The writing sickness ...

... Astaire biographer's gotta write. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

There are three criteria, Epstein says, that tell you if you can be an author.

"No. 1, you have to quickly discover that you can't do anything else," he says. "No. 2 is that you have to develop contempt for all other kinds of work. Not only can't you do it, but you don't think it is worth doing. And No. 3, you are insane enough to believe that people care about what you think. You have to really think that they care."

The second and third are easily arrived at once you've established the first beyond a reasonable doubt.