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And I was leaving cyberspace footprints all over the place.

Not everything I did in those early days was wise. I’m a passionate person and I love a good debate, a vigorous clash of ideas. There is nothing like having your perceptions challenged to make sure they are rock solid…or need reworking.

But one person’s “debate” can be perceived by someone else as a “flame war.”

While it can be a lot of fun to get into wild and woolly discussions, I eventually learned that I needed to take a longer view if I wanted to be building bridges—not burning them.

The footprints you leave in cyberspace will follow you, no matter where you go, or even if you choose to write under a name other than your own. And they’ll be thrown up in your face at the worse possible moment.

Fortunately most people are pretty forgiving—because we all make mistakes. But there are those few who never forget or forgive. Trust me when I say you don’t want to give them too much ammo to work with—unless you love having things come back and bite you on the tush.

And it’s not just potential future readers that cruise the internet. Agents and editors are browsers, too. They are funny about difficult authors. They don’t like working them with and they don’t have to. I was on a screenwriting loop where a writer got a TV writing assignment partly because the producer was impressed with her professional online demeanor.

Plan now to present yourself in a friendly, professional way before you get thrown into the reality of rejections, bad reviews and people who don’t know how to be professional.

Everyone in the business agrees that the most effective promotion is word of mouth from readers. While it might be momentarily satisfying to respond to an unfair attack or a less than wonderful review, negative word of mouth is just as effective as positive word of mouth. If you have to respond, write it all out—then delete it. Don’t, don’t, don’t send or post without giving yourself time to think and cool off.

I’ve never made a good decision mad. And I’ll bet I’m not the only one.

I read a blog the other day about the “train wreck fascination” of watching authors melt down. Ouch. Decide now to provide entertainment through the books you write and not your behavior. Be the kind of person you’d like to deal with out there and you won’t need to fear those cyber footprints. In fact, you'll be glad they lead straight back to you and your books. :-)