‘Big Beautiful Female Theory’, gothic horror, and the Muskrat is why we can’t have nice things

This week’s giveaway is a special edition of Colleen Hoover’s novel, ‘It Ends with Us’

A short-but-sweet one today, folks. My brain is fried from a cascade of deadlines – two Wednesday, one Friday, and three (THREE!) yesterday. The articles will be out in various health and wellbeing magazines in the coming months and cover topics that were fun and fascinating to write about, especially the one for MiNDFOOD magazine. It’s not my usual type of article I’d write for that mag, but is about a way-cool South Aussie initiative I stumbled on recently. One that gives everyone the opportunity to “be the change you wish to see in the world”. I love that stuff!

Anyway, have a sparkling, sunshiny week. (I almost wrote ‘Have a sparkling, sunshiny wee’. I need another coffee.)

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News

1.     First, a Very. Good. Thing. My bestest writerly friend and all-round awesome human Rosalie has just published her first novel, The Castle – Diary of a Lost Woman. It’s available on Kindle and is one for fanciers of gothic fiction with a modern twist. Think castles, mysterious paintings, kick-ass heroines who are altogether too wise and worldly to believe in all this crap… or are they? I’m so stoked for her! Should we invite her over to this newsletter for an author Q&A in the very near future, do you think? I think we should.

2.     Uh-oh. After I sang Twitter’s praises in the ‘Raves and Faves’ section of last week’s newsletter as the best social media platform for writers, new owner Elon Musk has been making headlines for seemingly being hellbent on turning the place into a hellscape. He’s reported laid off half the Twitter workforce, who were locked out of their remote access overnight. Then there’s the part of the kerfuffle about blue ticks – which generally signify Twitter accounts of celebrities, politicians, government officials, and members of the media. They’re currently free, provided you meet the criteria when you apply. Musk is planning to change all that by charging a monthly fee. As someone who qualified for a blue tick earlier this year, this does make me miffed (I’m aware I sound like a wally, but still). Mine is for being a freelance journalist, and I worked hard for it. I’m mighty attached to it, but not enough that I’m going to pay Musk for the privilege. Get stuffed!

Reviews

1.     Here’s another one to file under the heading of ‘Can Companies Please Stop Cancelling or Changing All My Favourite Products?’. Although, maybe these things sometimes turn out okay. I’d been hoarding the old version of AG Haircare’s repair serum that contained keratin, as it smoothed down my frizzy, naturally curly hair like magic. The company has since altered the formulation to remove the keratin and make the product vegan. I was skeptical. This week I finally was down to the last squeeze of the old tube, so I put that on half my head and the new version on the other half. Happy days, I couldn’t tell the difference!

2.     I’ve followed Eloise Grills’s career from afar for years in a hopefully uncreepy, admiring way. Her comic/essay/poetry combination works have turned up in various literary journals I’ve read and are always a dreamily pithy concoction. This week I’ve been reading her book, Big Beautiful Female Theory, which came out June this year. It’s a total vibe if you’re keen for pretty-but-slightly-pervy art mixed with thought-provoking feminist analysis of the way women and female-presenting folk experience their bodies and other people’s reactions to their bodies. I (re)learnt some feminist theory, I was introduced to new artists, I admired Eloise’s way with words, I was fascinated by some of her confessions in the memoir side of it all. Buy this for your feminist friend for Christmas, if she doesn’t already own it.

Lulu

In place of ‘Raves and Faves’ this week, I offer you this photo of our cheeky piece of kitty crumpet, Lulu. We also have a tabby of peculiar, anxious habits and a brown bunny who thinks she’s a cat and should eat kitty crunchies.

Lulu’s hobbies include: obsessing over ‘cha-chas’ aka birds she can see through the window, pestering me for food with bunts and bites in the mornings, squeezing into cupboards and sitting on clothes, carrying the rabbit’s vegetables (mainly mini cucumbers, cubes of eggplant, and strands of broccolini) around in her mouth and delivering them to our bedroom as presents, and snuggling under the covers.

Giveaway

This week’s giveaway is a copy of the collector’s edition of Colleen Hoover’s contemporary romance novel ‘It Ends with Us’ with the pretty pink cover. To enter, pop your name and address in the entry form here.

Last week’s winner of Grace Tame’s memoir ‘The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner’ is Sallie Andrew. Sallie, I’ve emailed you!

Playlist of the Week

Bad bitches out to brunch smashing avos and glass ceilings:

1.     Sunshine - TIEKS, Dan Harkna

2.     Last Time - Becky Hill

3.     Freed from Desire - Gala

4.     Right As Rain - Adele

5.     Body Groove - Wyles, Architechs, Crystxl King

6.     Breathe (feat Sean Paul) – Rap version - Blu Cantrell, Sean Paul

7.     Sunny - Biig Piig

8.     Doo Wop (That Thing ) - Ms. Lauryn Hill

9.     Remember - Becky Hill, David Guetta

10.  Love Looks Better - Alicia Keys

11.  Uh Huh - Jade Bird

12.  Paper Planes - M.I.A.

13.  Happiness - Alexis Jordan

14.  Sunrise - Norah Jones

15.  Afraid To Feel - LF SYSTEM