Generally speaking, real life acquaintances who read the blog fall into 2 camps: those who never mention it and those who do. And those in the second camp have a tendency to mention it a lot! I have one friend (you know who you are) who rarely lets me get out a sentence before interrupting with "oh yeah, I read that on your blog". Conversations with these people tend to be a bit stunted and awkward because of one simple truth:
My life isn't so interesting that I have a whole world of things to talk about that I don't write about here. In fact, some weeks I struggle to find anything to write about, let alone bring into a conversation (which is obvious when you consider that last week I blogged about getting a new vacuum cleaner).
In these instances, I have asked friends to treat me like a person with short term memory problems and just indulge my repetitious anecdotes with nods and chuckles in all the right places.
Up until recently, this was a fine and controllable situation. I don't have that many friends that a quiet word didn't resolve it. Even other articles didn't really cover anyone I know in real life. However, last week an article about the blog was in the local paper as well as the local free paper delivered to EVERY HOME IN THE COUNTY.
Every time I have left the house for the last 3 days, someone has mentioned it. "Nice article in the paper. Every little bit helps," said the woman in the post office. "I think I want an aviator hat" said my neighbour, the truckdriver, to Kevin. On the street. At the grocery story. The postman. The mothers at the school gate. Each and every time, I wince a little bit. Not because it isn't fantastic for business, but because there is no hiding. My life is here in these pages, the ups and downs, the successes and failures.
When I told my mother about the article, she responded, "You know you have to be nice to people now," not because I am not nice (ok, I am mostly nice) but because I am the face of my business, more so than ever.
And so, if you are reading this and I know you in real life, lets make a deal: I'll be nice, if you promise not to mention the blog.
And its not like I hide behind an enormous hat so no one recognises me…
