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“It gets harder, the longer you’re on the road,” said Woodruff, of being away from her family, particularly the youngest of her kids, 12-year-old twin girls who live at home in Rye. “I’m looking forward to getting our house decorated for Christmas. I have to say that we have a fabulous babysitter and a community of friends when a kid needs to stay over.”
Woodruff is the wife of former ABC news anchor Bob Woodruff and co-founder of the Bob Woodruff Foundation, which provides resources to injured service members, veterans and their families. The foundation had a fundraiser in November and was able to raise $3 million.
With her husband, she co-wrote, “In An Instant, A Family’s Journey of Love and Healing,” about the brain injury Bob suffered while embedded with American troops in Iraq in 2006 and the recovery that followed.
Woodruff also is a contributing reporter for “CBS This Morning,” reporting on a variety of home, current events and family related topics. Her most recent best-selling book “Perfectly Imperfect – A Life in Progress,” featured 15 essays on parenting and family.
Woodruff released her first novel, “Those We Love Most,” in September, and has been promoting it ever since. Though Woodruff’s first two books delved into details of her own life, she says she is most passionate about fiction writing.
“This is always what I wanted to do,” Woodruff said. “I would have been surprised if you told me that my first two books would be non-fiction. [Fiction] was always my goal.”
Woodruff said she already is working on another novel set in Phoenix, Ariz., but still is in the planning stages.
“The writer Colson Whitehead, says ‘don’t look for your story,’ ” said Woodruff of what inspires her to write.
“Those We Love Most” was sparked by a phone call Woodruff received from an area mom whose 17-year-old son was friends with Woodruff’s own 17-year-old son.
Another friend of the woman’s son accidentally hit a boy on a bicycle in Larchmont and the parents reached out to Woodruff.
“I never ended up speaking to the family and created my own extended family with the book. The boy, who I never met, is fine and it all turned out okay. It really struck a chord from my own circumstances and also having a son that age and wondering what it would be like,” she said.
The Rye Daily Voice caught up with Woodruff by phone while she was riding a train back to New York and asked her to name five favorite things about living in Rye, in no particular order:
1. Arcade Books.
2. Andy’s Pure Food: “Their juices and salads that’s my little treat to myself.”
3. The Long Island Sound shoreline: “Just the fact that we have access to the beach and the water.”
4. The sense of community: “Neighbors helping neighbors.”
5. The Rye Free Reading Room: “I love our library.”
For more information on Woodruff’s non-fiction books and debut novel, visit her website at www.leewoodruff.com.
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