A few years back a co-author I was writing a book with sent me a scathing email about our editor. He was clearly frustrated when he wrote it … and while I agreed with some of it, I didn’t think it was entirely fair.

He was also clearly tired when he wrote it, because he accidentally sent the email to the editor as well as to me.

Ouch.

I have a rule about what I put in writing about other people. I don’t write anything about someone that I wouldn’t be OK them reading.

Partly this is just being pragmatic. It’s very easy to make a mistake like this. Or down the track to CC someone else without vetting the entire thread of replies underneath.

But more than that, it’s not who I want to be in the world. I don’t gossip. I don’t speak badly about people who aren’t there. If I have an issue with someone, I’ll raise it with them.

At least that’s my aspiration. And having a rule of thumb about what I put into an email helps me live up to that.