Bite Me

An Interview with Ally Hilfiger

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Approach the writing process fearlessly, sometimes with reckless abandon. Just sit down and start. Don’t overthink it. Your intuition is more powerful than you think. Show up every day and every week no matter what. Read the book The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. There were times when I doubted myself, or was afraid to be vulnerable. The best writers, I think, are the most honest. It was helpful to have a friend show up at my house once a week to read a chapter I wrote to keep me on track.

What do you like about writing? What do you not like?
I really enjoy writing. I surprise myself when the words come through me organically — it feels like I’m going on an amusement park ride for the first time. It’s very cathartic and healing to let the uninhibited subconscious run freely from my heart through my fingers. Writing about one’s own life is especially healing and therapeutic in many ways. The vulnerability of it all is astonishing. What I don’t like: when writing feels forced to meet a deadline. When you realize things about yourself that aren’t becoming. When I can’t think of “le mot juste.” Writing this book in particular, because I had to re-live some very difficult times.

What are you working on now?
I am working on how to keep my work, family, and health life balanced. I am giving myself space to be inspired and live with ease so that my next creative project will flow out of me with ease and laughter. Maybe it will be another book, a series of paintings or drawings, a clothing line, a skin care line, or all of them if I am lucky!

Why did you write Bite Me?
I wrote my story to bring awareness to Lyme, a disease which is greatly misunderstood. I was so fed up with all I had gone through. I realized that finally, after twenty-two years of dealing with this insidious disease, the story had a beginning, a middle, and an end. Having a child pushed me to complete the project in a shorter amount of time than most people need. I felt that maybe I got the disease for a reason, and overcame it (to a certain extent) so that I could make a difference in people’s lives, a social responsibility, if you will. Maybe my experiences will help others fight their own uphill battles.

Hopefully, I will inspire one of my readers to realize that no matter what they may be going through, they have more strength within themselves than they realize, and there is light at the end of the tunnel if you keep your eye focused on that light.