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" I think authors can get into trouble viewing the subject matter as their turf. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Subject
Matter
I Think
Related Quotes:
" For me, being a writer was never a choice. I was born one. All through my childhood I wrote short stories and stuffed them in drawers. I wrote on everything. I didn't do my homework so I could write. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Childhood
Short
Me
" For 'Seabiscuit', I interviewed 100 people I never met. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Met
People
Never
" Books on horse racing subjects have never done well, and I am told that publishers had come to think of them as the literary version of box office poison. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Poison
Think
Racing
" I was starstruck and completely confused; making a film of this story hadn't even occurred to me, and I hadn't written a single line of the book yet. I had no idea how this man knew anything about my book proposal. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Book
Story
Me
" My agent and I put out my proposal one Thursday afternoon in August, 1998. Publishers started bidding immediately, and that process progressed for a few days. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Started
Days
Out
" I am disabled, so I can't travel, and I have not been to any development meetings, but Gary and the others affiliated with the film keep me updated on everything. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Travel
Development
I Am
" I got sick when I was 19, and I'd been a really healthy 19-year-old, so I don't have a lot to compare it to. Does it feel like the pain after you give birth? I don't know. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Pain
Feel
Know
" I had been writing professionally since 1988. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Been
Writing
Since
" Having a lot of people suddenly depending on me to get the job done was a marvelous motivator. The book and movie deals seemed to flip a switch in my head, and off I went. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Done
People
Me
" My illness is excruciating and difficult to cope with. It takes over your entire life and causes more suffering than I can describe. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Life
Over
Suffering
" And at that point, I think my experience in covering the subject helped me. I think editors felt comfortable with the idea of me telling this story because I had demonstrated that I know this business pretty well. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Story
Business
Experience
" Honestly, I expected to get a cold reception because of my subject matter. But when editors took a look at the story I had to tell, and saw that this was not a parochial story at all, they really warmed to it. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Story
Matter
Look
" The biggest problem has been exhaustion. I've spent about 6 of the last 14 years completely bedridden. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Problem
Been
Last
" I'm attracted to subjects who overcome tremendous suffering and learn to cope emotionally with it. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Who
Cope
Learn
" This disease leaves people bedridden. I've gone through phases where I couldn't roll over in bed. I couldn't speak. To have it called 'fatigue' is a gross misnomer. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Gone
Bed
Disease
" People think I must have been turning cartwheels on the night I sealed the movie deal - which was only two days after sealing the book deal - but I was really quite terrified. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Days
Two
Think
" But with nonfiction, the task is very straightforward: Do the research, tell the story. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Story
Research
Task
" I identified in a very deep way with the individuals I was writing about because the theme that runs through this story is of extraordinary hardship and the will to overcome it. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Overcome
Hardship
Deep
" The following Wednesday, I opted to go with Random House. "
Laura Hillenbrand
House
Following
Random
" I was 8 years old when I went across the street from my house to a fair, and they always had a used book sale. For a quarter I bought a book called 'Come On Seabiscuit.' I loved that book. It stayed with me all those years. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Street
Loved
House
" I lived for four years in the 1930s with these individuals and the only time that I wasn't thinking about dealing with physical suffering is when I was working on this book. I've never been more alive as when I worked on this book. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Book
Time
Thinking
" While it's really hard to do, at the same time, I'm escaping my body, which I really want to do. I'm living someone else's life. I get very intensely into the story, into the interviews and the research. I'm experiencing things along with my subjects. I have a freedom I don't have in my physical life. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Freedom
Time
Story
" I have vertigo. Vertigo makes it feel like the floor is pitching up and down. Things seem to be spinning. It's like standing on the deck of a ship in really high seas. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Up And Down
Pitching
Feel
" Louie and Seabiscuit were both Californians and both on the sports pages in the 1930s. I was fascinated. When I learned about his World War II experiences, I thought, 'If this guy is still alive, I want to meet him.' "
Laura Hillenbrand
Alive
War
Thought
" I've used a cellphone exactly twice. Things move on. The world changes. And I don't know it. "
Laura Hillenbrand
World
Know
Changes
" Since signing with Universal, I have been working closely with Gary Ross, the director, producer and screenwriter. We have spent many hours on the phone, and I've been sending him information and items that have been useful to the writing process. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Phone
Information
Writing
" I spoke to my agent and learned that a Hollywood scout had seen my proposal in one of the publishing houses, and had faxed it to Hollywood, where it was generating a lot of interest. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Scout
Hollywood
Publishing
" My work was entirely nonfiction. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Entirely
Nonfiction
Work
" I am actually in poor health due to chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome, and my ability to work is greatly diminished right now, so I have to get better before I can start another big project. "
Laura Hillenbrand
I Can
Work
Start
" Fatigue is what we experience, but it is what a match is to an atomic bomb. "
Laura Hillenbrand
Atomic Bomb
Match
Fatigue