The Neglected Art of Self-Editing

...or The Blogpost You Almost Got.

I've just neatly filed away an angry screed (about? Let's just say it had to do with the neighbors' unjust animosity toward Bucky the Furbaby and a new picket fence) and now I'm postless.

So I'll just point out how good it is sometimes to hold your tongue. The things you think aren't always best said. The wildest anger sometimes translates horribly. And people aren't all bad, no matter what you think at the time. (Very little of this is original thought; much of it must be credited to the King of Temperance himself, Jim.)

I had the opportunity recently to use my favorite Procol Harum quote that fits this nicely:

Nothing's better left unsaid
Only sometimes
Still, no doubt,
It's awful hard.
It all works out.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure whether that's advocating self-editing or not. Self discipline is a mixed bag at best. On the one hand, you don't get to unleash the lightning bolts-o-wrath from on high, which feels pretty darn good when you're doing it.

But then, you don't apologize so much, either.