, plays a part in this concoction. From start
to finish, Mary Kay will most certainly keep you entertained.
As part of
this interview, Harper Collins has graciously donated five copies of DEEP
DISH for you, my readers, to win! So, don’t forget
to check for the trivia question at the end! Good luck!
Now go ahead
and grab yourself a glass of sweet tea and get to know the very talented Mary
Kay Andrews. Find this book in our catalog.
Jen: The first book I ever reviewed was yours, Little Bitty Lies,which
landed  me my job at www.freshfiction.com.
Since then, I have always considered you my lucky charm! If you don’t
mind a trip down memory lane, please tell us a little bit about your educational
and professional background.
Mary Kay: I have a degree in newspaper journalism from the University of Georgia
(Go Dawgs!) and I was a newspaper reporter for 14 years—the last ten
of which I was a features writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Jen: Currently, I reside in Maryland, but I was
fortunate enough to have lived in Atlanta so I can truly appreciate your
Georgian flair. What was it
like working for The Atlanta-Journal Constitution?
Do you miss the newspaper business?
Mary Kay: I miss all my newspaper buddies, the sense of collegiality, the immediacy
of daily journalism. But I don’t miss the daily grind, inept editors
and mindless, meaningless, endless meetings.
Jen: When was the defining moment in your life when you decided to leave the
newspaper business behind and become an author?
Mary Kay: The day I decided it would be more fun to undergo oral surgery than
report to work at the paper. That’s when I knew it was time to pack it
in!
Jen: I was tickled to learn that your real name is Kathy Hogan Trocheck. Why
did you choose to write under a pseudonym? And, how did you arrive at your
new name?
Mary Kay: I’d written ten mysteries as Kathy, and when I had the idea
for SAVANNAH BLUES, I decided
since it was a totally different type of book, I should write it under a pseudonym.
The name is derived from my children’s names—Mary Kay for my daughter
Mary Kathleen, and Andrew, for my son Andrew. I also wanted a name that was
higher up in the alphabet so my readers wouldn’t have to squat when they
were searching for my latest release.
Jen: Although I am not familiar with the series,
I read that you wrote ten critically acclaimed mysteries under your real
name. Please tell us about them. And,
was this before or after your rise to fame as a sweet, Southern writer with
the ability to keep your readers in stitches?
Mary Kay: I wrote eight installments of the Callahan Garrity mystery series.
Callahan is a former Atlanta cop who gets a private investigator’s license,
and owns a cleaning business called The House Mouse. She lives with her mother,
Edna, and has a wacky crew of women who work for her. The books are still in
print from Harper Paperbacks, and your readers should
immediately go out and buy them. They’re fun and funny, and I’m
really proud of them all.
Jen: From what I have learned, it seems that everyone has her own method of
madness, if you will, when it comes to plotting a novel. Please take us through
your writing process. Outline first? Character sketches? Notecards?
Mary Kay: I come up with a premise and a book title and then the protagonist
starts creating herself in my head. I don’t really outline, but I do
create a synopsis, so I can know what the storyline is and the cast of characters.
Then, I just start at the beginning and write to the end.
Jen: With each novel, your readers are introduced
to such loveable characters ...some sassy and quirky and others down-right
eccentric…but all who
contribute to a good read! How did you arrive at the premise for your latest
release, Deep Dish?
Mary Kay: My husband and I love to cook and entertain together, but we always
have a lot of good-natured bickering when we’re in the kitchen together.
That’s how I came up with the idea for a pair of television chefs—a
man and a woman, who have to compete for something they both dearly want—and
who have to figure out how to get what they want without destroying what they
might possibly have together.
Jen: From what I understand, Paula Dean from The Food Network played
a part in the writing of this novel. Please fill us in on the scoop!
Mary Kay: Because of my background as a journalist, I always try to do research
to make sure my books have realistic settings. For DEEP DISH, I
needed to see how a television cooking show is created. Paula was gracious
enough to invite me down to Savannah to watch her show being taped. It was
magic!
Jen: How much research went into the writing of this novel, especially the
scenes in the coastal barrier islands?
Mary Kay: The island in the book, Eutaw, is fictional, but I’d visited
Cumberland Island, a barrier island off the coast of Georgia, several times
in the past. This time around, I spent a few days on Daufuskie, which is off
the coast of South Carolina, as research. I also did some reading and first-hand
interviews with a biologist who specializes in indigenous foods of the islands.
Fascinating stuff.
Jen: Personally, I thought it was a brilliant idea
to incorporate reality television into the plot since it is so hot these
days! Your lead character, Gina Foxton, is such a firecracker and her antitheses and potential
love interest, Tate Moody, is your typical Southern guy. How did you come up
with these characters? Were they modeled after anyone in particular? What
are your characters’ strengths and weaknesses?
Mary Kay: I never know where my characters come from, although Tate, like my
husband, is an outdoorsman who loves to cook. Gina is somebody totally new.
She’s had a disastrous romance with her television producer, and is distrustful
of men now—especially Tate. She’s also self-conscious about her
small-town roots. And she’s very career-driven.
Jen: With the female lead’s “Iron Chef” mentality and spicy
language, the content of this novel seems a little grittier and edgier than
your usual style. What led to this new “feel” in your writing?
Mary Kay: I think Gina’s own drive to succeed in a man’s world
makes her a little tougher than the woman I’ve written about previously.
Jen: A question I just have to ask…who is
the better cook? You or your husband?
Mary Kay: Ha! He’s great at seafood and steaks, and he has amazing knife-skills.
I’m the one who researches the recipes, shops, designs the menu, and
does the sides and desserts. It’s really a team effort.
Jen: Of all the books you have written so far, which
one was the most challenging to write and why? Which one was the most
rewarding and why?
Mary Kay: SAVANNAH BLUES was
probably the toughest, just because it was such a change from the category
mysteries I’d been writing. With that book I discovered that murder is
easy—but relationships and figuring them out—is really tough. The
most rewarding was probably HISSY FIT, because it
was the first time I made it onto the New York
Times Bestseller List—and I did it while my parents were
both still living. They were so proud.
Jen: Has there been any talk of perhaps seeing one of your novels up on the
big screen?
Mary Kay: I’ve been talking myself blue in the face about it! Seriously,
we have an agent in L.A. who has been shopping the books around. Keep your
fingers crossed.
Jen: What has surprised you most about your career and also the workings of
the publishing business?
Mary Kay: The thing that’s most surprising
is that I have a career as a novelist at all. I thought I’d be a newspaper
reporter for life. DEEP
DISH is my 16th novel, and I still learn something about the
publishing business every day. I had no idea about all the disparate departments
who come together to produce a book.
Jen: Please tell us about you website. Do you have
e-mail notification of upcoming releases? Do you participate in author phone
chats and if so, how would my readers go about arranging one? Do you participate
in a blog? Do
you have any contests on your site? Bookmark give-aways?
Mary Kay: My website is called MaryKayAndrews.com.
Readers can sign up for my newsletter, for HarperCollins’ Author
Tracker feature
which notifies them of new releases and my appearance schedule, and there’s
a place to contact me for book club phone chats.
My blog is called TheKudzuTelegraph@blogspot.com,
and I think it’s pretty darn cute, as well as a lot of fun. We’ll
have a contest for DEEP DISH with
some really swell prizes, which is being sponsored by Bookpage.com, that will
be up on the site in the next few days.
Jen: Are you currently at work on your
next novel? If so, what can you tell us about it? When is the expected release
date?
Mary Kay: The WIP is called THE FIXER UPPER. It’s
about a young woman who loses her high-powered job in Washington, DC and moves
back to her father’s family’s hometown, where she tries to fix
up and “flip” the family home place. Release date is sometime
in 2009.
Jen: Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak
with my readers. It was such a special treat for me to able to speak with you!
Best of luck in 2008!
Mary Kay: Thank you Jen. I enjoyed chatting with you.
I hope you have enjoyed meeting Mary Kay. As an added bonus, she has
included some of her yummy recipes that are mentioned in the story in the back
of the book! So, why not pick up DEEP DISH at you
local bookstore or library branch and fix something tasty for dinner tonight? Better
yet, would you like to win your own copy? The first five readers to e-mail
at jensjewels@gmail.com with the
correct answer to the following trivia question will win! Good luck!
Fill in the title of one of Mary Kay’s previous books…. SAVANNAH
_________.
Later this month, I will be bringing to you my interview with New
York Times Bestselling Author Laura
Lippman. You won’t want to miss it.
Until next time…Jen |
Meet
the Author: featuring Jen's Jewels