The biggest problem has been exhaustion. I've spent about 6 of the last 14 years completely bedridden.

My illness is excruciating and difficult to cope with. It takes over your entire life and causes more suffering than I can describe.

...maybe it was better to break a man's leg than to break his heart.

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

In terms of writing about horses, I fell backwards into that. I was intent on getting a Ph.D., becoming a professor, and writing on history but I got sick 14 years ago when I was 19. Getting sick derailed that plan completely

A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain. Louie thought: Let go.

I'm attracted to subjects who overcome tremendous suffering and learn to cope emotionally with it