The ingredients are few and easy to come by.  Once in a while someone will ask me how my subjects for a column are chosen, and the follow up query can be ever more vexing to answer.  “Why do you write?” is a real stumper—at least in my opinion.

I came down with an incurable “Want To” way back yonder when I was but a sprout out on Poverty Knob.  A hoe-handle caliber lead pencil and a Big Chief tablet were my only armament as I took on the educational apparatus at Comyn.  That was in 1936, and my battle regalia ain’t been changed since that time.  So, I guess I’m preaching that there are only three ingredients required to any aspirant who has a burning desire to manufacture a written article.

If, by chance, your standard equipment included a dent-proof ego and a hard head, you’ve been blessed, or cursed.  Consider your words as Lincoln Logs and put them together until they suit you.  It’s a crap shoot as to whether your creation will please anybody else, but failure will accrue without exception to those who don’t give it a shot.

There are many pitfalls to bedevil the aspiring author, and the first threat rears its ugly head at the completion of the initial paragraph.  Write it—move on and don’t look back is a strategy that works for me.  All your creative urges can be wasted should you persist in straying back to that point of origin and editing, and amending that first salvo plumb to death.

In other words—tell the story.  Feed the trunk into the breech and rough saw your building timber, and nail it into shape.  Sanding, caulking, wiring and plumbing will put it into shape for a primer and finish coat.

If you value a second opinion on the completed concoction there are three varieties of proofers who, in my estimation, should be culled for such service.  They are: your dearest friends, your worst enemies and your wife or husband.  Unbiased assays emanating from those sources are as rare as unicorns.  The acceptance editor at a publishing business will be your ultimate decider, much like the ramrod of the U.S. of A. at present.

Since the publishers of books will be obliged to back their selections with their facilities and cash money they will accept or reject your creation with an eye on the cash register.  They will seldom draw cards to fill an inside straight.  If you have tender feelings you might indulge in vanity publishing.  You back your own book and discouraging words are not included in the vocabulary of those manufacturing firms.  The down side is, of course, your tome will most likely not be pushed by Amazon.

These words were prompted by a young woman’s conversation on the parking lot at IGA just lately, and I was lugging a plastic sack with a king size cardboard tub of ice cream as cargo.

Those blasted carrying straps were about to guillotine my fingers and the bag was hemorrhaging vanilla ice cream, so I apologized for my all fire hurry, and promised the recipe I’m passing along.

There are lots of ways to cook potatoes, and the recipe is the choice of the cook.  There ain’t no truth with a capital “T”, so my way may not work for you.  Sometimes it don’t work for me.

Let me hear from you.

My phone number is 254-893-5063, my official postal address is: 333 W AYERS AVE – DE LEON TX 76444-2113, and you can e-mail Charles@CharlesChupp.com.