My blog

We are finally down to double digits in the countdown to the release of The Secret Side of Empty.  Lots of cool things are in the works, like a detailed Discussion Guide, a nationwide Google [...]

It is the day after Thanksgiving 2013.  This will always be the year I discovered heritage turkeys.  Was it worth it?  It sure was.  Here’s my experience with this up-and-coming star of [...]

Writing a failed love story makes me reflect on what happens when the person is gone but the feelings remain.  (Writing book # 2, where this is a plot point).  It made me research quotes on [...]

I remember when I was a kid in Catholic school there was a lot of hand-wringing about the fact we’d lost sight about the reason for the Christmas season.  I hated that.  Of course Christmas [...]

It has been a long labor of love and I’ve had to sit on my hands many times when I’ve wanted to post it, but I’ve finally gotten the go-ahead to shout it from the rooftops: the [...]

New York is a city of exclusions.  People who pay thousands of dollars to live in a shoebox (in midtown!) look down on those of us who pay the same about for a four-bedroom house nine miles away. [...]

They wonder, sometimes, why those of us who live in the Northeast cling with terror to our shorelines when we read about the crap that happens in the middle of the country.  Yes, I know [...]

The internets are aflutter with the video of the cop who shot at a minivan full of kids.  If you haven’t seen the video, click here to see excerpts. What happened was this:  a cop pulled [...]

There are few things I find as repulsive as Black Friday, both in concept and in practice.  First, the idea that the peaceful, family-filled day after a celebration of thanks should involve [...]

I have always had a thing for Wonder Woman. Today, I am wearing one of my several Wonder Woman T-shirts. I have a cute little Wonder Woman ring I got handmade on Etsy. On the door to my bedroom [...]

Butterball, one of the US’s main producers of Thanksgiving turkeys, has announced a 50% drop in turkeys 16 pounds and up. Thank goodness I ordered that heritage turkey. Now, I’m a [...]

As a life-long princess-fantasy-lover, I love this advertising campaign (and by a Catholic school, no less). It tells young women things like, “You are not a princess.” “Life is [...]

I am a hardcore pacifist.  I believe in peace.  I believe that all human conflict can be resolved non-violently and that in the future there will be no more war.  I just have to believe that [...]

Click here to download a PDF of the Common-core aligned discussion guide for THE SECRET SIDE OF EMPTY by Maria E. Andreu Why doesn’t M.T. want to be called by her full name? Why is M.T. so mad at [...]

Pull out your calendars because the book signings are beginning!  My very first signing – ever – will happen on Saturday, January 25th, 2014 at the American Library Assocation’s [...]

I am now lining up school visits to talk about the issues touched upon in The Secret Side of Empty:  “illegal” (undocumented) immigration, alienation and the feelings of hopelessness [...]

I was on a bus from Johannesburg to Cape Town, South Africa a few years ago.  It was its own brand of hell, stuck in a cramped seat for 19 hours with a colorful cast of characters.  (And if you [...]

If you’d have asked me twenty years ago if I’d write a quasi-favorable review of Mike Tyson saying anything, ever, the answer would have been no.  I knew the narrative everyone agreed [...]

The trailer for Maleficent has just been released!  I am such a fangirl that I actually knew the date it was scheduled to happen.  I love Angelina Jolie and I especially love her in the role of [...]

Words are nothing more than everything.                

I am filled with the desire to unknow today. Oh, Paris, sweet, beautiful, stylish, confident Paris. How I wish I could unknow that you have seen such horror. And that you could unknow it too. [...]

I like horses, but I can’t say I necessarily like being ON them. They seem peaceful, but I can’t help but worry that there’s a whole lot of crazy they could bring too.   [...]

I was delighted to choose as my daughter’s godfather a man on the forefront of Alzheimer’s research. I

I miss you every day, but after this week’s devastation most of all. If there was one person who could have made this feel better and less hopeless, it would have been you.

On Wednesday, near the end of the workday, I stood up from my desk to go get a cup of tea, took a step and fell down like a sack of potatoes. It took me a few seconds to realize my ankle had [...]

I am not one to wax rhapsodic about the Garden State Mall. Although I live just a couple of miles away from it and it is the “go-to” mall for people around these parts, I am not much [...]

I am a terrible cook, but there is one day a year when that rule gets suspended: Thanksgiving. I make the best turkey I’ve ever tasted, anywhere. It’s juicy and flavorful and just [...]

Last Friday I had a heart attack. I mean, it was just a heart attack in my mind, but let me tell you: it was scary. My chest hurt like someone was sitting on it (and not in a fun way) and I felt [...]

I may have just figured out why my romantic history is such a mess:  I love psychopaths.  Or, at least, I love men in professions most likely to be held by psychopaths. What’s a psychopath, [...]

This week I am mourning the death of someone. It was unexpected and shocking, happening in a way I would have never imagined possible. It feels premature, as I thought I’d know this person [...]