Fully Alive

I asked whether she was ready to begin thinking about a new book, and she smiled. “Yeah, I feel so fully alive when I’m really into a story,” she said. “I feel like all my faculties are engaged, and this is where I’m meant to be. It’s probably what a racehorse feels like when it runs. This is what it’s meant to do, what its body is meant to do.” She paused. “This is what my mind is meant to do.”

“Does that feel close?” I asked.

Hillenbrand nodded. “Yesterday, I felt so good, and I was thinking, You know, you might be able to start.” she said. “It was the first time I had the thought, Maybe you can begin now. It might be in fits and starts, and I might have to quit for a while — but I think I’m going to begin again.” She said she knew the subject of her next book but wasn’t ready to make it public.

“It was a big story, a long time ago, that’s been completely forgotten,” she said. “I had never heard of any of it, and I just accidentally stumbled upon it in an old newspaper.”

Article