Barrowman documentary reminder

For the UK contingent, a reminder that John Barrowman's documentary about the nature vs nurture debate is on BBC 1 at 9 o'clock.

Ripping away the veil of anonymity

Feeling a bit twitchy on the subject of "day job, meet night job" this week. In the course of the job search I have been cheerfully upfront on my CV and in interviews about what I've been doing for the last few years -- but I've not had reason to tell prospective employers exactly which publisher I write for, never mind what name I write under. Now I've got a job that requires an enhanced check (which unlike full-blown security clearance doesn't include a minimum residency requirement, for those of you who've had to listen to my whining on *that* subject), I have to give the HR department chapter and verse. Which means that earlier this week I sent them a bundle of paperwork that means that someone in HR can now, should they so choose, go and find some of my commercial fiction and *read* it.

Which I am thoroughly weirded out by, however irrational this may be. I really, really don't feel comfortable about someone who knows me but is not a fannish connection reading my smut. Especially colleagues. Even if they're good friends. Even if they've actually done proof-reading on one of the anthology zines I published back when I was active in fanfic. Yes, back then my boss and my officemates knew exactly what my strange hobbies were, I actually printed the zines *at* *work*, so the print room staff knew all about my strange hobbies, one of my officemates proof-read a few of the gen and m/f stories for me when I had a tight deadline on one zine -- and I still refused point blank to let them see anything I'd written rather than just edited. And was horribly embarrassed when my boss found one of my stories and teased me about it in a way that made it clear he'd read at least a few paragraphs.

I don't seem to have got over it in the years since then...