Time, and being taken up by the "folk process," i.e., other people learning it and singing it. And over time, perhaps changing it here and there.

The person who appears at a session or an open mike and announces, "This is a folk song I wrote on the bus the other day," is talking nonsense, and shows a lack knowledge of what folk music really is.

This is like taking a piece of furniture that looks like it's 200 years old to the "Antiques Roadshow" television program and saying, "This is an antique cabinet that I made in my shop last week!" He would be summarily ushered out of the place and find himself and his "antique" sitting on the curb.

One cannot not make an "antique." Nor can one write a "folk song." It may become that eventually. But only time and usage will determine that.

Don't let that stop you from writing songs, though. Just don't put labels on them that they have not yet earned. That's kind of pompous.

Don Firth