Wendy, guilty as charged myself. I've had to train myself to let the heated, nasty (or perceived nasty) emails sit for a day. I've even asked him to look at it and give his opinion. If he thinks it's rude (he rarely does), then it's someone trying to get an argument going. I don't bite. I can't. The minute I do, I look foolish.

Paula, that girl is either going to be a rocket scientist or a Wikipedia-type CEO. 🙂

The start of your post reminded me of my 6-year old niece. She seldom admits she doesn't know something. You could explain how a hydrogen bomb is made and she'll very earnestly say, "I know." (She may be qualifying that by thinking, "I know because you just told me.") She loves sharing her information with others (future teacher, perhaps?). Apparently, she'd left some plastic toys near the fireplace, and my brother told her how the heat from the fire might melt the plastic. Monday we were at a science demonstration at a children's museum. The scientist made gas-filled balloons explode, and he had a plastic jug he used to shoot a plastic cup into the air. After his presentation kids could come ask questions. Several did. My nephew asked how he made the explosions turn different colors. My niece didn't have a question. She said, "If you put plastic near fire it will melt." So adorable. They guy was great about it, and told her why she was right, explained how the flames in his experiments were so brief it only singed the plastic – then said it was smart not to put plastic near flames.

Read through the comments or emails carefully before deciding to respond. It's funny how some people start reading a comment and jump the gun by responding without reading the rest of the comment. They end up looking like fools. Okay, so I've been there and I've done that.

It's also amazing how one can see things in your comment that weren't even there. “Oh, she thinks I don't know what I'm doing! Well, I give her a putdown.” Then the war begins. I don't always take my own advice, but one really should think before they act.

Cathy, don't you hate that? They start telling you things like "Here's the story you should be writing instead!" Great, but the editor wants something else. I love when people assume the role of both the writer and editor. Grr….

Devon, exactly. Sometimes it's so transparent. I worry about the newbies who may not have the experience to understand when they're being snowed. It's way too easy to doubt yourself at the beginning.

After almost four years of doing this full time I still dread telling people who aren't writers what I do. I do mainly educational/assessment writing and rarely get a byline. People are always ready to provide some "helpful" suggestion, such as "you should try Seventeen magazine or Woman's World" or "why don't you try the local newspaper?" For the record, the latter pays minimum wage since my town is so small.

Advice is not self-serving (for the one giving it) or sprung from the giver's own insecurities. Unfortunately, the latter is not always easy to see. Some are masters at appearing to be "telling you this for your own good" when the reason really has nothing to do with that.

At times I have a very sensitive side. Fortunately, I have learned to go off and lick my emotional wounds and then look at the "advice" more rationally. If it's true advice, I determine if it makes sense for me. If it's not true advice, I throw it away.