The author who speaks about his own books is almost as bad as a mother who talks about her own children.

Whatever you are closest to is the subject you judge worst. The thing you made absorbed months of your attention and about ninety seconds of anyone else’s, and the difference is impossible to feel from where you stand. So the account goes on well past the point of interest while you read the other person’s politeness as enthusiasm. Love for a thing does not transfer just by being described at length.

Say one sentence about your own work and then ask a question. If the other person wants more, they will ask, and then it is a conversation rather than a broadcast.