Two sources come immediately to mind:

1. Since you can't write unless you read, and the more you read the 
better you write, I'd look at Twain's reading. Alan Gribben has written 
extensively on this topic over the last fifty years and he gathers 
together his 25 essays in the first volume of his revised and much 
expanded masterpiece on Mark Twain's library, due out in March. My 
review of that first volume will appear in the Forum. At least two of 
his essays directly address the question you've raised. If you can't 
wait until March, visit JSTOR.

2. Take a look at Ellen Garvey's Writing with Scissors, a book I 
reviewed in the Forum. The focus of her book is on scrap-booking, but 
she also discusses the newspaper exchange system. That system was 
critical to Twain's formative years as a newspaper apprentice 
(Hannibal), writer (NV, CA), and editor (Buffalo). Part of his job was 
reading every page of every paper that arrived every day on the doorstep 
of the newspaper, looking for fodder and filler for the columns of his 
paper. That should lead you to Ed Branch's Literary Apprenticeship of 
Mark Twain (1950), the MTP volumes of his earliest writings, etc.
One good example of how the exchange system directly shaped his early 
writing is his essay on Hannibal that appeared in the American Courier, 
a Philadelphia newspaper, in 1852. He wrote that piece in close 
imitation of a piece by somebody from Watertown NY who wrote about their 
town in that paper a short time before, as part of a series on American 
towns. I have original copies of both issues of that paper, with Twain's 
piece on Hannibal, and the piece that he copied, if you want images.


Kevin
@
Mac Donnell Rare Books
9307 Glenlake Drive
Austin TX 78730
512-345-4139
Member: ABAA, ILAB, BSA

You can browse our books at:
www.macdonnellrarebooks.com


------ Original Message ------
From: "Hal Bush" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 1/22/2019 9:52:54 AM
Subject: Question; learning to be MT (vs. "born genius")

>Folks, here's a question:
>
>
>What are the best accounts of MT learning literacy skills and how to be a writer?  This might include childhood accounts, but in this case, more likely I think, adolescent to early adult accounts of long hours, perseverence, intense focus, printer's devil tasks, newspaper deadlines & proofing/copy writing & editing, and so on.
>
>
>Put another way; if one were to argue AGAINST the "born genius" version of MT ("nature"), and suggest otherwise that his skills emerged over time through blood sweat and tears ("nurture") -- which accounts and biographical depictions out there might be used as support?
>
>
>Thanks for any leads, --Hal B.
>
>
>
>
>
>Dr. Hal Bush
>
>Dept. of English
>
>Saint Louis University
>
>[log in to unmask]
>
>314-977-3616
>
>http://halbush.com
>
>author website:  halbush.com
>