While he was living with Maynard, Salinger continued to write in a disciplined fashion, a few hours every morning. According to Maynard, by 1972 he had completed two new novels.[77][78] In a rare 1974 interview with The New York Times, he explained: “There is a marvelous peace in not publishing…. I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure.”[79] According to Maynard, he saw publication as “a damned interruption”.[80] In her memoir, Margaret Salinger describes the detailed filing system her father had for his unpublished manuscripts: “A red mark meant, if I die before I finish my work, publish this ‘as is,’ blue meant publish but edit first, and so on.”[81]
