How honest should you really be when you're writing?

I mean, don't we all have that false presenter's voice that kind of creeps in slowly until it's masking your true inside-thoughts the way a news anchors plastic-veneer corporate-speak unconsciously seeks to optimize itself inside you for maximum acceptability and minimal vulnerability? Where is the line, on one hand, between self-absorbed inner monologue overshare and simply falsifying your own thought process to put on performatic show for the audience on the other hand?

I actually don't know.

But these questions help:

• In person are you overly assertive or overly agreeable? If you're agreeable in person, you're much more likely to struggle revealing what you actually think because you're used to trying to match your speech to the other person's feelings.

• Can you anticipate which points people might love (or resent?) If so it becomes easier to fall into defensiveness or audience capture where you're unconsciously seeking the choir to which you can preach.

• Is what you write inherently true to you, or is the audience your test? It's helpful to throw spaghetti at the wall to see if it's done, but if you're testing your ideas that way with your audience, be wary you might be drawn more to what "they" think, than what you believe.