All of it has taken place in the digital media ecosystem, making the saga an exciting piece of the new variety of infotainment that isn’t broadcast on television. Ms. Calloway is the spiritual granddaughter of reality television, at times playing the contestant, at others, the producer, depending on who is writing her story in the moment.

What Are Her Most Notorious Misfortunes?

In 2015, she sold a book for a reported advance of $375,000 and did not, (or at least has not yet), deliver that book. Ms. Beach worked for years as an editor, according to her recent essay, on that book. She also said in the essay that Ms. Calloway has returned $100,000 of the advance so far.

Ms. Calloway also decided to conduct a “national tour of creativity workshops” that she was not prepared to deliver upon. This was an episode so ludicrous that it reads to any reasonable observer like a piece of performance art. (She has also made a T-shirt to mock a reporter who wrote about the workshops.)