Illustrate This

I'm trying to come up with some ideas for a self-initiated book project to keep my grey matter occupied between illustration jobs, but i'm getting stuck, and over the weekend i think i worked out why. My problem has always been one of style over substance; I always knew the format of what i wanted to draw before I knew why that format might be appropriate.
I am forever indebted to Scott McCleod (not Highlander children of the Eighties...) for his chapter in Understanding Comics on overcoming the desire to put Surface i.e aesthetics before content. How many times did Alan bang on about contextualisation being the entire reason de etre for Illustration? why do these things take so long to sink in.

So i guess i need an ouevre before i find myself trapped churning out pictures for pounds with no satisfaction from what i'm doing.

Wait...can i have a cup of tea first?