Defensive blogging – I’m not clairvoyant but I try to be

I cannot read your mind, but I try to. When I write blog entries I try to anticipate how my readers will react. I try to avoid writing words that will unintentionally piss people off. I try to counter-argue objections in advance. I try to avoid analogies that might swerve the conversation off topic. I think about the unexpected ways people reacted to entries in the past so I can avoid mistakes in the future.

I call it defensive blogging.

Still, I’m a long way from putting a sign on this blog saying, “Readings from PastaQueen, certified psychic.” Sometimes I post entries about vulnerable issues and I’m scared to check my email because I don’t know whether I’ll get a “Hell, yeah!” or a “Yeah, you’re going to hell.” Sometimes I read an old post and wonder why the hell I didn’t anticipate the ways people reacted. Here are some of the ways I try to blog defensively, and some of the reasons I’ve failed to block a punch.

Missing landmines because I focus on the whole [...]

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