Common speaks on his past relationship with Erykah Badu. Would you ever openly discuss a past relationship in a book? Is this necessary for growth or should it be avoided?

Common talks about not allowing another to "dim your light" a beautiful sentiment, however it is not necessary to relate the details of your relationship to communicate this idea.

I'm sure Common and the publisher's incentive to reveal these details were financial. Indeed, without these details the book may never have been published. Common and Badu are celebrities and the public's appetite for relationship details is seemingly insatiable. I hope Badu was cool with it.

So while I would not reveals details of my own relationships. No one is offering me a lot of dough to do so. Were this the case, i suspect I might be singing a different tune!

Ha! Great question. I wrote a book called The Bum Magnet, which is NOT yet another book dissing men rather a woman's journey to figure out what's broken inside herself so she can make better choices in men. Now I would be lying if I sat up here and said that NONE of it is based on my past relationships. But what you do is exaggerate details and change names to protect the innocent (and guilty!) LOL I think all writers in some sense or another pull from their own experiences when they write stories. It's the humanity of our stories. It's what makes people connect. So, I think it's very cathartic but must be done with respect and a lot of imagination.