Quotes by Sarah Stillman

Sarah Stillman

For me, the part of reporting that’s the most rewarding and energizing is just hearing directly from people whose voices haven’t often been heard, or incorporated into mainstream media. That stuff is really, really gratifying, and so to realize that you could make a career of that part of it, that appealed to me.

Careers

Media

Voice

I always knew I wanted to write, but I didn’t know that I would want to do investigative reporting – in part because it seemed so ill-suited for my personality, or I thought it was ill-suited for my personality, insofar as I’m not very aggressive, and I’m not confrontational.

Personality

Want

Writing

I feel like I partly came to writing through being in college during the start of the Iraq war, and knowing that those issues mattered lot to me, and wanting to go see for myself.

College

War

Writing

I found it really astonishing that undocumented migrants were kidnapped so routinely, that it was such a commonplace part of the journey for people trying to reach the US, and that we hear almost nothing about it here.

Journey

People

Trying

I learned a lot, investigative methodology – wise, from litigators – watching their process.

Litigators

Methodology

Wise

I tend to gravitate toward the “act two,” or “act three,” or “act four” stories – either things that are underreported, where we think we already know the common narrative, or things that are at the margins of an over-reported story, where we’re all so focused in one direction that we’re missing something crucial that’s unfolding off to the side.

One Direction

Thinking

Two

I tend to only be able to obsess about one thing at once, and become fully engaged in and only interested in that thing. But in the longer term, a lot of my stories also give birth to other stories.

Birth

Giving

Term

I think most of us, as writers, have had experiences where you get edited and it doesn’t feel like your voice at all. And so it’s been nice to go through the experience of having a lot wind up on the cutting-room floor, and yet still feel that your voice is being – not purified, but made more yourself. I think that’s a very rare thing.

Cutting

Nice

Thinking

I think the daily challenge for a lot of beat reporters is, how do you get past the regurgitated sound bites of powerful people or evasion masters who are so used to this routine – the theatricality of press conferences and stage-managed interviews and teams of handlers?

Past

Powerful

Team

I think when I was doing my very first interviews, I probably brought a notepad and did ask people my first fifteen questions while sitting in a Starbucks or something horrible like that. And I found that, oftentimes, the most important thing at the very first interview is just establishing a personal connection and developing some sort of rapport so that I can go back to them again, and then maybe again, and maybe again after that.

Important

People

Thinking

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Baghdad

Birth

Car

Careers

Challenges

Children

College

Culture

Cutting

Details

Digging

Done

Found

Fun

Giving

Hollywood

Home

Important

Interesting

Jobs

Journalism

Journey

Kids

Language

Listening

Litigators

Media

Methodology

Mexico

Military

Narrative

Nice

One Direction

Past

People

Personality

Persons

Powerful

Real

Space

Strange

Team

Term

Terrible Events

The End Of The Day

Thinking

Trying

Two

Voice

Want

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Quotes by Sarah Stillman

Sarah Stillman

I always knew I wanted to write, but I didn’t know that I would want to do investigative reporting – in part because it seemed so ill-suited for my personality, or I thought it was ill-suited for my personality, insofar as I’m not very aggressive, and I’m not confrontational.

I feel like I partly came to writing through being in college during the start of the Iraq war, and knowing that those issues mattered lot to me, and wanting to go see for myself.

I found it really astonishing that undocumented migrants were kidnapped so routinely, that it was such a commonplace part of the journey for people trying to reach the US, and that we hear almost nothing about it here.

I learned a lot, investigative methodology – wise, from litigators – watching their process.

I tend to only be able to obsess about one thing at once, and become fully engaged in and only interested in that thing. But in the longer term, a lot of my stories also give birth to other stories.

I think the daily challenge for a lot of beat reporters is, how do you get past the regurgitated sound bites of powerful people or evasion masters who are so used to this routine – the theatricality of press conferences and stage-managed interviews and teams of handlers?

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The Future Blueprint

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

The Autobiography

The Behaviour Diary

The Dating Diary

The Relationship Therapist

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