When you shouldn’t write…

I get a lot of people inside government, the scientific community and law enforcement agencies who “tell” me things off the record. You know, “You didn’t hear this from me but…”

Well, last week I got a tip on something, I’ll call it “Installation X,” a really good piece of reality that would make a beautiful plot point and revelation. For me revelation is as important as a tight story. I use “fiction” in my books to plant a few seeds on things that governments and media soft pedal or aggressively ignore into obliteration.

So I get this information that I could center my entire 4th book on. A juicy, real, almost unbelievable fact that I can fictionalize. Except, last week I got a note that asked I forget what I was told. The reason? Apparently, it’s hotter than even the person who shared it with me thought it was.

Professional dilemma: respect my source or go for it? Well, I decided to not only respect my source but also join into the spirit of our national secrets, which is mainly to keep them secret. So I took a deep breath and moved on. This happened with my first book, when I deduced, based on available technology, a technological process that could protect the President. I “made it up” and wrote it into my story. Then a person who was a protector of POTUS asked me to “not go there.” Fair enough. I broomed it for the sake of Presidential security and my acquaintance, and the folks he works with, lives. Easy decision… then.

Two days ago, I met a guy who tells me almost the whole “Installation X” story! Now this guy is a new source. I could go with his version of the events and situation since he so far has not asked me to forget it. (He may not be as in the loop as my original source.) But that would just be a way around what I said I wouldn’t do to my original source and my own feeling of obligation to the men an women who risk their lives carrying out our nation’s security that has to be done in secret.

So no. I am still not going to go near this thing. I will however scour the Internet, go to the library and see if any of this can be open sourced. Meaning if it’s already out there and thus I won’t be jeopardizing a source or my country. Although I hope it’s not.

Sex and the Single Technosapien

The hottest women in the world are magnetically attracted to two centers of power.  One on the west coast, Hollywood.  One on the east coast, Washington, D.C. These incredible emBODYments of every male’s fantasy are as much on display in the Capitol dining room as they are in the commissaries of the major studios.  Sound sexist?  Yes.

But hey, do you really think (male) politicians went through all the crap they had to go through to get elected, to actually SERVE the public?  (See: Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Elliot Spitzer, John Ensign, Chris, Lee, Eric Massa, Mark Souder, Mark Sanford, Larry Craig, David Vitter, James McGreevey, Gary Condit, Bob Packwood, Gary Hart, Wayne Hayes, Wilbur Mills, JFK, and Anthony Weiner)  We’re talking a well stocked pond here. And the bait wiggling on the hook is power, influence, and money.

My first experience in Washington was sitting in the Senate dining room, watching 90-something year old Claude Pepper, the Congressman from Florida, sitting amongst five women.