The pause

I wrote a comment and stopped before submitting. I almost never regret pausing before commenting on something, but I have definitely regretted hitting send too eagerly.

I was watching an interview featuring David Perell who runs the podcast How I Write, and read a comment criticizing him. To summarize:

• He’s a blogger who never wrote a book.
• He’s not an English professor.
• He only interviews good writers and doesn’t know, himself, how to write.

The podcast is intentionally modeled after the Paris Review interviews that have been a staple of literary life for decades. It’s a favorite podcast of mine. So I started to compose a reply trying to explain why authors and English teachers aren’t always the best teachers of practical writing skills. Teachers tend to be best at structured instruction aimed at novices, while successful writers lack broad pedagogical knowledge. And besides, Perell is more of a producer and curator than a teacher. Even writers will write about domains they aren’t experts in. I crafted my perfect response.

Then I paused and deleted everything. Instead I wrote a positive comment on the video expressing my appreciation for the podcast, saying that it makes writing feel sexy. And, I feel much better about that reply.

I’ve never regretted pausing before I hit REPLY.