I’ll admit it openly–I’m a chronic over-sharer. I’ll tell almost anyone virtually anything about myself, even if it’s borderline inappropriate. Or not borderline, but just inappropriate. (Ha.) Whatever, I’m pretty laid back about information, especially about myself. I’m the open book of which “they” speak. Unfortunately, this will probably cause my children to need therapy one day, but I think we’ve already established that fact. I’ve likely caused a few raised eyebrows so my chill attitude about my life and thoughts and feelings might not be my finest quality, but I thought of something the other day that not only justifies my openness, but makes it a positive.

The way I came to this realization (which I will share in a moment) is through my Twitter account, of all things. My Twitter account is locked up tight and not visible to the public because those who follow me are either close friends or people who were long-time readers of my anonymous blog of yore, where I said anything I wanted without fear of repercussion. In other words: people who are accustomed to my big mouth and can handle it without raising their eyebrows too much. I’ve had a few requests from other writers and editors, but I’ve typically declined, inviting them to “friend” me on Facebook instead (where I have them on a list so they can’t see, for example, pictures of me at a club in Vegas–I do have some sense of professionalism, after all.)  But recently, I had a follower request on Twitter from an agent I know–one with whom I hope to be doing business someday. She certainly falls under the category of professional contact. But she’s also very cool and I got to know her on a personal level during two residencies at Whidbey Writer’s Workshop and consider her a friend. I am confident she can handle Tweets like this one:

So…how bad are velour track pants? What if you only wear them at home? And they make your butt look great? Am I going to Hell for them?

Or this one:

I just informed my husband that he smells purty, “like a twenty-dollar whore.”

So I accepted her Twitter request, and then I realized exactly why Tweeting every borderline-vulgar thought I have is not such a bad thing. Because…OVER-SHARERS MAKE THE BEST MEMOIRISTS. If you are a publisher, do you really want your memoir authors to be people who feel uncomfortable opening up about themselves?  I think not.

So there you go. A silver lining for every cloud. And one suuuuper juicy memoir coming right up.