Local author William Vitanyi Jr. (though he also goes by the much-cooler Bayla) is appearing at the Borders in the Millcreek Mall Pavilion on December 15 from 1 to 3 p.m., where he will be signing copies of his new book, The Office Guide to Office Wellness, as well as leading a writing and publishing workshop.

Several of his models will be on hand to demonstrate animal-inspired techniques designed to alleviate office maladies. The live demonstrations will show office workers how to deal with a wide variety of office ailments, such as Cooler Phobia, Office Decoration Anxiety, and Menu Dyslexia.

Publishers Weekly describes the book as:

Cube farmer Vitanyi enlisted a hundred coworkers and students at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania to help him realize his vision: a spoof of corporate wellness programs. The result is a slim book packed with regular Joes and Janes in outlandish poses inspired by animals, “because animals have wisdom.”

It really is very funny, especially if you’re a cube-dweller. Bayla was nice enough to answer a few questions.

ErieBlogs.com: Where did you get your ideas for the book?

Bayla: After fifteen years in a cubicle I guess the basic foundation was already there. It became a question of applying the scientific method to the office maladies that screamed the loudest for treatment. Throw in the wisdom of the animals, and it practically wrote itself. I was simply a vehicle.

EB: Was it harder or easier writing a non-fiction book? Granted this new book isn’t all non-fiction…

B: Writing a non-fiction book is definitely harder than reading one.

EB: No, I mean was it harder writing non-fiction than writing fiction, for example?

B: Oh. Easier. I’ve done both. Definitely easier.

EB: How long a process was it from idea to completed book?

B: That’s really two questions. To shoot the photos and write the text, including research, took about six months. To lay out the book interior, work with a cover designer, obtain ISBN numbers, hire a printer, and do all the rest of the publishing tasks took another five or six months. To produce and publish The Official Guide to Office Wellness I created a publishing company, Bayla Publishing, so all of that was on me. It was a big job, but I loved it. Actually, the task will continue as long as the book is alive.

EB: I read you needed to get the OK from your bosses. How did that go and what were their reactions?

B: I had to proceed backwards, a bit. I work at a university, and I wanted to ask local staff and students to volunteer to be in the book, but I wanted to be aboveboard about it. So I asked my department head to broach the idea with the university president. To more fully explain the idea I created a website, anticipating approval. So before there was a project there was a website about the project, then there was permission, then there were office workers in drawers, so to speak.

EB: How did you recruit volunteers? Was it hard to find people to participate?

B: Once permission was granted to solicit volunteers, I sent out emails informing the local community about the project. The website came in very handy at this point, because it was a rather difficult project to accurately describe in a simple email. Think about it–would you volunteer to be in a book demonstrating animal-inspired techniques to do–anything? The website showed that it was a fun project that office workers could relate to. Often when I visited an office to photograph a volunteer I would acquire several new volunteers. I guess the novelty of seeing their coworker posing for photos on top of their desk or filing cabinet piqued their interest, and in time I found the one hundred volunteers that I needed.

EB: The book is currently the 50th most popular title in the Injury Prevention category at Amazon. How awesome is that?

B: Not only awesome, but quite symmetrical. Half of the book probably causes injuries, while the other half probably treats them. This represents a fifty per cent ratio no matter how you look at it, and fifty is half of one hundred–the number of photos in the book. That’s some algorithm.