Bauer's muse wears a knee-length white beaded dress and matching stiletto heels. Her bobbed hair curves against her cheek as she directs words to the page and sips champagne. He bangs on the keyboard at her command. Like Chandler, a fellow unemployed oil exec, Bauer started his writing career by crafting short stories, to date numbering 36 paid and published. Now edging toward book length tales, he credits Writers Under the Arch (his writing group in St. Louis) for keeping him on track. And, before a fate worse than writer's block can befall him, admits he owes eternal thanks to the woman in the white dress.