Archive for June 30th, 2009:

Be careful what you tweet! Author Alice Hoffman found this out the hard way.  When a not-quite-glowing review of The Story Sisters, Hoffman’s latest novel, appeared in the Boston Globe on June 28, Hoffman reacted by posting her own opinions on her Twitter feed.

Hoffman’s first tweet was a personal attack on the critic: “Roberta Silman in the Boston Globe is a moron.” Hoffman then continued to criticize Silman, stating that “any idiot can be a critic” and wondering, “So who is Roberta Silman?” Perhaps Hoffman was not aware that Silman is an award-winning novelist and critic, with stories published in such periodicals as the New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly.

Hoffman also slammed the Boston Globe and the city of Boston (her hometown, by the way), and she tweeted Silman’s contact information (including her phone number) and encouraged her Twitter followers to write to Silman to “Tell her what u think of snarky critics.”

Hoffman’s Twitter account was promptly deleted (by whom exactly is unclear). Hoffman issued a statement via her publicist in which she apologized if she had offended anyone. “I feel this whole situation has been completely blown out of proportion,” Hoffman stated.

The moral to this story? Someone may actually be reading your tweets, so don’t tweet it unless you mean it! For additional information on Hoffman’s tweets, see this gawker article.

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