What Do Writers Talk About

Waiting for a train in the cold, his face turned to me with warmth. "Look." He pointed across the track. In a tenement building, one window stood out. "A woman dancing with a child," he said. I looked up and we watched.

When we are together, what do writers talk about? You might be surprised at my answer. It's rarely anything to do with books or writing at all. Talk of that is for parties with people who might read but don't write. I went to one just recently. It was very nice. The pizza was good. Pepperoni. The beer was Belgian and strong. I was the only writer. "How long did your last book take you to write?" A woman asked. "Have you sold any?" A man wanted to know. I answered these and other questions. The hours blurred. But that night on a train platform looking up at a window stays clear as if it were minutes not years ago.

The window is as bright as before. His voice, though soft, is as alive. "A woman dancing with a child," John le Carré said. That's how writers talk with other writers.

Georgia Scott (foreground left) and John le Carré, Gdansk, 1998