Blogs, newsletters and podcasts I’m into right now

I do a post like this occasionally, but it’s the sort of thing that needs to be updated occasionally. Blogs come and go. Sadly, some of my favorites have gone, but some great new ones have come. And, the last time I did a post like this, it didn’t include podcasts. I listen to more podcasts than anything these days, because I can do it when I’m doing other things. Like editing blog posts, for example. I’ve also been reading a few newsletters regularly for a good time now. So I’ll share those as well.

Some of these are directly related to writing and book marketing. Some are educational or inspiring. Some are just fun.

One way or another, here are the blogs and newsletters I’m reading, and the podcasts I’m listening to right now.

Blogs

Thrive is actually the most recent blog I’ve started following, after hearing about it on a podcast I’ll be telling you about later. It’s from a company called Thrive Global, founded by Arianna Huffington. Thrive is all about getting a good night’s sleep, and having a balanced, exceptional life. I love that theory, taking care of ourselves so we can be great.

Three recent posts from Thrive are I’m a divorced parent, can I raise happy kids? Why we need to talk about lawyer’s mental health now and Your environment affects this aspect of your health more than you realize.

Little Coffee Fox is a blog about bullet journals, calligraphy, and other paper arts. It’s my chill down blog, that I read pretty much only for pleasure. Bullet journals are a great way to keep your life in order, but they’re also a really fun hobby. This site has reviews, hand drawing examples, meditation advice, and bullet journal how to’s.

Three recent posts from Little Coffee Fox are A comprehensive Lamy Safari Fountain pen review, High-end highlighters, a Zebra Mildliner review, and Free October 2018 Calendar Printable for your bullet journal. I downloaded it, it’s very pretty.

I’ve been following Boho Berry for a good long time now. It’s a great resource for inspiration, business advice, journaling, calendars, and organization. I really love her stuff. She runs all sorts of challenges every month, has a book club, and posts some of the best Youtube videos about planning, fountain pens, virtual and physical planners.

Three recent posts from Boho Berry are September Book Club, Year of Yes, Boho Berry Challenge, September, and August Book Club, You are a badass.

I’m of two minds about adding Marketing Creativity to this list. On the one hand, I love this blog and have read it for years. I buy her planner every year, which means I’m looking at this woman’s work literally every single day. At the same time, she hasn’t posted anything since July. Now, she’s got kids, so maybe she’s just really freaking busy. But her work is solid, and if you’re trying to run an online business, this is one you want to follow. I just hope she’s okay.

Three recent-ish blog posts from Marketing Creativity are How The 30-90 Rule Affects Your Business, Where Do You Want To Be in One Year, and Make An Average

Finally, I’m sure you’ve seen me share The Middle Finger Project blog posts on social media all the time. I hardly know where to start with this one. Ash Ambridge is irreverent, vulgar, fearless, amazing! She lives exactly how she wants to live, isn’t afraid of literally anything, and inspires me to be the same.

Three recent blog posts from The Middle Finger Project are Sometimes Wonderful Can Still be Heavy, Know Who Your Haters Are, and One Big Sexy Question for Instant Clarification On: What the Hell Do I Want To Do With My Life?

Podcasts

I’m trying to include more science in my science fiction. 60-second science is helping. It’s a quick listen, put out by Scientific American. It’s a great, quick listen, and it helps me learn something new every weekday.

Listening to Sci-fi & Fantasy podcast is great, but it does have one serious drawback. I keep stopping whatever I’m doing to write down new marketing ideas. Hosted by three successful indie writers, this podcast has become rather an obsession of mine. Most weeks they’ll have on a guest, like Brian Meeks who talked about AMS ads!

If you’re all about the hustle, like me, you’ve got to be listening to Skimm’d From The Couch. (I’m a writer, but I want to be a well-fed writer, damn it.) The hosts have on a different businesswoman every week, talking about what it’s really like to reach the top today. I’m always learning new things from this podcast, and constantly getting new inspiration. This is the podcast that I’m constantly stopping so I can share something I’ve learned with the first person I see.

I purely listen to Lore for entertainment purposes. Aaron Mahnke tells spooky, real-life stories that are the basis of some of our favorite horror tales. And he’s everywhere now! Not only do I look forward to every new episode of the Lore Podcast, but I also watched the whole first season of Lore on Amazon Prime in the span of a week. Season two is coming out on the 19^th of this month. But you can listen to over 95 episodes of the podcast right now.

If you’re not listening to Bad With Money, you might feel a little better about the money world than I do. But I am more realistic about money, how I handle it, and why I’m so bad about it! Listening to Bad With Money is like having a cranberry and vodka with a friend and bitching about how freaking hard it is to make money, use it well, and not spend our whole lives screwing up with it.

Finally, if you’ve been reading Paper Beats World for any amount of time, you know I love Writing Excuses. Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, and Howard Taylor teach writing so well, I would easily compare it to actually sitting in at a writing class. Each of these authors is established, traditionally published, and honored by their peers. If you want to be a writer, or if you want to be a better writer, then listen to this podcast. It’s only 15 minutes long because we’re in a hurry.

Newsletters

I already mentioned Skimm’d From The Couch. The Skimm is the daily newsletter that is the actual focus of that company. I read this newsletter every morning on the way to work, and I love it. I get a quick overview of the news of the day in an entertaining way. While I do read and watch a lot of news and political sources through the day, this is my first step into it in the morning. Kind of my version of the paper over my cup of coffee.

Finally, you might remember me talking about By Regina as a blog before. But she’s grown away from the blog and has started moving toward sending out advice packed newsletters for people who want to be professionals online. Let me rephrase that. This newsletter is for people who want to be wild, spontaneous, work all the time because you love it, be a crazy bohemian but at the same time get your job done and have money for dinner. I love everything Regina does, and have taken a ton of her classes. She’s hilarious, by the way. When you’re marketing your book, and you don’t want to feel like a boring business person or suck all the soul out of your writing, read this newsletter.

I hope this helps you find content that helps you, inspires you, or entertains you. There are so much good out there, and so many amazing voices. I’m happy that you come here twice a week to hear mine. I’m excited to share my favorite with you.

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