{"id":15174,"date":"2020-09-24T23:27:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T03:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=15174"},"modified":"2020-10-01T12:55:00","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T16:55:00","slug":"susannah-cahalan-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/susannah-cahalan-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Susannah Cahalan: Book Reconstructs Lost Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the Susannah Cahalan book, Brain on Fir<\/em>e about? How did she research the story and write about her experience with <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Susannah Cahalan book, Brain on Fire<\/em>, is an account of what happened to her, even though she doesn’t truly remember. Susannah reconstructed the time that is lost by researching the way she would in any other assignment as a journalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about Susannah Cahalan’s book and how she wrote it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Susannah Cahalan: Book’s Early Stages<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Susannah\u2019s old self finally reawakens when she\u2019s in the hospital for another round of treatments. She begins reading again. She begins keeping a diary to understand what\u2019s happened to her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Susannah\u2019s father encourages her to draw upon her memory to create a timeline of events. As she tries to remember, she can recall only numbness, sleepiness, and three seizures. She remembers nothing from her time in the hospital.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alarmed by the depth of her memory loss, Susannah\u2019s dad invents a new motto: \u201cYou must leave the past behind in order to move forward.\u201d\u00a0With this, Susannah Cahalan’s book took shape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebuilding Memories<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As time progresses, Susannah regains former functions and personality traits. When people ask her to explain her illness, she tells them only that her body attacked her brain. However, when Paul, her Post<\/em> editor, asks her to explain it, she decides to summarize her experiences. She sends Paul a one-paragraph email, ending with \u201cI know what it\u2019s like to go crazy.\u201d It\u2019s enough for Paul to assure her that her writing skills have returned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul\u2019s encouragement is all Susannah needs. She begins a program of research and becomes obsessed with understanding how a human body attacks itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Susannah maintains a regular correspondence with Paul, who actively encourages Susannah to return to work. They hit on a strategy: Susannah will casually stop by the Post<\/em> offices to say hello in mid-July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the appointed day, Susannah dresses up and takes a train into the city. However, as soon as she arrives at the Post<\/em> office building, the adrenaline that\u2019s bolstered her confidence rushes out of her body. It\u2019s too soon<\/em>, she thinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She texts Paul to meet her outside. He tries to banter with her, as in the old days, but Susannah can\u2019t keep up. He struggles to maintain a careless facade, but they both know she can\u2019t handle her duties. \u201cYour desk is ready for you,\u201d he says nevertheless. \u201cCome on upstairs.\u201d Looking at the ground, she admits she\u2019s not ready to go back right now. They hug briefly, then Paul disappears inside the building, worried that the new Susannah is not the Susannah he once knew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to Work<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In spite of this disastrous meeting, two weeks later Susannah gets an assignment to write a piece for the Post<\/em>\u2019s entertainment section. She manically jumps into researching the story, phoning sources and compiling her notes, but when she sits down to write, she\u2019s suddenly overwhelmed by writer\u2019s block. She stares at the screen. Slowly, an hour later, the first words come, then others. Soon they\u2019re coming like a fountain. \u00a0For Susannah Cahalan, book writing was the next natural step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Susannah\u2019s article runs in the Post<\/em> on July 28. She\u2019s published hundreds of pieces before, but none have meant more than this one. It signals her redemption. It shouts, \u201cSusannah\u2019s back!<\/strong>\u201d The article was the first step for Susannah Cahalan and the book was next. Susannah Cahalan’s book, Brain on Fire<\/em>, was published in 2012. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the Susannah Cahalan book, Brain on Fire about? How did she research the story and write about her experience with The Susannah Cahalan book, Brain on Fire, is an account of what happened to her, even though she doesn’t truly remember. Susannah reconstructed the time that is lost by researching the way she would in any other assignment as a journalist. Read more about Susannah Cahalan’s book and how she wrote it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":15312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,29,33],"tags":[130],"class_list":["post-15174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-career","category-people","tag-brain-on-fire","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nSusannah Cahalan: Book Reconstructs Lost Time - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For Susannah Cahalan, book writng meant reconstructing her lost memories. 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