Have you ever heard or read a play and wondered, "Why didn't I think of that?" I have. Lots of times. Too many times. In all those wishful moments, it never crossed my mind to simply pick up the plot, conflict, and characters and walk away with them.

 A friend shared a smart title of her future collection of short stories. It was a really great title, and not only did I not take the title, I have never uttered the title to anyone else. What am I eluding to here? The "taking" of someone's work. I realize that titles may not be copyrighted, and technically, walking off with another writer's words may not always meet the legal definition of copyright infringement. There's the legal definition and then there is the professional norm. I assumed these tenants were obvious.

And then my play was lifted.

Days turned into weeks of emails flying across wireless internet connections and accusations whispered in the lobby. A veritable tug of war. I was incredulous, outraged, but mostly I was sad. An environment where I had once brought work in development was no longer safe. At the very least, why not ask me, "Hey - can I have that?" Then I would have been flattered, surprised, and grateful for the inadvertant encouragement.  And I still would have said, "No."