I have asked Wlady to publish this statement in the letters column, and I have sent it to my mailing list, too.

I’ll be busy this week with a couple of minor surgeries – switching over from peritoneal to hemo dialysis.  Your loving responses have humbled me with gratitude, and also made me realize what a complete horse’s ass I made of myself, popping off the way I did.  “Writers write,” yes indeed, but more writers, myself included, ought to pay attention to Bill Wilson’s dictum, “Nothing pays off like restraint of tongue and pen.” 

I will reproduce a paragraph from a friend’s letter to me for now, and leave it at that.