Only, theyre not really alone.
I didnt know anything about how campaigns work.
He looked at me and said, No, no, no.
Credit: Abby Greenawalt
I quickly learned just how insane that campaign world is.
Luckily, nothing crazy happened when my husband was on the trail!
I wanted all of the women to struggle with that in their own way.
Graydon House
So Reagan is a mother of two whose husband is off on the campaign trail.
Is any of her story based on your experience as a mom and campaign widow?Not really.
She knows a lot more about politics than I do, thats for sure.
Though the one part in the whole book that was taken from real life is from Reagans story.
You know the scene where her kid runs wild at the White House?
That really did happen to me.
My husband and I were just frozen in shock.
It was so embarrassing, and were all dressed up asStar Warscharacters.
Of course, the Secret Service guy gets there first.
Were like, We were just leaving!
I knew it was just too good and had to go in the book.
Not a great moment in parenting, but a good story to tell.
Lets talk about some of the political candidates.
She also has such bold ideas and is interested in uniting people.
And, as we know now, people like to vote for the extreme candidates.
Hanks done very well in his world, and he thinks thatll translate to politics.
Then I just loved the idea of having a woman as his spouse trying to sabotage him.
I like that nobody in her world is even imagining that shes doing it on purpose.
She was really fun to write, and there was probably some wish-fulfillment there [laughs].
I love how you incorporated news stories and text messages throughout the novel.
I like the liveliness of that.
The novel ends in a place where there are plenty of stories to develop further.
Are you planning a sequel?I left it the way I did just in case.
But, yes, I definitely left it hanging.
Campaign Widowsis out now.
