I heard he wrote a good book, I heard he had style. So I came to read him, to read for a while. And

"You won't ever use what I've told you if you ever write that novel, will you?" Embarrassment colouring her face and the words as she sipped her third sherry .

"Of course not," and I meant it at the the time. (1967).

But that was then.

I wasn't writing then.

Fifty years later I'm writing and I have no plans to be economical with the truth any longer. Ketty Lester's song says, "Somethings are better left unsaid." I disagree. Something's are better disclosed.

The best parts of a story are those founded in reality. Be careful what you reveal wittingly or otherwise to any writer. You may find they, like I, have an ache to use it sometime. Maybe even fifty years later.