All writers have some pie in the sky vision of the amazing things that could happen if they write this book. Fortune, fame, bestseller lists, Hollywood adaptation–the dream life. They don’t often speak about it for fear that doing so will make it vanish like saying a birthday wish out loud.

Still, everyone thinks it.

The other part of this daydreaming, however, is the doubt. They see authors on red carpets and in luxury homes and selling millions of copies and believe, that’s only for them. It’s not for me.

Frances Mayes, perhaps best known for her book Under the Tuscan Sun, has one of those lives. Living in the Tuscan countryside, writing whatever her heart wills at the time, being played by Diane Lane in a film based on her memoir, humbly basking in a life most are afraid to even imagine.

But perhaps writers should start dreaming that big. At least, I believe, that’s Frances’s take. When you listen to her speak to just about anyone–in an interview, on a podcast, through the written word–with her syrupy Southern drawl, she can have you believing quite quickly that anyone can live the delightful life she has crafted. Never implying that it’s easy or without risk, but always stating simply that getting to where she is now, was an effort that can be replicated with a little bravery and willingness to fail and forge forward.

She Writes: To many, it seems you’ve built the dream life. How do you go about living with such intention and joy?

Frances Mayes: It’s true—I made the life I aspired to. It took years and mistakes and hard work. I like your words “intention and joy.” What a fine goal. By nature, I have resilient genes and a lot of curiosity. Both help. I keep a Master List of things I want to accomplish. That keeps a focus.

With the release of her latest novel, A Great Marriage, Mayes dives into her exploration of relationships as well as traversing some new settings outside her beloved Italy. Her journey is one we can all feel inspired by not just because of the glamour, but because of her willingness to pursue a life of passion and pleasure (and pasta).

Perhaps, by the end of this, you’ll be ready to make your own “Master List.”

A Great Marriage by Frances Mayes

For Dara and Austin it was love at first sight. He’s British and she’s from South Carolina, both are ambitious with plans that take them in different directions, but they are determined to make this work. When Austin is pulled back to London and Dara calls off their wedding, secrets stack up in a way they never have in Dara’s family. There is a long history of good, possibly even great marriages in her lineage, but it will be Dara’s mother Lee, whose impulsive trip to London that alters everything.

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The Early Draw to Writing and an Antidote to Fear

Like so many, Frances’s devotion to reading and writing started at a young age. When asked where her passion for writing came from, she had this to say:

From reading. In a small town, not much going on, I raced around the public library and somehow decided that writing books was the best thing to do. I started at around eight years old composing poems for family occasions. The more I read, the more I loved writing. I still have my blue reading log and my notebooks with lists of words I liked.

It’s one thing to be drawn to writing and reading, but many aspiring authors struggle to even get started. To that, Frances has a rather simple, yet wonderfully positive suggestion.

Don’t struggle. Give yourself space for solitude and fiddling around. Just sitting in a café, you can practice writing descriptions of people. I once kept a daily notebook of something beautiful seen every day. Another of nature descriptions. Act in the small ways that build up the habit of seeing yourself as a writer. Be one, as Henry James advised, on whom nothing is lost. And it’s useful to find writer friends. You feel validated. So often, the world is telling you to buckle down. Friends will know your writing is important. For me, reading engenders writing because you become inspired seeing how someone else can soar.

She tackles obstacles with clarity and calm. Every author, even the highly successful ones, doubt whether they can do it. Diving into this pursuit doesn’t require knocking out 5,000 words in a night. It can be small, low risk steps in the direction you want to go at first. Building confidence and skill with each attempt. Her delightful point of “Don’t struggle” punctuates an overall defiance she appears to hold regarding a writer’s ability to get in their own way.

So, if you’ve been hesitant to take the leap, do what Frances Mayes does, and jump anyways.

She Writes: You write about women taking big risks and appear to be willing to take them yourself. You’ve said before that these risks are calculated even if they are grand. How would you describe the process you go through when taking these big leaps? And how does that play into your writing?

Frances Mayes: Buying an abandoned villa while working on a university salary was certainly a risk. It worked out. Somehow taking one big risk engendered others. All writing is risky. You might not be able to finish. You might be disappointed in what you are capable of, or find that you have to abandon it midway. I suppose the drive to accomplish has to outweigh all the caveats your mean interior voice whispers in your ear. I loved the risk my three women took in Women in Sunlight. And what it gave them in return.

The recurring message from Frances seems to be that regardless of your fear or doubt, do it anyway. Despite yourself, create a big bold beautiful writing life.

On Her Latest Book, A Great Marriage And Telling the Story You Want to Tell

For anyone familiar with Frances’s writing career, it is, varietal to say the least. In a publishing landscape that tells you to write within a genre and stick with it, Frances simply… doesn’t. From memoir to fiction to cookbooks, she writes without too much regard for what should be done and instead, lets her own taste and interests guide her. So how does she even choose what’s next when the world is her oyster?

That’s a mysterious process. My new book, A Great Marriage, started with the three-word sentence, The wine spilled. It just appeared to me and the whole novel spun out from there. Fiction is vastly different from memoir—all the invented characters clamoring for their moment! They become real. Memoir usually springs from some personal well of deep memory, at least my southern Under Magnolia did. I had the urgent impulse to delve backwards and, oddly, that had a cathartic effect on me. Writing can undo certain knots. Under the Tuscan Sun was utterly different. It sprang from the immediacy of suddenly living and thriving in a foreign country, all the excitement of learning language, meeting locals, restoring an abandoned villa, cooking—everything was spontaneous and exciting. Each genre differs drastically. Travel writing is bliss. You research, wander, meet people, and most of all try to understand a place from the inside out. Cookbooks are easy—a passion for pasta inspires gathering a slew of favorites between covers. In The Tuscan Sun Cookbook, I compiled my favorites learned from Tuscan friends and from eating my way around the region. My style, I think, is the same whatever I’m writing—trying to find, as the saying goes, the best words in the best order. I try to surprise myself. When it’s time to start a new project, it’s a period of hunting and gathering, taking notes, reading extensively and just waiting for that first line to appear. At best, the project chooses you.

The only true rule in publishing is that there are no rules. Despite the standards many professionals will proport, there is opportunity to truly do whatever you want with your writing career. Confidence and intuition seem to play a real role in the process, something Frances has in spades.

Though there seems to be a thread throughout all of her work that weaves family, food, place and people together, she really does let the spark of inspiration guide her. And if you think there is some sort of formula that comes thereafter, you’re mistaken.

She Writes: Can you tell us a little bit about your writing process? Where do you start with an idea and what does it look like while you’re drafting?

Frances Mayes: I write erratically. Almost anything can tempt me out of my study. But then I write in spurts and have a hard time pulling myself away, even for dinner. You learn to trust your rhythms. I don’t write drafts. I revise as I go. Questions later come up in the editing process and they must be examined. I will revise when discussion reveals something to me.

There’s so much advice out there implying that there is an ideal or even a perfect way to be a writer, but the truth is, the process is individual to each artist. It doesn’t require doing anything other than what the writer chooses. There may be faster ways or more precise ways to produce a manuscript, but incredible careers can be built on simply following your own recipe to the finish line.

While many authors are striving towards a particular outcome with each project, it can be a surprise how the work lands once it is released into the world. When someone has a major success, like Frances did with Under the Tuscan Sun, it can appear as if they had it all planned to go that way from the beginning. But the truth is, even those with a mega hit can be taken aback by the widespread appeal. The point being, don’t strive to be globally appetizing. Write what you feel and know that even the most personal story has the potential to touch millions of lives.

She Writes: Under the Tuscan Sun was such a huge hit, for memoirists, what do you think makes a personal story have such global appeal?

Frances Mayes: In that book, at that time, many responded to the aspect of starting over in unchartered territory. The surprise was that it hit a chord all over the world, not just with my peers. Then, there’s Tuscany. There’s a dream house. There’s food and wine and piazzas. And, as a writer, I hope the writing had the biggest part.

So writers, focus on the writing. Develop the craft. And when it enters the world, let it take off in the direction it chooses to go knowing you did everything you could in the creation stage.

Legacy and Longevity

Writing isn’t something most people are aiming to do for just a little while. It’s something that people intend to do as long as their body and mind will allow it. It’s the ultimate marathon. Undoubtedly, there will be highs and lows for everyone on this path, but Frances has some thoughts on that as well, with the help of some of her friends.

She Writes: With such a varied and fruitful career, looking back, what are the choices you’ve made or hard lessons you’ve learned, that have brought you to this point in your career?

Frances Mayes: Press on regardless, my English friend always says. Go for it, my daughter always says. Tomorrow is another day, said Scarlet. Regrets, I’ve had a few, says the song. There are too many choices and lessons to calculate, but I’d say the choices all come from a core of loving my life, excitement to see what each day holds, and fierce appreciation of the ones I love. As to the hard lessons, often they are secret opportunities.

Frances appears to be able to alchemize just about any question into delicate wisdom that is both subtle, and a call to arms. It’s impossible not to feel her command of words and her true connection to self as she lays out her delectable advice. And while yes, it is simple, the hard part is waking up each day (or as many days as possible) with the kind of resolve she possesses.

Frances Mayes has already cemented her mark on the world in so many ways, but when it comes to her legacy and what she wants to be remembered for, she had this to say:

She Writes: You’ve truly built a legacy at this point, what is it that you hope you’re most remembered for?

Frances Mayes: As someone who lived to be 120.

With all that she’s accomplished and all the beauty and joy she’s created for herself and others, all she wants is more time living in the life she’s created. And what a goal to have. To create a life–as a writer or otherwise–that’s so good, you just want more of it.