#100 A Slow Sunday Scroll ☕️
one hundy emails! also: the era of the online curator...
Heads up, this is a packed newsletter full of many juicy things, so you may need to read it on your web browser (why does saying ‘web browser’ make me feel 105 years old? Or you can read it more easily on the Substack app.)
This is my #100th instalment of my Sunday Scroll newsletter! PS. Isn’t it quite fun that Substack allows us to highlight some text now? I will use it sparingly, I promise. I’ve started reading books with a yellow highlighter pen recently but that’s a whole other thing for another day.
Truthfully I have probably sent out more than 100 of these, because there was a version of this newsletter on Mailchimp before Substack, but STILL! One hundred newsletter missives telling you about all the fun and juicy things I’m reading, consuming, enjoying!! And there are 82,000 of you who read it! I’m also amazed because I still LOVE writing them for you, and I am someone who often gets bored easily!
I save up all the little morsels of inspiration and enjoyment and I email myself the links and then I put them into this newsletter. There’s tons of stuff that doesn’t make it in — because I am carefully curating it. I remember a former agent of mine telling me that in addition to being a writer, I was a curator, and I shrugged it off (no, that word is used for those art gallery people who wear pashminas!) but actually, I think that is all this Sunday Scroll newsletter is: a bit of fun curation. I will take that. I like to curate for you.
Someone said recently, that because of all the ‘slop’ on the Internet, we will increasingly need more online curators. Someone whose taste we trust and enjoy, to tell us where the f*ck to go on holiday, what books to read, what hair straighteners to buy, what cream to put on our faces, and which think-pieces to engage with. I think we are in the era of the online curator.
My corner of the Internet is all about creativity and wellbeing—I will point you in the direction of quotes and prompts, behind-the-scenes from a creative life, things that could be useful, what notebooks I love, what retreats to invest in, what books to read to inspire you, how to have boundaries and carve a life you love. These are my lanes.
There are wonderful writers on here who curate other stuff, like how to love/style our home (e.g India Knight), what to eat (e.g Ella Risbridger), what to read (e.g Ochuko Akpovbovbo and Pandora Sykes), what to wear (e.g Alexandra Stedman), where to travel (e.g Freya Bromley and Farrah @Substack), and where to get our media gossip (for me it’s Feed Me, Embedded and New York magazines’s ‘Book Gossip’)
Who do you follow—and for what? How do your online faves improve your life? I’d love to know in the comments.
New post!
It’s not my birthday until next week, but I wrote a little something:
My new creativity book! Out on June 25th.
If you are intrigued about my new book A Creative Compass - my new creativity guide full of creative essays, stories and prompts - here is an extract below! This is from one of my favourite sections of the book, read to Freya Bromley on her podcast :)
BOOK EVENTS! :-)
Next week I’m doing an event at the amazing Estelle Manor with my friend Lucy Pearson at The Literary Edit. On June 29th, I’m doing an event in Porto with my dear friend Abigail Bergstrom—if this is where you are based do pls join us as we discuss my new book A Creative Compass and Abigail’s second novel Selfish Girls. Can’t wait! Tickets here. (It’s FREE, you just need to reserve your spot!).
I’m also signing a lot of BOOKS at Penguin HQ next week, it’s not too late to pre-order a SIGNED copy of A Creative Compass here.
Every other Sunday, I share a curated mix of joyful links—books, podcasts, articles—in these ‘Sunday Scrolls’, read by 80,000+ people.
As one reader put it: “Taking a stroll through Emma’s Slow Sunday Scrolls is the literary croissant and coffee of my Sunday morning. A delicious, indulgent way to ease yourself into the day.” To read the whole thing, you’ll need to upgrade to being a paid subscriber :)
Over to this week’s Slow Sunday Scroll Picks…
Below the paywall, a piece on the importance of optimism that I can’t stop thinking about; literary nepo babies, a wild NYC home tour, promo self-sabotage and the inspirations behind some of my favourite writers—plus some brilliant podcast and book recommendations if you scroll further down too.
— Inside the “I have no friends” trend on TikTok
— The quiet grief of adult friendship
— The anti-hustle book launch
— Katherine May on writing, deep terrain and AI