Hilary Liftin Quotes & Sayings

We exploit celebrities by caring about shallow things like whether they've gotten a facelift. And we violate their children constantly. But we also love them in a way. — Hilary Liftin

I think one of the big things that's come out of ghostwriting for me is real compassion for the complexity of fame. — Hilary Liftin

Lizzie Pepper is pure fiction! The character is pulled from tabloids. But I think we all look at celebrity marriages and invest in them. — Hilary Liftin

I think that the celebrity memoir as a genre is looked upon as a lesser form. One of my missions as a ghostwriter has been to elevate that form. Maybe that sounds pretentious! — Hilary Liftin

No one grows up thinking they want to be a ghostwriter. No one plans on that job. — Hilary Liftin

None of my clients are criminals, but to a much lighter degree that's what goes on. I hear the story, and I hear it with the level of detail that breeds empathy. — Hilary Liftin

I've been writing books without ego for a very long time. I feel like it will get what it deserves. Or won't get what it doesn't deserve. — Hilary Liftin

I think people dismiss celebrity memoirs as unreal, contrived and maybe partially made up. But that's definitely not true for anything that I write. — Hilary Liftin

There are certain jobs I don't take because I feel no connection to the person. But if somebody is open with me, and honest about their motivations, and has some level of self- awareness, then I'm going to understand them. — Hilary Liftin

I'm so used to being separate from the publication process. I turn in the book to the editor and then I'm done. — Hilary Liftin

For the first four, nearly five, years of their lives, I'd had complete understanding of my sons' brains. Every animal Cap identified - I knew where he'd learned it. Every food Leo liked - I knew when he'd first tasted it. Every word they used came from me or a book we'd read together. Even as they started to have their own thoughts and ideas - "I'm a doggie, and you're the mommy doggie, and we're going to fall in the mud" - I could source the books and experiences they were mixing and matching. — Hilary Liftin

I'm handed a bunch of existing data. My job is to put that in the best narrative form. That is a puzzle I love to solve. — Hilary Liftin

I don't think you can take a whole genre of very popular books and say, "This is all trash!" When we read a memoir that isn't by a celebrity, we feel like we're about to go on a journey and we don't know where the journey will lead. But when we read a memoir by a celebrity we feel like we already know the journey and we just want to travel it. — Hilary Liftin

Working with somebody who has a more interesting life than I do - and getting to take on that life temporarily - is an endlessly interesting way to have the experience of writing memoir. — Hilary Liftin