10 newsletters

That speak my language.

While we all wait for the Matilda’s to go their hardest in tonights World Cup Semi-final, I thought I’d give you something to deep dive into; the world that is newsletters.

This year I have found fresh reprieve in newsletters, in a way that social media and even Magazines used to expand my world, newsletters and Substack have now taken their place. Some of these newsletters I pay for and it’s worth it. I have paid for some in the past and found them not to be the right fit; and I feel comfortable cancelling a paid subscription. People do this all the time with this newsletter - the number of customers is always fluctuating - and I am ok with that because if you are putting your money towards something like this I really want you to love what you are getting.

Here are my 10 favourite newsletters. Some of them are weekly, and let me tell you I wait with baited breath for their release and some of them are monthly - for these ones it’s always such a delightful surprise when they arrive in the inbox.

Stephanie Wood

I' can’t remember who put me on to this newsletter but it has become such a welcome an integral part of my Friday night. I must be in bed by 9pm in order to read it. It usually take me an hour such is it’s richness. If you like reading my newsletter, you are going to LOVE Stephanie Wood’s. She describes it as a mini-magazine ‘an abbreviated modern take on the old fashioned printed glossy product’. Topics include but are not limited - um everything! - ‘life, living, creativity, curiosity, beauty, design, joy, hope, humour, adventure, reading, current affairs, challenges, issues affecting women and people in mid-life, food (always food!), a bit of fashion, a bit of house porn, plus links to the best articles I’ve read during the week.’ Weekly on Friday evenings. Free (at the moment).

The Sit Spot

with Maggie Mackellar

Beautiful musings on her life on a sheep farm in Tasmania with regular mentions of her corgi’s, horses, sheep and the birds who frequent her life. Also a hearty insight into the life of a writer, who’s juggling all-the-things. And to end there’s always an interesting bundle of books, articles and essays to follow along with; truely unique picks that you would not find elsewhere. If you are interested in starting your own paid newsletter on Substack, Maggie is a bit of a pin-up girl (she will hate me saying that) she has thousands of subscribers and hundreds of paid subscribers all over the world. Drops weekly on Tuesday mornings.

With delightful photography like this why wouldn’t you want to scroll through Sophie Hansen’s newsletter early on a Monday morn. Image: Sophie Hansen

5 Things to be Cheerful about by Sophie Hansen

If you’re not on board with this delightful free newsletter then I wonder what rock you have been hiding under. 5 Things to be Cheerful about is seriously what gets me out on bed on a Monday morning. Wake > Lug oneself from the warmth of bed > Coffee on the stove (decaf, bleh, sorry!) > Couch > Read Newsletter > Start Day. Weekly on Monday mornings at about 630am.

The Hypen by

Emma Gannon

Remember Emma from her podcast Ctrl, Alt, Delete? At the end of last year Emma decided stop production of the podcast in favour of writing more newsletters. I am a paid subscriber and I can’t tell you how much value I get from her writings. There are x3 weekly offerings The Slow Sunday Scroll, the Tuesday Thread (she explores a topic in small detail and asks readers for their thoughts ie this weeks chat on Writers Routines) and then another more beefy essay on Thursdays ie ‘How to make six figures on Substack’ and ‘The books that got me through burnout’

Meg Bignell; Reasons to be Cheerful

Meg’s monthly dispatches are a welcome relief from the highly curated world on my iphone screen, they always make me laugh and feel better no matter the weather. I gobble it up the minute it arrives. It’s full of film, telly, audiobook, podcast, book, fashion and travel recommendations and experiences and it’s always lovely to hear what exciting things Meg has been up to. If I can’t convince you to sign up, let Meg’s opening blurb for the May edition of Reasons to be Cheerful do the trick. Also I interviewed Meg a while back and she was a delight. Here’s the podcast.

Please know that this newsletter is designed to cheer you up, and that occasionally it might also offend you with lewd references, toilet humour and the odd sweary bit. All unquoted opinions are my own, all images are taken by me or nicked from publicity sources. 

Very sorry for the extended silence but April got swallowed up by a scary deadline and then some bastard pressed fast forward and here we are in mid-May. Everything seems a bit like how I feel when I accidentally speed up my audiobooks and I can't work out why I feel all rushed and heart-poundy. I even took a whole six days off but this did little to assuage the heart-pound (see the 'Travel' section below). There have been many cheerful things piling up, so I won't loiter here, except to say that if you're a new subscriber, thank you and welcome. X

The beautiful Em. Image: Pip Williams

While he sleeps by Emily Herbert

Emily Herbert’s writing flows like liquid gold. It’s so silky and just beautiful! Her newsletter is hap-hazard. She has a toddler and is about to burst with a second any time soon but her musings on life are a readers dream. I cannot wait for her book, one day. She says her writings are permission to ramble without the constraints of a commission or deadline.

“There’s a flicker in the mottled light and I catch sight of two foxes, thickly pelted in pale citrus, fleeing across the field ahead of me. Their tails are cartoonishly fat, winter coated. The sausies dash after them in laughable earnest, tiny legs a-whir, Plum crooning her hunting war cry. Good luck, I say, watching the fleet footed titian beasties tear through a fence. Gone. The sausies are unperturbed, relentlessly optimistic in the face of their physical ineptitude. I’m not going to tell them.”

This Rural Life; Katrina Myers

I’ve long been a fan of Katrina. It started when I interviewed her for Graziher’s Life on the Land and was inspired by her morning routine. Then she taught me how to meditate properly and more recently I just can’t get enough of her super-down-to-earth posts on the tricky nuances of keeping healthy and in a good mind set when living rural life. Her posts are usually weekly and they are short!

The Shift with

sam baker

Writes about women over age 40, well celebrates them actually. Created after an editorial career in magazines Cosmo, Red, Seventeen when she looked around a realised there were no women of age, anywhere to be seen in our modern day pages. Could not agree more. I especially love her What Got My Attention this week editions.

Things worth knowing by

Farrah Storr

Another ex editor of Elle and Cosmopolitan and now head of Parnterships with Substack, Farrah writes beautifully (all the women here do) and seems to really hit the spot each time. After reading I think, ‘Ah I didn’t know I was thinking about that so much buy yeah I actually am and I agree!’ Loved ‘If you leave a city do you lose yourself?’ and ‘Translating an idea into a story’.

Downtime by

Alisha Ramos

The original cosy Queen, Alisha Ramos has re-booted her Friday evening newsletter Girls Night In, which I have subscribed to for years, to be the new Downtime. Sophie Hansen put me onto it in the good old My Open Kitchen days. It’s a light and lovely easy read with things to buy and articles to delve into. Alisha has just introduced paid subscriptions which open you up to a world of ‘cosy’ online offerings.

Notable Mentions: