So what if everyone is doing it?
I didn't do it properly the first time around.
When it comes to parties you can rely on me to be one of two things: early or late - never anything in between. With regard to Substack, it appears I’m erring towards the latter and having joined the ranks at a time when everyone seems to be doing it I am, at least, in excellent company.
Timing is everything though and I’ve been somewhat reassured by something the advertising executive Rory Sutherland said. He made the observation that - and I’m paraphrasing here - creatives are maddening to work with because they wait for inspiration to strike.
And that’s exactly what I’ve been waiting for. The right way to introduce myself on a new platform. There has been a lot of pacing back and forth, online browsing and hoovering of skirting boards while the Word doc remained blank…
This is why I’m here though… After something of a hiatus from writing, where I’ve focused on my podcast and creating video content, my fingers were beginning to itch.
For nearly ten years, from 2003 to 2012, I compiled the beauty and fashion pages of OK! Magazine, including a sort of Girl About Town style column where I shared the highlights of my week. Plus, I covered some of the most memorable celebrity weddings, Jordan and Peter’s as well as numerous footballers’, and I was in a 5-star hotel room with a celebrity at least twice a week getting an exclusive for the magazine that was so popular I once witnessed two people come to actual blows over the last copy in WH Smith.
In my freelance career, I’ve written for many titles including Red, Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, The Sunday Times Style, The Daily Mail and Stylist.
All this is to say that I’m no stranger to what you could crudely refer to as ‘banging out copy’ but with Substack, I wanted to be more considered.
So, what can you expect from me here that you won’t find on any of my other platforms?
My main plan is to bring back a weekly column. My one regret about having the luxury of a picture byline and 500 words to do with as I pleased every week in one of the biggest-selling magazines of all time is that I never really leaned into it. I was 26 when I first got that column and, in hindsight a little gun shy, but I’m 46 now, have a lot more to say and enough experience to say it with confidence. And hopefully, none of it will make me cringe when I read it back in a few years.
It’s where I’ll share the highlights of my content that week by signposting the latest episode of the podcast, what’s trending on my social media channels and it’s where I’ll be flexing my writing muscles and deep-diving into topics that have come up on the show and in listener and follower questions.
It’s where you’ll find my beauty, fashion and lifestyle reviews (I’ll always be clear about what’s gifted, what I’ve bought and my opinions will be honest regardless of how I came by them) and, I’m sure, other musings on everything from fitness fits, restaurant reviews and more.
So, join me, won’t you… Sign up, tell a friend, share this where you share things and let’s get going!
You’re not late.
You’re bang on time.
Honestly, I farted around and had a membership here for A YEAR and did sweet FA before finally getting my act together and getting something up and out there.