Book excerpt: Erin Barrett and Jack Mingo surely haven't stumbled on a writer's block, at least not their own. It Takes a Certain Type to Be a Writer gushes with amusing footnotes of literary history with hundreds of underscored facts and boldfaced quotes -- illuminating the amusing, ironic, and unbelievable in the world of publishing. Did you know that... Prior to achieving literary fame, Amy Tan wrote horoscopes. Anais Nin wrote erotica for hire. An anonymous rich patron paid her $1 a page. Anais was told to "take out all the poetry; it has to be nothing but descriptions of sex." John Irving played a wrestling referee in The World According to Garp. Alice B. Toklas was unjustly credited with being the inventor of those famous hashish brownies. In fact, she may have been the victim of a hoax... Read on to find out the details! Book jacket.