Quote of the Day     “It’s none of their business that you have to learn how to write.  Let them think you were born that way.”         —   Ernest Hemingway

I’ve written about a few of the open secrets kept among lawyers, but tonight’s post is about an open secret among most anyone who cares enough to scour the web looking for something to read.  We all want to write a book.  I have had some great ideas through the years, though most of them involve subjects I don’t really want to bring up at this stage of my life.  I have never had the discipline to sit down and start typing.  And I have never really thought anything I’ve written was worth a damn after looking back over it a few weeks after the effort.  I guess that’s the main reason I’ve never tried to get serious about a book–the near certainty that it will suck.  

They say you should write about what you know.  A problem with that for me is I know a little more than a little about a lot of things.  But a lot about very little.  At the risk of giving away the gold mine, what follows is the list of book topics percolating in my soul right now–feel free to add your own ideas or endorse one of mine.  But please, and I’d ask only on this subject, no bloody rejections–save that for my political views.  Ah hell, fire away if you feel the need.  You may save me some wasted effort one day.

1. The Travels of Travellinbaen  — This is undoubtedly my weakest idea.  But just as assuredly would be the most fun.  Maybe I could come up with a new spin on the travel genre, something like “traveling for rednecks you can’t pigeonhole” or the like.
2. The Rise and Fall of Dickie Scruggs — I imagine there are writers falling over themselves for this story.  But I think I could stand a chance of getting some exclusive scoop from the Scruggs’ and I definitely know a lot of the players in his professional life.  I think this would be profitable selling to lawyers alone, and just about every lawyer in the country knows or knows of him and his exploits.
3. The Story of Asbestos Litigation and How it Changed the World — Very few people know all the angles on this story and I ain’t one of them.  But I know who knows.  And I know what I don’t know, which is saying something.  This may sound boring to a lot of people, but when you realize what happened, how it happened, where it happened, why it happened and what it led to, I assure you it is a corner of American History that should not be ignored.  There are villains and heroes and heroic villains all through this story and they were all wrestling over an enormous pile of money.  
4. The Hard Life of the MSU Football Fan — If you stick with the blog through Thanksgiving, you’ll be able to tell me if this is bookworthy.  I personally believe it could be one of the funniest and truest sports stories ever, if done right.
5. The Life and Times of Ricky Peden — Just check out the stories, photos and messages on Supercynic’s site, linked to the right.  Ricky could be Mississippi’s “Dude” and I think the movie version could be sold if I could get Johnny Depp on board to play Ricky.  I certainly don’t know enough to do this without conducting a lot of interviews with Ricky’s friends and drinking a lot of beer and eating a few late night patty melts.  But for art’s sake, I’d be up to the task.