My Work Was Entirely Nonfiction.

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

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.

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

Every Day After Lunch When I Was Writing My First Book, I'd Nibble A Square Of Fine Chocolate And Meditate On All That Had Gone Into Its Creation: The Sun And Rain That Spilled On The Cocoa Plant, The Soil That Nourished It, The Hands That Picked The Beans, And So On. My Taste Of Chocolate Became A Lesson On The Interconnectedness Of Things, And The Infinite Blessings For Which I Am Grateful.

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.