Editing is also cathartic: Let it out, then delete

Writing is cathartic without a doubt. Creative writing is a valuable tool for healing and self-help. Sometimes it is wise not to publish what you have written during those sessions in which you let it all out. Once the 15-20 minutes have passed you stop writing, then you read what you've written and lastly, you must decide what to do with it. You can throw it away, burn it, or change it.

Editing is necessary before publishing a hurtful piece or sending an angry email. Especially when it can cost you your job or the affection of someone you love. In spite of removing the aggressive part, that bit that felt so good releasing from within you as you wrote, once it's on the paper it remains there only if you decide on that option.

What else can you do? You can:

• change it into a more polite form
• delete it and leave only the expectation you wish to communicate
• disguise it by swapping genders of characters or changing the context

Either way, you will have taken it out of your mind and body. Writing your mind to an annoying colleague is cathartic and there is no need to let them know how you really feel about them. Have you tried this?