I accidentally revealed to a work colleague that I write erotic fiction on Vocal

That's not embarrassing, this is embarrassing...

I’m usually pretty good at keeping my work persona and my non-work persona separate. You know I dress in a business shirt and tie on weekdays, I’m a shorts and t-shirts guy on weekends. In the office, I manage a team of professionals and will talk with my staff if they are behaving in a manner that’s not ok, after hours I drink and swear a lot. I think there aren’t too many of us that don’t show our full selves at work, I mean unless you’re an exotic dancer or sex worker, in which case that is an accurate description of what you do for work.

That’s not to say that people don’t do something embarrassing every now and then at work. You slip up and drop a swear word, you have Justin Bieber as your ringtone, or you forget to zip up your fly after going to the bathroom. It happens to us all, we go red, and then the next day someone else does something silly and we move on.

I inadvertently told one of the young women in the office that I write erotic fiction on Vocal.

Alright, I have only really known this person for about the last month. We met when I was managing the entire office while my boss was away. She’s 20 years younger than me, attractive, smart and one of those people that has you wishing you were that cool when you were her age. She’s also someone who despite her age understands a lot of my references, which makes talking to her a lot easier and way more fun than other millennials.

So, we were talking about writing and my aspiration to one day write a great novel that will be turned into a screenplay and win both a Pulitzer and an Oscar. I mentioned that I have just started writing again and had used a website to put my stories out in the world. I have written on several genres and certainly did not mention that I have written erotica. Like I said at the start, there are appropriate things to discuss at work, and things that are probably best left unsaid at work (most definitely when talking with young, attractive female staff members).

But we talked about some of my true crime writing and shared a word version of one of my stories. I’m not silly, I changed the title and figured that would be enough to prevent her inadvertently stumbling across my profile and any other stories I had written that might meet the classification of NSFW. I had underestimated the curiosity of youth.

No more than fifteen minutes after sending her the story we had an exchange on the work instant messenger.

Her: And now I know all your secrets?

Me: which ones? Is it my secret identity? My long-lost twin sister (who looks like me with a wig)? Or that I’m not from this planet?

Her: All the above?

Me: Phew… I was afraid you were going to say you’d found out about the other ones

Her: I may have but I’m not going to be Vocal about it

Now I like to think of myself as quick-witted (or maybe I’m half right there), but all I could think was “Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!”

Turns out that particular subject was fairly unique, so a quick Google search brought her to Vocal and my profile. Well I learnt a very important lesson today.

There are several different steps I could take from here. My first thought is to just find another job, move to another city and probably assume a new identity.

But considering any new employer will ask why I left my old job, a response of “One of the young female staff members read my erotic fiction”, I may struggle to find a new job. Better yet, I can try to ride out this pandemic. With so much working from home, I can avoid her at least until there is someone found downloading porn on the work computers, surely that will take the heat off me then.

The alternative is this is the push I need to quit my job and just become a full-time author.

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