Background Checks: But I Walked Those Half Marathons!
I read an interesting item on publishers doing background checks on authors to ensure they’re not taking a chance on some crazy whack. When I searched my name on Google I had some expected results and some that surprised me.
EXPECTED
- Links associated with my work as writer/editor at Goodwill Industries International, the
- American Nurses Association, or the UN/World Health Organization.
- Links about me being the executive director at the Women’s Resource Center.
- My blog, The Writing Life.
- Me being a party in a lawsuit to expand rights of independent political candidates to gain ballot access.
UNEXPECTED
- Random Tweet that I was going out to get an iced tea.
- That I was crowned Miss SPJST in 1982. Long story.
- My results in three half marathons. Which are pathetic and don’t explain that I WALKED.
- My review of a cake recipe (4 forks) on epicurious.com
The Twitter thing has me worried, especially since it came up pretty high in the search results. It just seems dumb. Overall, I’m OK with a publisher reading everything that was posted about me (at least in the first 22 pages of results). Can you say the same thing? If you’re under 20, are you concerned that your random Tweets will reflect who you are to the online world?
