It was a “truly peculiar invention,” Prior-Palmer writes. “A Pony Express-style format that mimicked Genghis Khan’s postal system but seemed from afar more like a perfect hodgepodge of Snakes and Ladders and the Tour de France on unknown bicycles.”
Prior-Palmer became the youngest person — and first woman — to win the race. Below, she talks about realizing she was writing a book, the reason she’s “inspired by creatures” and more.
(This interview has been condensed and edited.)
Q. When did you first get the idea to write this book?
A. It was written before it was to be a book, in that I was astounded by what had happened and had the clearest memory afterward, so I wrote everything down on the plane home, just clinging to it. Quite comically, there were adults, friends of my parents, who didn’t realize the race was this random thing and didn’t warrant a book. They would say, “Well done. Have you written a book about it?” And I thought, “That’s a bit strange.” But in the back of my mind, I thought, “I do have a 25,000-word document.”
I never thought of myself as a writer. I didn’t look back at that document and think it was stunning writing. When I wrote letters to people, that’s the only time I thought of myself as someone who enjoys writing, being much more delicate and careful with how I use language. With this, at first I was just trying to record everything — and I think recording everything is a dull thing.
I started ordering lots of memoirs online and became very intrigued by this form. I put it away in a drawer for six or eight months, but was always coming back to it. So much so that I would take my laptop to parties, and if I were feeling socially anxious I would go write some on the toilet.
I’ve become addicted to writing in the process of writing the book. I rely on it for insight and private therapy. But I still refuse to call myself a writer.
Q. What’s the most surprising thing you learned while writing it?
A. Instead of letting the world revolve around me, I learned I could revolve around other people and inhabit their consciousness a little. I can appear quite aloof in life, and can be pretty rude, perhaps cold and unpredictable. I thought my unpredictability was always going to refresh and energize people, but actually it can scare some people. So turning the perspective onto myself from different angles was frightening and new, radical.
As soon as you’re writing, you start asking: Why did I do that that day? And why did I feel that way about that person? The questions take you deeper and deeper. The truth is behind you, sort of, not in front of your eyes. In the race, you’re facing forward, eyes on the prize, et cetera; and when you’re writing, you’re brought back to yourself.
Q. In what way is the book you wrote different from the book you set out to write?
A. I was told by an editor that I don’t exist in a vacuum. So the opening has more family context than it did, and I really detested having to do that — to write a character biography of myself and explain the kinds of things I’m prone to — because I do feel like a different person every day, and I don’t like to pathologize myself.
I have this line in my acknowledgments from Dana Kletter, who told me: “You can be self-deprecating and British all day long, but at some point you’ve got to hit hard and say something real.” The book used to be very detached and distant. It’s still not a particularly emotional book, but there are more moments of philosophical realness now, and more moments of trying to be emotionally frank.
Q. Who is a creative person (not a writer) who has influenced you and your work?
A. I’m inspired by creatures. Sharks and snakes. Just being in your body and feeling enough as you are; trying to get out of the headiness of it all. A lot of people in sports influence me for that reason. Lots of athletes get out of their own way and let their bodies perform. I love watching tennis. It’s like a multidirectional game, where you have to be quite gentle but it’s also very gladiatorial. The players have put all the training and thought in beforehand, and the ones who really give themselves over to it in the moment almost relax, in a way. Serena Williams and Roger Federer have this relaxation to them.
Every six months or so, I become obsessed with the fact that I should have been an athlete, if I had parents who didn’t mind me taking sport seriously. I have this huge delusion that I should be doing that.
Q. Persuade someone to read “Rough Magic” in 50 words or less.
A. You become an author and you become authoritarian: “You should read this because it will give you energy and the inspiration to plunge into anything! Just plunge in general.” But if you want to unleash yourself from the structure of your surroundings, the book is a good meditation for that.
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Publication Notes:
“Rough Magic
Riding the World’s Loneliest Horse Race”
By Lara Prior-Palmer
272 pages. Catapult. $25.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.