Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Angry Blogging

I think most writers are creatures of passion.  After all, it takes passion to put emotion into what we write.  Unfortunately, there can be a downside to that - blogging while angry.

If you're anything like me, it's not terribly hard to get your blood up over something, whether it's something as serious as a friend betraying you, or as inconsequential as forgetting to put the cap back on your water bottle and having it spill all over your work station.  Yes, it's silly, and it fades quickly, but that little kid inside all of us is just begging to get out and throw a tantrum.

It happens to all of us, and it's not a big deal, but we have to remember to take a step back from it before we resume typing.  I've made the mistake of not calming down from an outburst and writing things not fit for human consumption.  This is fine if you're writing a novel or short story that's not for immediate reading, but when it comes to a blog post or replying to a comment, it can be bad ju-ju.

It doesn't matter if what you're writing about or the person you're writing to is completely innocent - if your blood is up, you can write things you may later regret.  They can be mean, or just plain snappy, and they can do irreparable harm to your career and your relationship with who you're writing to(be it a specific person or an audience, like this one).  Believe me, I can have a mean streak that would make Jack Lambert blush, so it's not pretty when it flies out.

This is what makes being able to step away when worked up over something so crucial.  It can feel good in the moment to just let loose, but not only will it make you look like an ass, but you'll feel terrible about it when you finally do calm down.  At the very best, you'll have wasted an enormous amount of time writing something which, upon later reflection, you'll know is something you'd never post.

So walk away from your keyboard when you're mad.  While writing on emotion can be productive when properly tempered, emotion untampered by reason is destructive and leads to regret.  Calm down - you'll thank yourself later.

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