That's kind but for now I'm going to concentrate on writing the story as time allows. I still write primarily for my own satisfaction, as a release from other stresses of work and life. It's nice that sometimes people have wanted to publish things I've written but that's not why I write.

If I don't finish the story, or if it turns out not to be very good, it'll never see the light of day anyhow.

Beyond that, if a publisher did decide to put it out there then its his editor's problem to determine what if any changes would need to be made to address any conflicts or concerns.

It's not unusual for a publisher to ask for a revised last draft based upon legal advice. Sometimes it's as simple as changing a fictional company's name or not quoting a copyrighted song (you have no idea how much trouble I had to go to to find a suitable big oil corportation name that wasn't already taken in fact or fiction). Other times it's a bit more fundamental, and that's where the dialogue between writer and publisher gets interesting.

On wider issues:

I know a few folks on the board have been advised that they need to keep a distance between themselves and "fan fiction" or to avoid other online writers' work to avoid charged of plagiarism, or to remove older online writing that might not "be up to scratch".

I've had a couple of editors try that on me too. My general view is that if they pay me a huge generous advance I'll think about making radical changes to my life and way or operating. Since so far all my royalties have been based on post-sales income that hasn't been an issue.

Besides, the line between online fiction and published fiction narrows every time someone buys a kindle. If a writer has to avoid other writers' work he'll never read another book in his life. And while I think I probably have improved as a writer over the last decade or so I'm not going to be ashamed of the fact I've worked hard to made those improvements in the only way any writer improves - by writing. So all those damn publishers and editors can get off my lawn.