“I started with a small moment and went from there,” she said.

That original essay appeared in an anthology published by Down East Books.

Wood, a novelist and essayist for more than 20 years, with a dozen books to her credit, has written, “When We Were the Kennedys: A Memoir from Mexico, Maine.”

Although many of her books have received national notice, this one seems to have grabbed people from all over about the importance of that time in history.

Reviews have appeared in the Boston Globe, Oprah Magazine, Reader’s Digest, The Washingtonian, The New Yorker and other national publications.

Right now, Wood, 58, who lives in Portland with her husband, Dan Abbott, is on a national tour promoting her book, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

“The title is about how a family identified with the Kennedys. It was the same thing that happened to us that happened to a glamorous family,” said Wood.

Also, 1963-64 was a turning point for America, she said.

“After the first strike at Oxford Paper Co., things began to change. I used what was going on in Mexico and Rumford as an analogy for the country – the end of manufacturing, the end of innocence,” she said.

Wood was 9 years old when her father died, and Kennedy was assassinated. The story follows the grief felt by the family, the nervousness of area people about an impending strike and the assassination. The mill is a character in the book, she said.

She has already been on an 18-event book tour in Maine, where scores of people have turned out at her book appearances. The book is in its second printing.

She’s flying to Denver, then to the San Francisco area, then on to Washington, D.C., before she returns to the Mexico-Rumford area in the fall. She’ll make a presentation at the Rumford Historical Society in September, then finish up with another presentation at the Mexico Public Library in October.

“When We Were the Kennedys” is the first nonfiction memoir Wood has written. She doubts that she’ll write another similar book, and plans instead to stick to novels and teaching materials.

She has another project in progress but won’t talk about it yet.

Writing, generally a solitary task, has provided her with much satisfaction. But she has also learned that she likes being out on tours talking with people.

When not writing, Wood teaches writing to inmates at the Women’s Correctional Center in Windham.

Among her other books are “Ernie’s Ark,” “Any Bitter Thing,” “My Only Story” and “Secret Language.”