Avondale Estates Author to Speak at Book Festival

Mary Kay Andrews is on the New York Times best-seller list, and you can spend an hour with her at a local pub, for a price.

Andrews, a part-time resident of a 1926 Craftsman bungalow in Avondale Estates, is one of seven authors who have agreed to spend an hour with the highest bidder to raise money for youth literacy programs in Decatur.

The Decatur Education Foundation will auction off an hour at the with Andrews and Joshilyn Jackson, Susan Rebecca White, Clyde Edgerton, Lauren Myracle, Andisheh Nouraee and Hal Needham, a former Hollywood stuntman and director of "Smokey and the Bandit."

All of the authors will be appearing at the AJC Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical on Labor Day weekend.

Andrews' books include Summer Rental, The Fixer Upper, Savannah Breeze and Blue Christmas, and ten critically acclaimed mysteries, including the Callahan Garrity mystery series, under her real name, Kathy Hogan Trocheck.

Andrews/Trochek answered some questions for Patch via email from somewhere in the North Carolina mountains where she “working on TFB.”

What’s TFB?

TFB stands for the frickin' book -- my work in progess, next summer's book, which was due, like yesterday.

How many years have you appeared at the Decatur Book Festival?

I think this will be my third or fourth appearance at the Decatur Book Festival--I know I appeared at the first one. Love the atmosphere, the excitement over books and authors, and since it's basically my hometown event, the chance to see old friends and neighbors and meet new authors or catch up with ones I haven't seen in a while.

What do you enjoy about appearances at book festivals, and how does this one compare to others?

Book festivals are great fun for authors--where else would us ink-stained wretches be treated like pseudo-rockstars for a weekend? Each one has a different vibe. I've done the huge Miami Book Festival, the mega Southern Book Festival in Nashville, the Broward Book Festival and the Savannah Book Festival as well as others, and enjoyed each one for its unique way of celebrating books.

Do you have a writing routine?
When I'm starting a book, I usually have the protagonist in mind, and then I start to think about the book's premise and setting, and then it's off to the races.

You claim to be a lifelong “junker" and to know "the location of every promising thrift store, flea market and junk pile in the southeastern United States, plus many parts of Ohio." What are your favorites around around Decatur and Avondale Estates?
I love estate sales best, and I can usually find one most weekends. I only miss the monthly Scott's Antique Market if I'm out of town. For the Decatur area, I love on Ponce, and Roost and a new one, in Avondale, right by James Joyce pub.

Read more about Andrews' junking at her blog.

Andrews will appear on Sunday at 5 p.m. at the Sanctuary Stage speaking on the topic "Summer Loving: Books for Your Beach Bag."

For more details about bidding on Andrews, go to the Decatur Education Foundation website, or or go to www.ebay.com and search "Book the Brick" (quote marks included). Winning bidders get to bring a guest or two, will enjoy a round of beverages and one signed copy of the author's latest book.

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Andrews/Trochek is a native of St. Petersburg, Florida (and a diplomate of the Maas Bros. Department Store School of Charm), Trocheck earned a B.A. in journalism from the University of Georgia in 1976 (Go Dawgs!). She started her professional journalism career in Savannah, Georgia, where she covered the real-life murder trials which were the basis of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. She left journalism after a ten-year stint as a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

She is a frequent lecturer and writing teacher at workshops including Emory University, The University of Georgia’s Harriette Austin Writer’s Workshop, the Tennessee Mountain Writer’s Workshop, and the Antioch Writer’s Workshop.