Gus and Gus, a Rehoboth Beach boardwalk food stand operating since 1956, serves an outstanding burger. I stood a few hours ago at their ocean-facing counter and watched my cheese, fried-onion, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and mustard masterpiece come together on a grill possibly original to the stand. The grill is the magic ingredient. Grilling lore tells us my burger tasted as it did because it possessed microscopic bits—the flavor essences– of every order prepared on the blackened oil-slicked surface.
Millions of burgers, sausage sandwiches, hot dogs, and grilled cheeses had seasoned the metal, and no other grill can have the same history of orders. No other grill can produce the same nuanced flavor pallet. Whether this piece of culinary mythology is true or not, isn’t really the point. I like the imagery.
Life seasons all of us, including writers and their writing. Every moment of our lives influences our style, craft, and voice in seen and unseen ways resulting in something unique and identifiable. The more I travel, interact with others, experience each day, and create with pen and paper, the more I identify changes in the way I write and what I write.
Writing certainly improves with practice, but simply churning out more sentences is only a part of developing voice. Go for a walk, take a day trip, strike up a conversation with someone new, and fill your life with experiences to season your writing—and grab a burger while you’re at it.
david cooper writing 
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