Ozarks RFD:

Posted Wednesday, March 29, 2023 2:00 am

Jim Hamilton

Though I've yet to settle on what I want to be when I grow up, I've never wanted to be anyone other than me.

I know I could stand some improvements, but I’ve basically been contented to go through life just as God made me, hoping He's not quite done with the project.

Maybe that's why I don't get too excited about sports heroes, celebrities or politicians. I can respect them for noteworthy abilities and character, but I don't want to wear their shoes.

Mine fit better. I wouldn't mind however, if I could walk a few miles in the boots of my favorite writers.

Foremost of those old-timers I’d like to emulate (not idolize) would be Mark Twain (1835-1910)), Bret Harte (1836-1902) and Robert Frost (1874-1963), each for different reasons.

Just about everyone knows the works of Twain (Tom Sawyer) and Frost (Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening), but may not know Twain's contemporary Harte (The Outcasts of Poker Flats), who wrote of life in the California gold rush mining camps.

Like other readers, I know the aforementioned only through their works.

But, a handful of latter day Western writers I favor were also personal friends, as well as fellow members of Western Writers of America.

• Arizona native Dusty Richards (The Lawless Land), for example, penned a host of first-class pulp novels after settling in northwest Arkansas to work for Tyson Foods.

• Texan Frederic Bean (The Last Warrior) down in Austin turned out many engaging Western novels a cut above the ordinary, reflecting his Comanche blood and Judge Roy Bean (Law West of the Pecos) ancestry, rather than his car salesman background.

• Kansas history sage and former country doctor Don Coldsmith (Tall Grass) in Emporia penned not only many Western novels, but also shared his weekly wisdom in "Horsin' Around" in the Buffalo Reflex for several years.

• Closer to home, Branson transplant Jory Sherman (The Smoky Hill) was a prolific Western writer and contemporary of Louis L'Amour before moving to the Ozarks to become a good friend to hosts of aspiring authors.

As fellow members and directors of the Ozarks Writers League in the 1990s, both Jory and Dusty were priceless mentors as I tried my hand at writing historical fiction (remember Jubal Buzzard?).

Though I knew him less-well, I admired Elmer Kelton (Good Old Boys), and loved the journalistic style of Doc Sonnichsen (Cowboys and Cattle Kings), whom I read but never met.

Sadly, all of these Western literature icons have ridden off into their respective sunsets, but their voluminous works remain. I picked the titles I have cited simply because they are on my bookshelf.

Though I never aspired to be exactly like any of them, each of these writers, as well as a host of others, remain a part of who I've become. I pray they will not be the last to leave their marks on my work. I thank God our trails crossed for a time, both literally and figuratively.

Though not truly a Western writer, but, rather an Ozarks writer, I count it an honor to be influenced by these giants of Western literature. Four times since becoming a member of WWA in 1994 I’ve been privileged to attend their annual conventions— first in Springdale, Ark., next in El Paso, Texas, later in Albuquerque, N.M., and last in Springfield, Mo.

Most memorable of those was El Paso, where I had the opportunity to visit for a couple of hours with Oklahoman Dale Robertson (Wells Fargo Tales). Not only an actor, he was as great a storyteller as any at that WWA convention.

Now, in case you’re wondering why I’m even writing all of this — well, maybe it’s for me as much as for you. I just happened to be looking for a particular book in my library and the aforementioned “old friends” begged I stay a spell and visit. I reckon they were feeling a mite neglected. We were overdue for a visit.

If you don’t have a few beloved books on the shelf, maybe you can’t relate; but if you have put down even one unfinished book and went to another, I reckon you know what I mean.

Shame on us for treating our old friends that way.