Mary Kay Andrews

“One of the things that attracts me to vintage and antique things is they have stories, and even if I don't know the stories, I make them up.”

“My ideal beach house has bookshelves full of paperbacks that can tolerate a little sand, a DVD library that includes some Disney classics for the little ones, board games, and jigsaw puzzles. At least one big flatscreen television is a must.”

“As soon as I started reading, I found myself drawn to fictional character's homes as much as I was to the characters themselves.”

“Slipcovers are great because they can be laundered after those all-too-frequent sippy cup and red wine incidents.”

“I wanted a garret hideaway to write in like Jo March in 'Little Women.'”

“Critics will tell you the 'meet cute' is a tired old writing cliche, but the thing is, cliche's work - because they ring true with the reader.”

“I always wanted to use my newspaper background in a novel.”

“Between planning family vacations and running away for novel-writing retreats, I've spent much of my adult life questing for the perfect beach escape, renting cottages all along the Florida Gulf and up and down the Atlantic Coast - as far north as Nags Head, as far south as Key West.”

“I wasn't always overweight. I was a skinny little punk of a kid with severe asthma. When I got married at the age of 22, I wore a cut-down size eight wedding gown.”

“The story of my holiday decorating is if Ralph Lauren was trapped in a 1950s Woolworth, this is what it would look like.”

“My characters are turned upside down and trying to reinvent themselves but don't need a white knight. They can save themselves in a crisis.”

“Although I married a sports-loving jock, I myself am not only not athletic, I am acutely, completely uncoordinated.”

“Some of my most enjoyable moments as a writer have come while conjuring a meet cute.”

“We are writing fiction, but we are trying to create a world that's believable.”

“My perfect beach town isn't a fancy resort or glitzy planned community. It's a place with a hometown grocery that has decent meat, seafood, and a deli; a couple of ice cream shops; and a handful of good restaurants - where the island-wide dress code is 'no shoes, no shirt, no problem.'”

“For years, I swore I couldn't work out because my own sweat gave me a rash.”

“For a writer, capturing that elusive Christmas morning magic can be deeply problematic.”

“Modern love - in the movies and music - especially country music - is full of tales of women exacting sweet revenge on the men who done them wrong.”

“The best way to heal a broken heart, it turns out, is to find a way to move past the hurt.”

“I want my fiction to seem real.”