Who I'm Reading, Always (Part Two)

In a bid to share what shapes me - as a writer and a businesswoman and a human being – I’m sharing my favourite online hangouts in this two-part series, Who I’m Reading (Always). Part one is here. I believe you have to choose who and what will influence you in the same way that we choose what we’ll wear today or what we’ll cook for dinner. Essentially? That it has to be deliberate, and purposeful, to serve our best selves.



So. To continue from where yesterday left off…



My IRL tribe



If you follow me on Twitter you’ll know that I link to both Wonderful You  and Girl Lost In The City multiple times a day. They’re my homegirls. I met both of them through blogging, and now there’s this incredible love-fest going on where we all have a different vibe but make projects similar enough that we use each each other for help, and support, and tech questions that really bore our other friends. Throw in Alexandra Cameron Photography and we're like the four points on a compass, working to guide each other in the most supportive way possible, and I adore them for proving that success for one girl is NOT failure for another.





I met Courtney Scott working in Italy, moons ago, and since then her career has gone from strength to strength. In 2008 she gave up her cubicle in the offices of MTV, and set out to make her passion - travel - her full-time gig. In 2015 she is now the senior travel editor at Travelocity, has an incredible online travel series, and is a visiting travel expert for ALL the main American news shows. She proves it’s possible to manifest your dream, and watching her journey fuels the belief in my own.

Of course, Calum McSwiggan is my real-life BFF, and basically don’t ask questions, just go follow. He's dead funny, super cute, and is the most fierce proofreader I've ever had.

The Ones Who Got Me Into Blogging In The First Place





When I first got into blogging, maybe eight years ago now, it was Jo of Please Don't Eat With Your Mouth Open who I read obsessively, marvelling at how she used her words to make a story out of her life. Similarly, Girls Gone Child does the same, albeit with many, many photos of her beautiful family in addition to her warm and funny words. Gala Darling is, for me, like so many, the most incredible of success stories and proof, once again, that when a dynamic and ambitious woman sets her mind to it? She can rule the world. I love how positive she is, and how that positivity is exactly why she does so well. Danielle LaPorte’s The Firestarter Sessions is what I read and re-read when I first moved to London, desperately trying to manufacture bravery when I was so utterly overwhelmed with starting life in the big scary city. I still get her daily emails to remind me of how far I’ve come – and how much further there is to go. Austin Kleon is so open about his writing and creative practices that it de-mystified the idea that you must make things worth selling in solitude – he’s the man who teaches me to chronicle the process, and to not only shout about your own work, but the work of the people you follow, too. Hi.





Recent Finds I’m Already Totally Enamoured With



Hannah Brencher, who I discovered though I-don’t-remember-where, writes long-form posts filled with beautiful prose and ideas that force me to explore myself when maybe I’d be more comfortable… not. Moonologie is full of the kind of hope and love I want one day for my own life. True love does exist, then. Sarah Wilson is a sugar-free blogger who I got into when I was losing weight last year, but I really love her posts of being fortysomething, single, and a world traveller, too. She’s mindful and aware, just how I like ‘em. Isabel Foxen Duke is another “when I was training my mind to be healthy” find, and SHIT THE BED. You need her emails in your life, because the notion that you’re fucked up about food? She’ll set you straight like woah.

Marie Forleo is a certain kind of polished American cheerleading, but distractingly fabulous hair aside she has great advice for business and life. Her website is pretty, too. Yes and Yes gives great hints and tips especially for the blogging community, that are genuinely useful, and Tulips and Lattes is where I get all my quotes and evocative pictures. If one day I don’t get to hang out with Sharlyn and listen to Taylor Swift on repeat then this life will have been for nothing. Zen Habits reminds me to be calm, and to master my time lest it master me. A good one.

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