Writing

I feel a need, a physical need to write sometimes. Not always, though I do try to write often. I feel that I can't always be honest in what I'm writing because of who's going to read it. That's a problem for a writer.
There needs to be some detachment between what I do and who I am, or I have to decide that I don't care how people feel about what I write. There's freedom in the latter, but I don't want to alienate the people that I know - the people I love.
The conventional admonition is to write what what you know, but what if what you know, or who you know is so close that they might be hurt in some way if you write about them? Do you just ignore it? Just say forget them and move on with the piece?
It's a thin line to be walked and I don't know how to proceed. As I embark on this adventure, I hope to get a handle on that question and others. So many others.