My new novel Campaign Widows was sparked by real life.
The book—about a group of friends left behind in Washington, DC, when their significant others go out on the campaign trail during a zany election—was inspired by my own experiences as a “campaign widow,” even though everything in the novel really is fiction.
Aimee Agresti by Abby Greenawalt
My husband is a Capitol Hill staffer, who’s shipped out to far-flung cities through the years to work on Senate campaigns. Luckily none of the craziness in the book actually happened to us though!
This is my first novel for adults.
Before writing Campaign Widows, I wrote the Gilded Wings Trilogy (Illuminate, Infatuate, Initiate) for young adults. Those novels followed a teen angel earning her wings. They were not based on real life. (Sadly, I cannot actually fly.)
I love making playlists for my books.
I’m obsessed with curating the perfect soundtrack for my books. My Campaign Widows Playlist includes Beyonce, Janelle Monae, Ryan Adams and 30 Seconds to Mars. I also totally fell in love with a bluegrass version of “Dirty Little Secret” (the ideal theme song for my southern belle character) and Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness,” which is like an anthem for the book. (It’s possible that I spend too much time on this sort of thing when I should actually be writing.)
Give it all a listen here: http://aimeeagresti.com/campaign-widows/
I’m the proud daughter of a librarian.
My adorable, speed-reading mom is a librarian, or at least she was until she had me and my sister. She met our dad in the library where she worked, so our family joke is that he checked her out and never returned her. (Pause for laughter.)
I grew up reading everything in sight.
Seriously, everything from Nancy Drew and Sweet Valley High to Shakespeare. I devoured the classics: Hemingway and Jane Austen and the Brontes and Edith Wharton, and then in college, my serious Tolstoy/Dostoyevsky phase. My fave authors right now are Helen Fielding, Nick Hornby, Tom Perrotta, Candace Bushnell, Emma Straub, Jennifer Egan, Richard Ford, Elizabeth Gilbert...I’ll stop now or we’ll be here forever!
Before writing books, I worked at entertainment magazines.
I was on staff at Us Weekly and Premiere for years, and yes, indeed, it was all absolutely as fun as it sounds! My favorite celeb interview of all-time: George Clooney. (I mean, of course. He’s everyone’s favorite.)
I love collecting signed books.
I adore going to book readings so, happily, my shelves are positively teeming with autographed books. Among my most prized: Richard Ford, Tom Perrotta, Candace Bushnell, Ethan Hawke and Dave Eggers.
If you loan me a book and I like it, I may “misplace” it.
This is one of my most diabolical character flaws. I don’t plan to steal these books, I promise you, but I just hang on to them and love them and never quite get around to returning them. My sweet friends are always too polite to ask. However, I may now have some harsh emails coming my way from the rightful owners of “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,” “Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk,” “The Lovely Bones,” and multiple Chuck Klosterman and Jennifer Weiner tomes. Apologies, all!
I’m a mom of two energetic, adorable boys.
My sons are 3 and 6…and highly mischievous. They like to sneak into my office and leave Lego sculptures for me, in exchange for the candy they steal from the stash that fuels my writing.
I love hearing from readers!
Enough about me, tell me about you! Find me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AimeeAgrestiAuthor/), Twitter (https://twitter.com/aimeeagresti) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/aimeeagresti/)!
