David Mehegan Came to New York and Didn't Say Hello?

Boston Globe staffer David Mehegan interviews Louis Auchincloss in his Park Avenue apartment. "I've stayed pretty close to the things I've observed myself," Auchincloss admits, "and the operation of the managerial society on the Eastern seaboard." But when you're as good at it as he is, I don't really think you need to diversify. And he explains how he gets it all done:

"If I'm on the surrogate's calendar [the New York City Surrogate's Court, which handles estate cases], the case might come up the moment I walk into court, or it might be called an hour and a half later. I'd always have a little notebook that I could write in, in that time. A real writer would learn that trick very quickly if he had to. You shut your mind on and off perfectly well; it's just a matter of habit. A lot of writers have to have complete silence and the fire going, their slippers on and a drink, all very comfortable and so on."