 At age 50, he enrolled in a writing class; this led to his first novel "Little Britches", which led to a series covering his diverse boyhood and overcoming the rigors of growing up in the American West.His books have been described as crude in the language of the times but are highly praised by his readership and have been in continuous publication since 1950.The "crude language" is solely used as an accurate portrayal of the common language of the times, being spoken by the real-life characters depicted in the books.