INTERVIEW WITH LAURA HILLENBRAND: WRITER OF SEABISCUIT

I think Laura Hillenbrand “wrestled with demons” and won. I think she has
a great deal to teach us about the tenacity that we must possess to
overcome the tenaciousness of life itself.


You see, Laura experienced food poisoning in 1987, and developed a rare
and life-long reaction to this illness; Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, with
additional symptoms of Vertigo.


In an interview included in her book, "Seabiscuit" she says:


“Writing this book was immensely important to me, but my illness made it
very hard. I had to accept that there would be a large physical price to
pay for undertaking this project, and that I would have to pare away the
rest of my life to save my strength for what I wanted to do”


and


“There were days when it was almost impossible to move, but I usually
found something I still had strength to do. If I was too dizzy to write, I
did interviews. If I was too weak to sift through books, I sat still and
wrote. Sometimes I worked while in bed, lying on my back and scribbling on
a pad with my eyes closed. Though it was hard to do this, there was never a
point at which I became discouraged. These subjects were just too
captivating for me to ever consider abandoning the project. The price I
paid was steep. Within hours of presenting the manuscript to the
publishers, my health collapsed completely.”


I think that too few ever really comprehend the sacrifices of the giants
on whose shoulders we stand.


And we are their present-day surrogates on the earth. Once having started
the journey, we will never be content “sitting on the sidelines just
watching the parade go by.


But it’s not only about denying self and sacrificial offerings. There is
such reward, often more intangible and felt, than tangible and touchable,
in our earthly service.


And Laura concludes:


“As difficult as the illness made the writing and research process, I
think I also have it to thank for spurring me into the project. Being sick
has truncated my life dramatically, drastically narrowing the possibilities
for me. For fifteen years, I have had very little contact with the world.
The illness left me very few avenues for achievement, or for connecting
with people. Writing is my ‘salvation’; the one little area of my life
where I can still reach out into the world and create something that will
remain after I am gone. It enables me to define myself as a writer instead
of a sick person.”