The guide to writing a guide

I was born in a small town in the middle of Kansas. My parents owned and operated a small dry goods store, with both men’s and women’s ready-to-wear. As a lad, I worked in the store occasionally; sweeping up, helping with inventory, nothing too demanding. My father liked to tell the story of the first time I helped with the inventory. He sent me to ‘count the buttonsî’ When I had not returned by what he thought was more-than-ample time, he came to check. "No, No" he explained, "you don’t have to count each button, just the number of cards full of buttons." From then on he tried to give me simpler tasks.

I have two brothers, one older, one younger, and one younger sister. I spent my early school years at home during the months in which school met but I spent the summers working on a small farm where my Aunt and Uncle lived. It was much later that I learned they were sharecroppers, giving a large share of the land’s yield to the landowner for the privilege of living ther...