I’d like to welcome Maggie Blake Bailey to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Hardest thing about being a writer: Patience.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Ideas. I love coming up with new ideas, asking WHAT IF? Following a strange line of thought, going down an internet rabbit hole. Did you see the article about the raccoon that broke into a liquor store and passed out in the bathroom in Virginia? I would love to write a scene with something like that now I that I have read about! Ideas, for me at least, are everywhere.

Things you need for your writing sessions:

Things that hamper your writing:

Words that describe you:

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t:

Something you’re really good at: being goofy. I have been described as a muppet more than once. And just last week, a fifth-grade friend of my kids complimented my “car energy” when I was dancing to a song. I know it sounds like he was being sarcastic, but as a former high school English teacher, I promise I know when something is a real compliment!

Something you’re really bad at: learning other languages. I still try, but I am NOT a natural, and I really envy people that have a great ear for language and accents.

Last best thing you ate: soup dumplings! There is a highway in Atlanta called Buford Highway that has incredible Asian food, and I had a date night with my husband at North China Eatery and we had fantastic soup dumplings.

Last thing you regret eating: To be honest, I think I ate one soup dumpling too many. They were just so good! But I might have pushed it a little far.

Things you’d walk a mile for: Pizza. Or a great craft store. Or a great bookstore. But hopefully a corner of some town that would have all three next to each other.

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Mayonnaise. I can’t stand it. I made it in second grade in some sort of science lesson? All I took from that lesson was to never eat mayo. Believe me, I know how strange that sounds.

Things you always put in your books: FOOD! Food is one of my great joys in life, and I think food also does a great job of evocating a certain place. Any time I go somewhere, there is food I want to eat associated with that place. Like lobster when I am seaside in the northeast, peaches when I am in North or South Carolina, shrimp when I am down in Southern Georgia, etc.

Things you never put in your books: Really intense violence, what I call “girl in a box underground” stuff. The sort of violence you would see in an episode of CRIMINAL MINDS. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of authors do it incredibly well and it can be done masterfully to serve an excellent plot. But it is not for me to write.

Favorite places you’ve been: I love traveling—and I have been lucky enough to go on some wonderful trips over my life so far. Last year, I went to the Isle of Mull in Scotland and as soon as I left, I was dreaming about how to get back. I also went to Norway last year and jumped in a fjord on the winter solstice, and I desperately want to do that again some day.

Places you never want to go to again: Las Vegas- I went once with friends and had a great time, but I don’t like heat or gambling or late nights, so once was enough for me!

Favorite things to do: Read, write, sew, knit, nap, watch British Murder Mysteries on tv, sit by the fire, walk my dogs, go to concerts, and most importantly laugh and just spend time with my kids and husband.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Ride a bike. I am really afraid of bikes. I have done it a handful of times, but I was terrified every time!

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: climbed to the basecamp of Everest.

Something you chickened out from doing: ever properly learned how to dive. I just resort to an inelegant cannonball.

Besides writing, what’s the most creative thing you’ve done: I made a huge quilt for my best friend that works as an I SPY but also has the names of everyone in her family hidden in the quilt. It is MASSIVE and bright and was very, very complicated to make.

A project that didn’t quite turn out the way you planned it: Everything? There is always space between my ideal plan and the actual outcome, but then I see people enjoy the imperfect and I remember to relax and enjoy it!

Some real-life story that made it to one of your books: In my first book, a terrible first date ends with a fist bump that sort of explodes into jazz hands when the main character thinks the guy is going in for a kiss. Completely happened to me. Mortifying!

Something in your story that readers think is about you, but it’s not: Divorce. My main character is pulling her life back together after a tough divorce. Thankfully, I am married to an amazing guy and only imagine that outcome rather than living through it.

Your favorite movie as a child: I loved THE PRINCESS BRIDE! I still do and I am lucky enough that one of my kids also loves it. I know the movie SO well—years and years ago I was at a showing on my college campus. The sound went out toward the end (to the pain) and I started doing the lines for the friend I went with to the show. People yelled for me to say them louder, and I ended up reciting the rest of the movie for the whole crowd!

A TV show or movie that kept you awake at night as a kid (or as an adult): I also loved THE LABYRINTH, but I will admit that it gave me nightmares the first time I watched it as a kid. A babysitter showed it to me when I was about six, which might have been a bit early? But it is a classic that I love now, so I can’t complain too much!

About Maggie:

Maggie Bailey, an enthusiastic sewist and maker, is a graduate of Stanford, Oxford, Brown, and Sewanee Universities. Her Measure Twice Sewing Mystery Series includes QUILTY AS CHARGED and SEAMS DEADLY, both from Crooked Lane Books. Maggie Bailey has previously published two volumes of poetry. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, two young children, her dogs, and a growing fabric stash she can’t help but add to on a regular basis.

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