Ralphresolved to write a story about the adventures of two men who travel across thecountry to patronize Nevadabrothels, where such establishments are—ahem—legal. In early 1993, Ralphdrafted an 18,000-word basic storyline. He submitted his draft along with Lightningat Dawn and Boys and GirlsTogether in June for copyright protection.Ostensibly to make the story realistic and to develop characters with fidelity,Ralph visited numerous legal brothels in Nevadaas a "customer." Ican hear cogs in your mind working. If you're like most, you're saying, "Nevermind telling me about deducting traveling expenses for going to Vietnam toobtain motorcycle pictures for a picture book." A more vital question is: couldRalph deduct thosecosts? Well, we'll see.Ralph wrote in his journal. Note that, to Ralph'scredit, he kept a non-financial contemporaneous record. He wrote about hispersonal experiences at these—excuse me—whorehouses. He chronicled whichbordellos he visited, the dates and even, sometimes, the hours.Ralph's notes described prostitutes he met and theamounts of lucre he paid. For each journal entry, Ralph wrote about thesevisits, about what happens at cathouses (Like people don't know?). Forinstance, Ralph described selecting his strumpets, the "house rules,"negotiating prices for a gal's time, their discourse—yes, discourse, not someother course—and the ladies' clothing. He included personal information on hiscourtesans, including age, physical characteristics, place of residence,religion, ethnicity, education, and names and ages of offspring.Ralph's journal indicates that, at some point duringsaid encounters, he told the demimonde he was writing a book about Nevada's bordellos. Hewanted to use them as characters.The journal shows that during 1993 Ralph spent aboutthree days a month—except in February, May, and December—meeting prostitutes atbrothels. Using materials so gathered, he produced Searchlight, Nevada. Anxious to sell his work, Ralphconsulted the 1993 Writer's Market.There he read about Northwest Publishing, Inc. Northwest's entry stated that itpublished hardcover, trade paperback, and mass market originals and reprints,between forty and fifty titles a year on seven to eight hundred queries andfive hundred manuscripts a year. Some eighty-five percent of said manuscriptscame from first-time authors and ninety-five percent came from unagentedwriters. Northwest said that it paid a ten to fifteen percent royalty on retailprice, publishing books four months after acceptance of submitted manuscripts.