How is this for a first time writer?

very good!

Explanation:

he is suggesting that this widow is a strong woman, who is giving constructive criticism and she has enough to worry about, and she takes care of him, so he does not take it to heart.

ich statement best shows a problem in travels with charley?

one sharp difficulty presented itself. in the intervening twenty-five years my name had become reasonably well known.

this being so, my trip demanded that i leave my name and my identity at home.

i had to go alone and i had to be self-contained, a kind of casual turtle carrying his house on his back.

with all this in mind i wrote to the head office of a great corporation which manufactures trucks.