Interview: Maggie Estep
Writer Maggie Estep talks to Salon about her books, dog, childhood, and new project: “The new book happened because I fell in love with Smarty Jones. Every time he won a race, I thought, ‘Someone’s gonna write a book about him.’ When he won the Derby I thought, “I could write a book about him.” I wrote a proposal and we got a bunch of offers. Then bad things happened. The horse lost the last race of the Triple Crown. I talked to his humans and they wanted money to tell their story.
“I had this nice new book contract but nothing was going right. I went and talked to my new editor, who happens to have grown up around horse racing. He said, ‘Why don’t we do an overview of racing in the U.S.?’ I jumped up and hugged him, because I realized that’s exactly the book I’ve been wanting to write for a long time: the rise and slow decline of racing in America.
“I’m a little nervous about it. But I’m still in the meandering, delicious stage of researching, reading, going to the racing museum. Once I have to start actually organizing it I’m sure I’ll panic. But you know what? It’ll probably be fine. I love reading about racing, and I love going to the track. Plus, I don’t have to talk to too many living people, which is not my forte and which I would have had to do if Smarty had won that race. ” (Salon)
