[Image credit: sippakorn]

My mom used to call it Hoof in Mouth Disease — when you figuratively open your mouth and insert your foot.  Even as an adult, I still nurse a case of this illness from time to time.  It also happens when I write.  Because I’m a writer, and writing is the act of putting thoughts on paper, I find it’s just as easy — if not more so — to screw up through my written communications.  Yesterday I had a lot on my mind, stuff I had planned to include in today’s post.  But as I tried to put something together, I realized I needed to chew on the content for a day or two.  Mull it over.  (Many of my emails are like this too.)  Otherwise, I often overanalyze, overreact and, consequently, open mouth, insert foot.  Maybe I’ll post my thoughts eventually — after fine-tuning them however many times necessary before my inner writer’s voice whispers, Okay, it’s ready.  Or maybe I’ll keep them to myself this time.  In any event, some things are simply better left unsaid … or unwritten.

Do you usually say what’s on your mind “write” away, or think before speaking?