Molly Ringwald

Molly Ringwald lives and works in New York City and Los Angeles. Her new book is Getting the Pretty Back: Friendship, Family, and Finding the Perfect Lipstick.

From her Q & A with The Barnes & Noble Review:

The Barnes & Noble Review: What made you write this book, rather than, say, a straight-up memoir or some other sort of book?

Molly Ringwald: Well, I didn't really want to write a straight-up memoir because I don't feel like I'm ready. I feel like I'm at this halfway point in my life. If I wrote a straight-up memoir, I'd just have to go and write another one later. The book really came about because I was turning 40 and there was kind of this crazy oh my god, how is it possible that I'm turning 40? thing. And I realized there were no books like the one I wanted to read. Anytime that I've gone through anything in my life, I've always felt like I could turn to a book that offers guidance and solace, and I'm not even talking about self-help books necessarily. But there was nothing fun and stylish and inspirational about being a woman, rather than a girl. That's why I wanted to write this particular book -- and why it's in color and illustrated by Ruben [Toledo]. I wanted it to be a colorful, beautiful, fun, sexy little book.

BNR: What was the process of writing the book like? Did you work with anyone else on it?

MR: No. It's all me. It was daunting, to say the least. I've never written a book before. Everything I've ever written has been, you know, a 2,000-word limit. So it was challenging. My husband [Panio Gianopoulos] is a writer and an editor, so he was very helpful in keeping me on track. I had this 500-word-a-day target, or two hours, whichever came first. And as long as I could commit to that, usually once I got myself in the seat, I would usually write, like, 1,500 words or 2,000 words. They add up after a while, if you do it all the time.

BNR: It's just getting over the psychological hurdle.

MR: Yeah. It was just little by little, brick by brick. It took a little longer than I had anticipated because...[read on]

--Marshal Zeringue