How Mari Andrew Builds a Life Around Creativity
21 Questions for the bestselling author and illustrator on creative freedom, career detours, and why she’ll never “pick a lane.”
If you’ve ever come across one of Mari Andrew’s illustrated essays—those delicate watercolors paired with profound (and often funny) reflections on healing, heartache, creativity, or just being a person—you know the sensation of feeling both seen and soothed.
Mari’s work has always managed to put words and pictures to life’s messier moments: the awkward in-betweens, the bittersweet breakthroughs, the ache of uncertainty. Whether she’s writing about finding home, navigating grief, or reckoning with change, her voice is one of warmth, wonder, and gentle truth-telling.
With three books under her belt—Am I There Yet?, My Inner Sky, and her newest, How to Be a Living Thing (out July 15!)—Mari has built a body of work that’s not only beautiful but deeply connective. Her readers return to her again and again, not just for insight, but for comfort.
Naturally, her take on Author Insider’s 21 Questions is full of insight, imagination, and just the right dose of wanderlust.
—Panio
21 Questions for Mari Andrew
1/ I couldn’t have written my last book without… giving up a lot of fears and insecurities about what people would think about it--especially publishers! It was very different from my first two books and I really had to trust that this was the topic that wanted to be written about and not get my ego tangled up in the process!
2/ What’s the thing most people get wrong about being a writer? That writing is torturous, perhaps? It's my greatest joy and favorite journey! I only wish I could do it more often, but "being a writer" actually doesn't include nearly enough writing in my case!
3/ Hemingway wrote standing up; Edith Wharton, lying down. What are your quirks? I do my best writing in transport, especially on an airplane tray table or the Amtrak cafe car. I appreciate the limits of cramped spaces and transportation timetables.
4/ Do you read your reviews? Absolutely not!
5/ Is there a book you wish you’d written? A travel guide throughout South America. What a dream gig!
6/ Have any tech tools made your job easier? The ability to leave rambling voice notes to friends has revolutionized my creative process. A lot of times I have no idea where I'm going with what I'm saying, but by the time I've jabbered on enough, I usually figure it out. That speaks to the people in my life who bring out my most curious side and make me feel comfortable to share my inner world!
7/ How has AI changed your writing process? It's made me bolder. When I have a lot of scattered ideas that I know can be synthesized but I'm not sure how, my little disembodied buddy in the laptop will help me find ways to make sense of them. Those brainstorming sessions always give me a confidence boost.
8/ Where do you find new ideas? In conversation with curious people.
9/ What’s the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever received? I wrote to a food columnist when I was in high school because I wanted to be a restaurant critic. Her advice was to "Start eating." There's no special trick or personality or constitution that you have to have in order to be a writer; you just have to do it. Experience as much life as possible, then sit down and take out a pen. That's the secret!
10/ And the worst? "Pick a lane." I've swerved lanes so many times I've ended up somewhere in the middle of the ocean. I'm now proud of my scattered resume and wild range of writing topics and creative mediums. I follow the ideas and they take me to fun and beautiful mental places, which is the most I could ask of a writing career.
11/ Whose career do you most admire and why? Cole Escola. I adore and idolize creative people who lean into their weirdness and childlike wonder to give us truly unusual and love-filled art.
12/ How did you find your agent? Four years, hundreds of cold emails, and an inbox bulging with rejection letters...until the right one wrote back!
13/ Coffee, tea, or something stronger? While writing: margaritas al fresco at 4 pm.
14/ What's the most effective way you've found to build your email list? Writing what's on my mind vs. writing what I think might be on other people's minds.
15/ How are you using social media to grow your audience? I think about social media and newsletters as less of a tool to grow an audience, and more as a way to speak to the audience I already have and show them some love and give them something to think about
16/ How many drafts before you show your editor? One! I'm a terrible self-editor. I leave it in the hands of experts completely!
17/ Can you describe your ideal workday? My ideal workdays are when I'm working on writing a book, which is pure joy! In a perfect world—one that I've been lucky enough to experience—I hop in a hammock and write for ten hours straight with a rotation of various beverages and a couple breaks to snack on tacos. This was my scenario while writing How to Be a Living Thing, surrounded by butterflies in small-town Mexico. Absolute heaven.
18/ How does that compare to your actual workday? Ha! Actual workday involves a lot more emails and calendar items...but I still try to seek out butterflies.
19/ What do you wish you’d known when you were starting out? If I don't feel comfortable in a professional setting, it is completely optional to be there.
20/ In five years, successful authors will all be …..redefining success! There are as many success metrics as there are people in the world and I've found my deepest satisfaction in the type of success that can't be seen or listed in a bio. I hope others too will experience the wonders of true connection with readers and a life enriched by the writing process.
21/ What is your new book about? How to be a Living Thing is my exploration of questions about humans that have kept me up at night for years. I found the answers by looking to animals, and shared my findings in this book. It's my literary playground where science, magic, personal experience, and myth all get to have a say in what makes us human.
Got a different setup? Share it in the comments!
 | A guest post by
|
Crazy it took 4 years to find the agent that believed in you! I'm starting to find out this is a trend among authors who have had success. Thank you for your insight.