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Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
"Hillary Clinton on Writing Hard
Choices"
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3:45 video from May 21, 2014.
Hillary Clinton: I worked
up in the third floor of our house in New York. I have this cosy
little study that is in what used to be the attic of the old farm house
we live in, and just sort of toiled away and dragged the manuscript
that I was working with me on everywhere I went, including on vacation,
which
actually turned out to be a godsend because I had the idea about how to
begin the book by starting at the end of my 2008 campaign and talking
about the very unlikely journey that led me to be asked by
President-elect Obama to serve as Secretary of State and then to
develop a partnership and friendship with him over the four years we
worked together.
Text: Alternate Book Titles
I considered a lot of titles. As you might guess I had a long
list of unsolicited suggestions. Some said "It Takes a World"
because I had written a book back in the '90's called "It Takes a
Village." And that was certainly true in the writing of the book;
I had a lot of great help. There was also this wonderful idea
that
just stayed with me that I thought about very seriously: "The Scrunchie
Chronicles: 112 Countries and It is Still All About My Hair." I
got a big kick out of that, because even during the four years I served
as Secretary of State, I did go to 112 countries; I was on the airplane
for so many days and I didn't have time to worry about my hair, and so
I just let it grow and I pulled it back, and oh my goodness I got so
many comments about that.
Text: The Hardest Part
The hardest part was writing it. The hardest part was
working on it. I had a great, great team that I could never have
done it without, but ultimately I had to take responsibility for every
word. I had to be the one who decided how I wanted to describe a
situation, how it fit into my overall view about where America is in
the 21st century, how to connect it with people here at home. You
know why does an economic crisis in Athens, Greece affect people living
in Athens, Georgia.
Text: The Most
Important Personal Events
The four years were obviously very demanding and
involving, but for me personally the two most important events were my
daughter's wedding in late July, July 31st of 2010. I was trying
to help you know pick flower and china and make decisions as I was
flying around the world, and then my mother's death in November,
November 1st of 2011. So on a personal level, I had the heights
and the depths of emotions and experiences, and for both of them I was
incredibly grateful that I could be open enough and ready enough to
embrace those experiences while still carrying my responsibilities.
And at the end of the day, they're the two most important events
of those four years. A lot of others come close, but nothing will
ever replace the joy and the sorrow that I personally experienced.
Notes: This video preceded the book tour.