This is an interesting notion (a meme I found among writing posts somewhere). 

I can certainly relate to that idea... in my childhood there were plenty of hours... on days when I was left alone by a single mother... when I simply went to work creating something, usually sculpting from whatever objects were around me. 

I didn't discover the magic of words and sculpting stories until much later.  Stories came first.  Primarily through the reading of Bible stories by my father when I visited him (a rare event).  Then I began reading on my own... Danny Orlis (by Bernard Palmer), and Ken Platt's The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear, and then Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan and John Carter of Mars series.  Through high school and college I discovered creative writing, taking a course here and there.  And all the while journaling, constantly journaling, which I discovered later, is a writing style all by itself.  The first person narrative.  Classics like Dracula were written that way.  Finally, I launched into the unknown.... sculpting of stories for their own sake.  Trident's Flame was my first.  Sanctum Threat my second.

There is something about surviving one's childhood through the use of creativity that lends itself to better coping skills in adulthood.       

Bookfessions #990 and Commentary

I recently discovered Louis L'Amour's Flint (1960).

I was amazed by the story, and wonderfully pleased by the writing.  I've started another western since then (by a different author) out of curiosity for the genre; L'Amour was my first read in the western genre. 

 

I re-read Flint a second time, and loved it, which made me think of Bookfessions #990 entry.  I'm also doing a study of L'Amour's plot structure and how he went about drawing readers back into it, especially at the end of each chapter.

 

Several bloggers rank Flint among the very best of L'Amour's works (well over a hundred in the genre).  

 

The next I'd like to try is Reilly's Luck.

 

Here is a list of his novels, short stories and other works:

The Louis L'Amour Collection
(updated May, 2009)

The Sackett Novels:

Daybreakers, The 102111
Comstock Lode 102871
Beyond the Great Snow Mountains 102061
Galloway 102376
Conagher 102335
Bowdrie 102426
Jubal Sackett 102996
Crossfire Trail 102897
Bowdrie's Law 102962
Lando 102236
Dark Canyon 102384
Buckskin Run 102392
Lonely Men, The 102301
Down The Long Hills 102228
Dutchman's Flat 103010
Lonely on the Mountain 102541
Empty Land, The 102798
End of the Drive 103234
Mojave Crossing 102160
Fallon 102350
From the Listening Hills 103465
Mustang Man 102343
First Fast Draw, The 102194

Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour:

The Frontier Stories (Collected Short Stories): Vol 1, The 103549
Ride the Dark Trail 102442
Flint 102103
The Frontier Stories(Collected Short Stories): Vol 2, The 103622
Ride the River 102434
Guns of the Timberlands 102483
The Frontier Stories(Collected Short Stories):  Vol 3, The 103648
Sackett 102129
Hanging Woman Creek 102509
The Adventure Stories(Collected Short Stories):  Vol 4, The 103812
Sackett Brand, The 102186
Haunted Mesa, The 103077
The Adventure Stories(Collected Short Stories):  Vol 5, The 103820
Sackett's Land 102210
Heller With A Gun 102780
The Adventure Stories(Collected Short Stories):  Vol 6, The Sky-Liners, The 102467
High Graders, The 102707
Hills of Homicide, The 102079
To the Far Blue Mountains 102277
High Lonesome 102145
Law of the Desert Born 102475
Treasure Mountain 102327
Hondo 102459
Long Ride Home 103119
Warrior's Path, The 102491
How the West Was Won 102244
Lonigan 103093
Iron Marshal, The 102665
May There Be a Road 103309

Other Talon and Chantry Novels:

Lock Man, The 102848
Monument Rock 103150
Borden Chantry 102616
Kid Rodelo 102863
Night Over the Solomons 103002
Fair Blows The Wind 102657
 Killoe 102822
Off the Mangrove Coast 102038
Ferguson Rifle, The 102293
Kilrone 102285
Outlaws of Mesquite, The 103135
Man From the Broken Hills, The 102517
Kiowa Trail 102723
Rider of the Ruby Hills, The 103044
Milo Talon 102939
Last of the Breed 103036
Riding for the Brand 103028
North to the Rails 102772
Last Stand at Papago Wells 102830
Strong Shall Live, The 102574
Over on the Dry Side 102640
Lonesome Gods, The 102533
Trail to Crazy Man, The 103051
Rivers West 102608
Man Called Noon, The 102814
Valley of the Sun 103218
Man From Skibbereen, The 102590
War Party 102681
The Kilkenny Trilogy Matagorda 102913
West From Singapore 103069
Kilkenny 102905
Passin' Through 102988
West of Dodge 103192
Mountain Valley War, The 102806
Proving Trail, The 102558
With These Hands 103382
Rider of Lost Creek, The 102764
Quick and the Dead, The 102251
Yondering 102889
Radigan 102202

Hopalong Cassidy Novels:

Reilly's Luck 102178

Non-Fiction:

Riders of High Rock, The 103184
Shadow Riders, The 102418
Education of a Wandering Man (L'Amour biography) 103127
Rustlers of the West Fork, The 103168
Shalako 102137
Sackett Companion, The (L'Amour's personal guide to The Sackett Novels) 103101
Trail to Seven Pines, The 103226
Showdown at Yellow Butte 102756
Smoke From This Altar (L'Amour poems) 103143
Trouble Shooter 103200
Silver Canyon 102095
Trail of Memories, A (L'Amour quotations) 102087
Sitka 102954
Novels Son of a Wanted Man 102566
Bendigo Shafter 102673
Taggart 102319
Brionne 102731
Tall Stranger, The 102947
Broken Gun, The 102749
To Tame A Land 102921
Burning Hills, The 102152
Tucker 102525
Californios, The 102855
Under the Sweetwater Rim 102582
Callaghen 102368
Utah Blaine 102699
Catlow 102269
Walking Drum, The 102970
Chancy 102624
Westward the Tide 102632
Cherokee Trail, The 102400
Where the Long Grass Blows 102715