PORTLAND (AP) – Carolyn Chute, the latest Maine author to land in the hospital because of a motor vehicle accident in western Maine, said Friday she faces a long recovery after suffering a hip injury and multiple bruises.

“It doesn’t look like I’ll be doing much writing,” Chute, 58, said in a telephone interview from Maine Medical Center, where she was transported following the crash Tuesday in Parsonsfield, about a mile from her home.

Chute, best known for her 1985 debut novel “The Beans of Egypt, Maine,” said a delivery van turned into the path of a Jeep driven by her husband, Michael, as they were returning from the post office.

Chute said she has been unconscious most of the time since her broken hip was pinned during surgery. She said she may be able to leave the hospital as early as Monday but faces the prospect of a lengthy rehabilitation.

“In six weeks, I may be able to walk around,” she said. “It’s going to be a long time before I can get in a position where I can sit forward.”

Chute’s husband suffered lesser injuries and remains at home.

“His knees are a little funny, but he didn’t want to go to the hospital because he was worried about leaving the dogs behind,” Chute said.

Chute, who also wrote “Letourneau’s Used Auto Parts,” “Merry Men” and “Snow Men,” is working on two other books, one of them a 2,600-page manuscript for which she has been struggling to find a publisher.

The accident occurred six summers after Stephen King was struck by a van while walking along a country road near his vacation home in North Lovell, about 25 miles north of Parsonsfield. The horror writer’s injuries included a broken leg and hip, a punctured lung and broken ribs.

“It looks like they have it in for authors,” Chute said.