Under pressure

Yesterday, we had the most relaxing day with friends Debra and Richard and their teenage sons Daniel and Nathan. Over lunch I mentioned that I'd written a guest post about ebooks on my chief exec's blog over the weekend.
"I think ebooks are a rubbish idea", piped up Nathan, their 13 year old, immediately exploding my well-honed pet theories on the future of the book (more on the wisdom of children, later). But we rolled the idea of an ebook future around the dinner table a bit longer, nonetheless, before moving on to other things. Later on, the subject of this blog came up, and Debra and Richard quizzed me about my rationale for writing it, what I get out of it, the kind of people who contribute, and so on.
"Do you feel the need to post every day?" they asked, a note of concern for my mental health (does she have blog OCD?) creeping in to their voices. I explained that I felt the need to post frequently and that I aim for at least alternative days, both to maintain a writing discipline and so as not to disappoint regular visitors.
"But isn't that just a pressure too far?" Richard asked. Funnily enough, I don't think so really. It's kind of a useful outlet for stuff in my head. Though on a more mundane day I sometimes struggle to think of anything interesting to say.
However, I'm glad I don't too frequently have to guest on my boss's blog. At 7am on a Sunday morning with Ava (8 months) on my lap wildly attempting to bash the keys, and Eden and Nathan running around me in ever-decreasing circles, increasingly hysterical for my attention, it was hard to write anything remotely intelligent. Emailing today with a colleague who also gets dragged into work stuff over the weekend sometimes, I laughed out loud when she said, "Oh, I get the hysterics too. But that's from the husband!" I must admit Paul isn't overly keen on what he views as a somewhat over-zealous interest in my work, especially when it runs to Blackberry-itus at the weekends... but then, the tempting offer of a continued roof over his head paid for by the salary gleaned therefrom is usually enough to prevent any escalation to hysteria.