My hands hurt a bit from all the typing lately (which isn't stopping me from writing this blog, lol). Typically, I don't force myself to write SO much all at once, but I have a lot on the writing plate at the moment.

I'm having SO MUCH fun, even though I'm tired, a bit cranky, and my hands hurt. I'm so in the zone that I committed an email faux pas yesterday — I accidentally sent Person A an email that was supposed to go to Person B where I, you guessed it, said something about person A that I'd prefer she not have seen. It wasn't that bad, but I was a little disgruntled she had made a decision without asking my preference first. (This is not, in any way, writing related.) She made a decision she thought would help me, but I was a little blindsided by it and reacted. I apologized, but her feelings are probably still hurt. My Southern Lady Graciousness gene is certainly lying on a fainting couch, sipping iced tea, and feeling quite horrified.

Yeah, this little faux pas, as mild as it is, reminds me how careful we must be in our communications online. Email can exist forever. Vitriolic blog commentary will come back to haunt you. That time you got upset and vented your spleen on the RWA loops? Yep, it's still there, somewhere, lurking. It's human nature to get irritated. It's human nature to fight back when we feel threatened. But when you get upset about something, take your time to think it through before hitting that reply button. You just might save yourself a lot of headache — and a whole lot of apologizing. If you do say something you regret, apologize. Not an “I'm sorry if” apology, but a real one: “I'm sorry.” No qualifications.

But, really, the thing to do is to always, always remember that words on screen, sent across the Internet, are forever. Don't say anything you wouldn't want to admit you said. Remember that blogs and email loops have lurkers, and you have no idea who those lurkers could be. Don't shoot yourself in the foot by branding yourself as a rabble rouser without a cause or an argumentative so-and-so who always has to jump in and give her 2 cents. And don't think that anonymous comments are anonymous. They never are to the blog or loop owner. 🙂

Have you ever committed an email faux pas? How did you handle it? Have you been on the receiving end of an email faux pas? What did you do?