Baker first decides he wants to become a writer at the age of eleven. His mother suggests this career option after he brings home a composition on which he received an “A.” For three years, Baker sells the Saturday Evening Post but shows no aptitude for sales. He lacks aggressiveness—a point he makes in the Foreword—and prefers to lie on the floor reading. He loves stories and believes being a writer would be an easy life well suited to his timid nature and, according to his mother, laziness. His mother works with him to improve his writing, at times rewriting his work so thoroughly that it is more hers than his. His first published work, a composition on wheat published in a local newspaper as an exemplary student sample, was written by his mother. Nevertheless, he is captivated by seeing his name in print.

His experiences his first major writing triumph in high school when his English class works on informal essays. The prompt “The Art of Eating Spaghetti” triggers happy memories of his years living with his Uncle Allen and Aunt Pat in New Jersey. He writes about the memories purely for the pleasure of reliving them, not expecting to submit the assignment to his teacher.