half of inspiration is perspiration. you know when you walk through the bookstore and wonder how all these crappy books are made? well, i'll tell you how. people come up with an idea, put in the effort to write something, and then somebody buys it for distribution (not necessarily in this particular order) -- even if there's seemingly no comprehensible market for such a book.

never underestimate the power of people with random tastes. many a time i've wandered through the bookstore and tried to figure out how a certain book could possibly be moving units. but the fact of the matter is, if the book is in a major bookstore, it's probably selling. this fact (which i should be happy about considering my position) leads me to a dilemma.

i'm trying to figure out what the topic of my next book should be. yes, i like to throw that phrase around as if i now have a bonafide writing career. anyway, what i'm currently trying to figure out is what i'm capable of writing and if there's a marketplace for my words. in flipping through a few publishing magazines it's been made very clear to me that the hot thing to be writing about now is vampires. if you can somehow combine vampires and chick-lit, all the better. luckily for all involved, i actually know quite a bit about vampires (i played lots of rpgs that involved vampires). tragically, by the time i could get my act together and write a tale about vampires who double as celebrity chefs, that trend will be out; only to be replaced by something i probably know nothing about.

what i need is for someone to bring me a list of things that will be hot six months from now and i'll just pick one that i know, or once played dorky games about, and then write it. instant success. following this train of thought, i figured i could write a tongue-in-cheek book about sleeping since i am an expert on it. much to my chagrin, i went to the ucla book fair last weekend and saw a book detailing the different positions of sleeping for couples (it's published by mcsweeney's no less). that's practically my exact idea. it hurt to look inside the covers and realize that whoever wrote this book did it in a much cleverer way than i would have. anyway, i hope to bring out my own "19 cuddle buddy positions" as a companion volume for non-romantically linked friends who just need an extended hug at night. look for it on your bookshelves and the dressers of your sleeping companions.