Busted

Here is something almost all writers find out the hard way: Don’t put anything in print that you may regret later: things about family and friends they might not want made public; things that might not be true; things that might hurt the feelings of someone you care about, or get them in trouble.

Truman Capote found that out with “Answered Prayers,” his very thinly disguised roman a clef about all his high profile friends. After it came out as excerpts in Esquire (it never actually made it to the book stage) every single one of his pals turned against him. As one said, “I took a cleaver and chopped him out of my life.”

And who could blame them? He completely betrayed their confidences, exploited their friendships and disregarded their feelings, all for the sake of a good story. But didn’t his friendships mean more to him than that? Apparently not. (After seeing the movie, “Capote” this weekend, I understand a little more about that—great flick, by the way.)

Anyway, I’ve done some similar things myself, to a lesser degree. For instance, I once wrote a story in the GR Press about using fabric in unusual ways in your house -- covering old tables, as window dressing, etc. And I used my sister-in-law Mary as an example. She’s an artist and incredibly creative with different kinds of materials. But after the story came out, somebody said to my brother, “What, are you too cheap to buy drapes, your wife has to hang her aunt’s old bedspreads on your windows?” Needless to say, that didn’t set too well with my brother.

And in my Blog about Reading and Writing I mentioned my friend, Bill, implying that he was a great writer, but wasn’t a big reader. Later in that same piece, I also said his brother Dick hadn’t returned a book I lent him, stating that he apparently was a reader, but not a returner.

So last week I was having dinner with brothers Bill and Dick and I said, “Oh, I have to tell you guys about something…” and was going to tell them about my Blog and the fact that I’d mentioned them in it, hoping that it would be ok. As I started to talk, Bill said, “Oh, yeah, I heard about what you said about me, thanks a lot!” Or something like that. Then he turned to his brother and said, “She said something about you, too!” and Dick said, “What did you say about me?”

My first reaction to Bill was, “How did you even know about the Blog?” and I’ll get to that in a minute, but as it turns out, neither statement I made about either of them was correct! First, Bill IS a big reader, and second, Dick never even borrowed my book to begin with!

But the worst thing was that I got busted before I even had a chance to tell them about it. (The way Bill found out about it was that in that same piece, I also mentioned his friend, Bob Tarte’s book, "Enslaved by Ducks.” Apparently, every once in awhile Bob Googles his book to see if there are any reviews on it or whatever, and my Blog came up.)

Bill and Dick were good sports about the whole thing—it was pretty funny–but I told them I’d apologize in my very next Blog, which is what I’m doing now.

And in the meantime, speaking of getting busted, there was a big uproar this weekend in East Grand Rapids about some high school kids getting caught for what they put on their Blogs about partying—one of the parents saw it and now there’s a bunch of students who have been suspended for drinking, which is a whole ‘nother story, one I have no desire get into.

The point is: don’t write anything you’re going to regret later – even in your Blog.