Letter to Francis Irby Gwaltney (9 November 1963)
To his Army friend 'Fig': the Esquire serial as the way out of his financial hole, the economic freedom the Dial–Dell advance buys, and a recommendation of agent Scott Meredith. Mailer and Beverly are decamping two weeks a month to Provincetown or Vermont to work.
Writing to his Army friend “Fig” Gwaltney, Mailer explains the Esquire serial as the jump out of his “financial hole” — a book to be written in eight months, already sold to Dial and Dell “for a price so large it’s crazy,” buying “economic freedom for a couple of years.” He recommends his “real live wire” agent Scott Meredith should Fig want a new publisher, and describes the rhythm of decamping with Bev two weeks each month to Provincetown or Jamaica, Vermont, to work.