The Congressional Novelist

Roll Call takes note of our country's legislators that write novels.

From the post...

These days, Members of Congress write more than ever: Quickie autobiographies and ghostwritten campaign books line the shelves of Washington bookstores.

But novels? That’s a different story.

Only a handful of current and former politicians have dared to follow in the footsteps of Hemingway and Cather. For each, it was part of a lifelong dream.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski wanted to write a novel ever since she read Nancy Drew as a young girl. Rep. Peter King got his start writing for a local paper before moving on to thrillers. And Sen. Jim Webb turned down a job with the Reagan administration to write.

Most have stuck to the sage advice of writing what they know, penning political or historical fiction that is based, however unrealistically, on their day jobs.

Mikulski’s opportunity to write came through her political connections. At the 60th birthday party for the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, she met author Marylouise Oates.

“I told her I wanted to write a book, and she suggested we collaborate,” the Maryland Democrat recalled in an email. “We met for writing sessions but mainly wrote on our own. We sent pieces of the book back and forth in the mail.”

Between the daily grind of lawmaking and constant campaigning, it’s not easy to find time to write a novel. King, who wrote out each of his three novels longhand, would block out time to write on weekends or between votes on the House floor.

“Rather than go out and hang out in a bar, I’d sit in the office and just write,” the New York Republican said.