American Notes THE FIRST FAMILY

Like all the President's children, Michael Reagan, 41, has had a rather protean career. He has been a boat salesman, gasohol entrepreneur and soap opera actor. This year Michael, the adopted son of Ronald Reagan and his first wife Actress Jane Wyman, will try his hand at writing. His family is not likely to be pleased.

Michael has accepted a contract from little-known Zebra Books for a memoir titled From the Outside Looking In, concerning his distant relationship with his famous parents and stepmother. His literary agent, Scott Meredith, calls it a "very factual and very, very frank" account of being "adopted and then forgotten." Another publisher, however, describes it as "nasty" and "skewed." News of the younger Reagan's latest venture came as an unpleasant surprise to the White House. Said an aide to the President: "He hasn't black-sheeped us lately, but, apparently, he's back."