Writers are always: Selling somebody out.
At the very least, we are happy to share people’s secrets.
For example, I remember I had lunch with a certain fellow some years ago.
After catching up we began to talk business.
He casually said: “I don’t know how my competitors do it. But to mitigate commodity risk in this situation, I do X.”
Before I got home, I had a blog post about it all written in my head.
I emailed him the next day to ask if I could quote him on it with, or without, his name being used. When he didn’t email me back in 48 hours, I left his name out, but published it anyway.
Honestly, I am still not sure if that was the right thing to do or not.
Drop me a line if I can share your secrets too.
Of course, I promise to omit your name.
My only advantage as a reporter is that I am so physically small, so temperamentally unobtrusive, and so neurotically inarticulate that people tend to forget that my presence runs counter to their best interests. And it always does. That is one last thing to remember: writers are always selling somebody out.
-Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem
