Short Stories and Other Ways to Make a Pile

I am currently reading a book by David Sedaris. He is originally from Raleigh, and his books are usually peppered with references to his home town, so I read them with relish. I would read them even if he was from Timbuktu, because he is a wickedly funny writer. You may have heard of his books "Me Talk Pretty One Day" and "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim ".

In Barrel Fever (1994), a collection of short stories, one of his characters decides to apply to a dirty magazine for a position writing letters and descriptions of giantesses growing out of their clothing. This got me to thinking that maybe Hoss (http://www.oldhorsetailsnake.blogspot.com) and I could both make our piles ($$$) making up "letters" wherein people describe their "experiences". I expect he'd be better at it, since he's older and has had more experience than I (at least I hope he has). Please don't ask me how I know about those letters in those magazines; no, don't beg.....I won't cave. I know you are dying to find out how I learned about such seedy stuff. You pulled it out of me at last....(you knew I can't keep a secret; after all, the blog IS named "justask....").

Hubster and I went to Florida years ago for a conference. When we checked into the hotel, they gave us a room with one bed and a pull-out couch. Later that night, when the couch was pulled out, lo and behold, on the floor under the couch lay two really nasty magazines. Never having seen anything like that before, I was interested in what important information they might contain (just research, you understand), so I read them from cover to cover in one sitting. The letters, puportedly written by common, average people such and you and I, described almost every possible form of sexual activity known to mankind - and some I was unaware of before! I found it hard to believe that people signed their names to the letters; if I had done what they were writing about, I sure wouldn't want the whole world to know it. Later, I learned that those letters are not really written by readers, but people are paid to write those stories in letter form. Supposedly, it is more titillating to some people if they think that real people engaged in those affairs. So, do you think Hoss and I could make a pile writing them, or maybe just a half-a-pile. What do you think? Should we try it? Which magazines do you think pay the most? (And just how is it that you come to be so familiar with those magazines, anyway?)

As an aside, you might be interested to know that the next morning, when we complained to the front desk about what we found under the couch, they gave us a refund for that night. Maybe that was the beginning of my pile, and I just didn't know it!