Wed, Jun 13 2007

Flipping houses is nothing new. Flipping one's life? That might be something to write home about.

When is a writer not a writer? Perhaps, when he's been referred to as the world's most hated blogger, yet still insists on writing about his failures as a real estate mogul and insists that he's a viable book writer while living off other people's kindness and while looking over his shoulder at his enemies, his creditors and maybe even his prosecutors.

There's certainly nothing wrong with having hutzpah or with wanting to be a financial success. But other journalists have written of Casey Serin's deceptive behavior and he has answered by putting links to such articles on his blog. His latest blog entry, dated June 11, refers to him now trying to make an honest buck. The entry is accompanied by a photo of Mr. Serin sitting behind the wheel of a car with a Starbucks cup in his hand. It all smacks a bit too much of any publicity being good publicity. But one still has to live with one's choices as a human being.

Is this young man sorry for what he did? Is it too late for him to convince people that he wants to go straight? I don't know. He's gotten his publicity. He's probably young enough to start over and may even be able to get people to forgive his greed and dishonesty someday. But if he can't do that, and if it gets hard for him to make a living otherwise, it will probably always be a huge temptation to him to capitalize on his own past full of greed and dishonesty. The kind of life he creates for himself and his family may depend on his willingness to look in the mirror and choose true integrity—for the long haul. If he does, I hope he'll choose to write about that journey, rather than give us lengthy descriptions of his shady real estate dealings.

posted at: 07:12 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry