→ Three small steps to blogging happiness

→ In which my faith in the internet is restored

→ I <3 blog friends

At last. The next exciting instalment of Blog Love. On reflection, I think I was being a bit ambitious trying to post every month; you can't manufacture love, or conjure it up out of thin air. You have to feel it in your gut, and that goes for blogs as well as boyfriends. So from now on, I'll be sharing my blog loves sporadically (does anyone else think of Clueless, otherwise known as the greatest film of the 1990s, when they hear that word?) and only when I am really, truly loving something.

Right now, as someone who often finds herself floundering in the depths of career indecision and uncertainty about the future, I'm loving bloggers who tell it like it is. Or at least, how they think it is. They're blunt, painfully honest, and I might not agree with everything they say, but at least they have the balls to give it to me straight. I need some of that in my life, and I reckon you might too.

Oof. Where to start with Penelope Trunk? She is ostensibly a careers blogger, distributing no-holds-barred advice to troubled Generation Y-ers, confused entrepreneurs and desperate stay-at-home mothers alike. Following in the cowboy-booted-footsteps of The Pioneer Woman, she left big city life behind to live in rural Wisconsin with her two children and the Farmer, her imaginatively-named and long-suffering second husband. But be in no doubt; Penelope Trunk is no Ree Drummond. This is not a saccharine, over-photoshopped vision of rural perfection. This is screaming fights and getting run over by her husband in a tractor. Divorce, Asperger's, goat-farming and abortion, all somehow tied up with a bow and presented as careers advice.

If there's one thing I admire, it's a writer who can delve into seemingly unrelated topics, collect all the shimmering threads together and weave them into a colourful tapestry of themes and ideas that shouldn't go together, but somehow do. And if there's one thing Penelope does well, it's ideas. Big, juicy, shocking ones. She even has a sidebar devoted to them: Don't do what you love. Choose sex over money. Job hop more. Blueprint for a woman's life. And last but not least controversial, don't report sexual harrassment.


I'm not for a moment saying I agree with her on all of these, or even some of them (although her thoughts on the quarterlife crisis and prioritising your ovaries over your CV both gave me pause for thought). But she writes with such conviction and hard, brutal honesty that, as an indecisive soul myself, I can't help but be oddly fascinated by her. I suspect much of her punchy style and chronic over-sharing is inextricably tied up with her Asperger's Syndrome - it's impossible to tell whether she's being deliberately provocative or if that's just her personality - but, for me, her unpredictable, out-there take on things only makes her more engaging. Of course, it makes some people hate her with a passion. Which is understandable, too.

I feel compelled to point out that I first heard of Penelope Trunk via Lisa of Privilege, whose opinion I respect (and who, incidentally, really must be the subject of her own Blog Love post some time soon. Mental note), so I'm inclined to believe there is something of value there. And it's dangerously easy, in the vast space of the internet, to live an easy life reading only things you already know you'll agree with. Perhaps the value of reading Penelope Trunk lies in her ability, if nothing else, to make you think.

Or she could just be completely insane. I'll let you be the judge.

And finally a quickie, because I'm pretty sure that many of you will already be long-time devotees of the snarky indie wedding queen East Side Bride. Her legendary Dear ESB posts (now also featured on 100 Layer Cake) see her giving no-nonsense advice to brides on fashion, wedding planning and life in general. 

I'm not talking advice like, "here's a detailed bullet-point guide on what to do if you think you might cry at your wedding". 

I'm talking advice like, "Please tell your fiancé to remove the stick from his ass," and "Fuck the obligatory invites. Cross them off of the list right now," and "CHOP IT ALREADY. Jesus." (This latter being in response to a bridal hair quandary, in case you were wondering.)

ESB also has a very distinctive eye for photography and style (just check out her pins), which sets her apart from other, more weddingy wedding blogs. She might occasionally be guilty of trotting out one skinny model too many, but at least they're in interesting poses and not strapped into identical fluffy white ballgowns. Why have another dreamy shot of a bride in a veil when you can have a  picture of a creepy old lady wearing a crown? Why, indeed.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is your lot. I'd love to know what you think of these three, and shout out if you have any other recommendations for straight-talkin' sharp-shootin' bloggers (I don't know why I've suddenly turned into John Wayne there).

Un-roast: Today I love the way I look wearing a flower crown and lots of eyeliner while gazing wistfully out of a window. Oh, wait. That's not me. Dammit.

Images: 1. Lee Crutchley 2. Penelope Trunk 3. Caesar Sebastian on flickr via Style Bubble 4. Alexandra Grecco via East Side Bride