One of the best things about the interwebs, I think, is the sheer volume of sensational women hanging about the place. Here (in no particular order) are a few that I love/admire/LOL at regularly/cyber-stalk.
Maureen Johnson (@maureenjohnson)
Pretty sure I’ve blogged about Maureen before. She’s a young adult fiction writer from New York (author of Suite Scarlett, 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Girl At Sea, Devilish and lots of others). I don’t remember how I stumbled upon her blog, but I fell in love with it before I read any of her books (which are also ace), which to me signals somebody who really gets it. Maureen is BFFs with the internet and social media, and clearly knows a) who her audience is and b) how to talk to them. She is also a Twitter (@maureenjohnson) and Facebook machine. I can’t count the number of author blogs I’ve read, but out of all of them – Neil Gaiman’s included – Maureen’s is the only one I check into on a regular basis. She is so, so funny – go read. Go!
Natalie Tran (@natalietran)
Natalie Tran is the very clever and funny Australian girl behind Community Channel on YouTube. She’s loltacular. I can’t say much more than that really, just watch this video. (For some reason WordPress isn’t letting me embed video today. Rude.)
Robyn Wilder (@orbyn)
Robyn is a longtime blogger, fellow Domestic Slut, highly entertaining and insightful writer and all-round pocket rocket. I had the bittersweet pleasure of getting to know Robyn just months before leaving the motherland to come home to Oz. Shocking timing, but better late than never.
You need to read her blog. Especially this post and this one and definitely this one. Oh gosh, and this one, which is fucking hilarious. And this one, which nearly made me cry. (Me! Stone-hearted me!)
The other thing about Robyn is that, like most of the bloggers I’ve met IRL, she is absolutely bloody lovely, and as funny in person as she is in print. Not to mention a human storage facility of excellent writing advice. (Oh get me, I’ve come over all gushy.)
Sian Meades (@sianysianysiany)
Siany is the clever kitten behind Domestic Sluttery, and one of the few people I know who don’t just have great ideas but actually act on them. I feel this is a pretty crucial part of the genius process.
Sian is that friend you have who, while you’re writing a book, has actually sat down and written one (and I have the memory of a celebratory hangover to prove it). She is gutsy and able in a “Who says I can’t do insert notoriously challenging activity here?” way, and rapidly becoming an online force to be reckoned with. She’s also fantastically fun, great to get drunk with and a brilliant Hay Festival camping buddy. Oh, and she made me a Domestic Slut, so I love her.
I also want to mention the other Domestic Sluts, who are all great writers and mavens of cool. Special places in my little bloggy heart for Gemma Cartwright and Jane Bradley, who make up the original five sluts. Both are fabulous in a real way, not like “Oh, those shoes are fabulous” but “Oh god, look at all the amazing stuff you’ve done, it hardly seems fair that you’re also rather pretty and nice.”
Gosh, I’m going to get some serious hits for all these repetitions of ‘slut’.
Margaret Nelson (@Flashmaggie)
Margaret is a marvellous broad, and I mean that in the best way. She has about a million blogs (okay, four) including one about death, one about clouds, one for her own art and one about… erm, everything else. Oh, and she also writes some great pieces for the Suffolk Humanists and Secularists site. I guess I just really like her because she’s a brilliant example of someone who refuses to shut up about humanism and secularism, even though there are so many people who wish humanists and secularists would just shut up or go away. Or maybe it’s more that god-free types aren’t supposed to be passionate about atheism, we’re just meant to be stoic and roll our eyes a lot. Either way, she’s not doing it and you can’t make her.
Danielle LaPorte (@DanielleLaPorte)
I am new to the brilliance that is Danielle LaPorte. Full credit to LC Hammer (speaking of fabulous broads…) for introducing me to White Hot Truth, now a regular stop for me when I’m in need of creative and entrepreneurial inspiration. I like her a lot. And I like her summary of White Hot Truth:
“for freedom fighting and love. for conscious business. for ruthless compassion, everyday life as art, and in praise of simplicity! for affluence (all forms of it) and passion that persuades.”
Lately I’ve really enjoyed her pieces, 11 Slightly scary ways to become a better you, How to apologise and 11 Tips for dealing with criticism.
