Carrying that hate around and stewing on revenge will make you feel shitty and suck up tons of time that could be spent on more productive things.

I'm not sure why you needed the draft back so much unless it was the only copy, which would be unthinkable.

Obviously, the friend was trying to pass the manuscript off as their own and sell it to support their COCAINE and MALT LIQUOR habit. It's sad, really.

If that was your only copy of it, you're a bloody fool. If it wasn't, then get on with your life.

You trusted the wrong person, they let you down, they suck, fer sure. But how are you going to win? I hope by getting over it already and ditching this "friend" for good.

Re: the fun-making... they prolly weren't TRYING to mock you, but maybe they laughed awkwardly when you claimed to have lost "a good deal of money to try to meet." What did you do, book the Concorde? The QEII? Pack all your belongings in a covered wagon for the 8-month trek across the Oregon Trail? Sorry, but that bit is laughable. What they did was seriously crappy up to that point, but when you try to rack up additional guilt credits for out-of-pocket expenses, you lose credibility.

I had a "friend" years ago who used to insist I read his dreadful, unfunny plays. He was convinced he would one day become rich and famous off these truly awful gay "comedies". I am always honest and when he would ask for my input, I would tell him the truth - they all sucked. Finally, one day I showed him a draft of a story I was writing, hoping against hope that he might sense some of what he was lacking. He turned up a week later; "You're going to be upset with me..." he stammered. He had taken my story and rewrote it as a remarkably bad play. To make a long story short, I haven't had to read one of his plays since.

Yes, Gay Movie Fan, your work is GOLD and your "friend" produced only shit.

Typical "writer"... Where has you stuff been published, again?

Um, it's 2013. Why didn't I,A just email him a .doc file, or its Mac equivalent? Word processing and the internet were even around 5 or 6 years ago when he started "nurturing" his masterpiece.

Heres an idea, just reprint it off of your computer, thumbdrive, or floppy disk. Or did you write the whole thing in quill pen and iron gall for aesthetics? If your that stupid enough to let a draft of your work into anyones hands other than a qualified editor, then Its just got to be pure genius on paper.

I'm not a big fan of this "e-storage" craze that's been going on the past few decades years either.

Hey. Venezuela was paying a premium for butt wipe.

You can't judge me.

Get er good!

No one should be flattered for being the first person to read your novel. They should be burdened, because, like anything emerging from a solitary confinement after five or six years, it probably needs to be hosed down before it enters the public realm

I was given the "privilege" once of reading a first draft self-help book. I was shocked and embarrassed at the horrible grammar, misspelled words, bizarre and inconsistent use of punctuation that I had to stop reading after the third chapter. To call it 3rd grade level reading would be charitable. I wanted to go slap every English teacher he had since 1st grade, but I just gave it back with a hearty "Good job!" and let him believe it was gold.

It still haunts me to this day.

I thought every writer knew to never ask family or friends for feedback... It will almost never be 100% honest.

This echoes what happened to Valerie Solanas gave a copy of her play to Andy Warhol which she had typed on a type writer.

And to be honest, I saw this kind of problem coming when typewriters became cool again some years back.

I love all of the comments regarding you as a luddite twit. However, I get that you entrusted her with something that you wanted back, and she decided to be the Kitty Cat with the Mouse's little piece of cheese. Let's hope she has no children. She seems like the type that would be a terrible mom. All manipulative, with mind games and BS like that. Just be thankful you're not her kid.

Hey, Anon, go to her house and get it...or hang out on her front porch until she gives it back or confesses she tossed it into the trash.