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1 8THE SOONER MAGAZINEBY STAN LWA LLSA romance of the Santa Fe Trailby the author of `Kit Carson'one geniusin a familyby stanley veslaltheory-namely, that writing as a joint affair is the only way fora man and his wife to see anything of each other, especially whenboth have other work than writing to attend to . People mightsuppose that we took up writing as golf-widows take up golfsoas to see something of each other now and then .NOT long ago I saw a picture in a comicmagazine . It represented a disturbed writerlooking up from his desk to scold the cat .The caption (addressed to the cat) read as follows: "What are you doing, stamping through thehouse?"That picture presents the ancient reputation ofthe writers, for from the very beginning they havebeen dubbed the irritable tribe, theirs the cranky,touchy, and altogether difficult profession . Theydo their work in solitary confinement, and oftenare unable to think of anything else even whenthey are not working. And so they are apt to seemlonely souls, irritable as a porcupine .Of course this picture is overdrawn, a caricature .But there is enough truth in it to make peoplewonder what happens in a house where there isnot only one writer-but two!! And why, if thereis already one person writing in that house, anotherone should wish to do so . At least, that is whatthe editor of The Sooner Magazine has asked meto discuss .At first, one might suppose that it was a meretrick of self-defense on the part of one or the other .One might try to explain it on the proverbial principlethat Misery Loves Company . One might contendthat the only way to put up with a writeris to become a writer oneself . But like all plausibletheories, this one has a catch in it . For the factthat both of the Campbells have always wishedto write, and have been working towards it independentlyfrom the start. And so this theoryfalls to the ground . Facts kill it .Facts also dispose pretty effectively of anotherUT the truth is, we both wanted to write, both began towrite, and both found ourselves writing without any expressedplans . And considering the satisfaction of the work, it seemslikely we shall go on writing for some time . Everyone admitsthat the woman who knows nothing of business, the man whotakes no interest in his home, are both missing a great deal ofcommon experience which they might share . But when twopeople practice the same art, they have a bond which arises froma mutual understanding of each other's problems and triumphs .And this, I should say, is the major satisfaction of having twowriters in one house .For, after all, there is no talk like shop talk . Golfers talk golf .Business men talk business . Horsey men talk horses . Mothers talkchildren . We all love to talk of the thing we are interested in, andto talk to others who know what we mean . And that is one ofthe chief blessings of having two writers in one house . Especiallywhen they are man and wife .Everyone has seen professional writers,living alone, distrustful, carefully avoiding allreference to their work in the presence of otherwriters, never really letting themselves go in argu-mentor criticismor praise,menwho leadalifeabout as cheerful and sociable as that of the wanderingJew . No wonder people call them irritable,They are . It would do them good to talk shopwith someone who is neither a collaborator nor arival .F OR that describes the two of us, I think, IsabelCampbell and Stanley Vestal have never collaborated,and probably could not do so . The materialswhich stimulate the imagination of onewould not stir the other ; and our techniques arewidely different, as anyone who reads what wewrite will agree . But for that very reason we findshop talk very profitable, because each one bringssomething which is fresh and novel to the other .And so we have plenty of discussion, debate, andargument about technical matters of writing-discussionswhich to me, at least, are extremely divertingand useful . And we have such a good time atthem, that we never notice whether the cat isstamping through the house or not .EDITOR'S NOTE--Reviews Of Dobe Walls byStanley Vestal and Jack Sprat by Isabel Campbell,as appearing in newspapers and magazines, willappear in The Sooner Magazine for November.Jack Sprat in particular has received unstinted STANLEYpraise for its brilliance and finish . VESTAL