QUESTIONS I commonly ask while writing this weekly column include: "Do you think this is boring? "Is this a valid point?" "Is this going to get me into trouble?"

Colleagues, friends, family members -- I have given them all earache over the years as I wrestled with various subjects, trying to be funny without offending anyone.

I say over the years, because today marks my tenth anniversary as a columnist, which I find amazing. I still recall the moment when I was first asked to write a personal column. I was, literally, quaking in my boots.

I remember losing massive amounts of sleep over what to write about that week -- and the prospect of doing it for weeks, maybe months, to come was just horrifying.

Each week, as the deadline approached I would become irritable and buy every newspaper on the stands in the hope of seeing an item that I could write about.

Funnily enough it was my husband -- who has featured in many columns, in a not too complimentary way -- who came to the rescue. Fed up of the weekly wrangling, he simply reminded me that of all the people he had met, I was the most opinionated, intolerant, bombastic and bolshy. He told me that every time I sounded off about something -- on average about every five minutes -- I should jot it down. From then on, things became easier.

It soon became very satisfying to be able to voice my thoughts and grievances about all and sundry -- like having a sounding board. Writing a column is something of a privilege. It enables you to sound off about anything that irks you, whether noisy neighbours, bad service in shops or litter.

It presents the chance to make others laugh with observations on people and their habits, such as men out shopping with their wives on Saturday afternoons, mothers on the school run and children's behaviour on long car journeys.

And it allows readers to get to know a writer more intimately -- with insights on the way they live their life.

Scribbling down ideas when they pop up made things easier -- but no column is ever a doddle.

Despite having numerous bees in my bonnet at any one time, there are weeks when finding a subject to write about does not come easily, and there are also times when an idea that seems to offer so much extends only a couple of paragraphs before drying up.

It was heartening to read an article by one of the country's best-known columnists Keith Waterhouse: "It can take an agonising three hours to turn out a column that reads as if it was dashed off in an inspired 10 minutes."

It is good to know that even the best can sometimes find the task laborious.

The idea for this column was sparked when my husband asked (just in time too) how long I had been writing it. From start to finish it took approximately two-and-a-half hours and reads like it was rattled off in less than half that time.

At least this week the column itself provided a ready-made subject: it won't do that again for another 10 years.