October 23, 2008
blogger joanna goddard
If you're anything like me you can't resist your daily dose of blogs. Certainly, I don't know how women coped with motherhood and maternity leave before them! If I didn't have my daily fix I'd feel incredibly isolated and out of touch with the world. And so I wanted to salute some of the people behind my favourite blogs in the next week or so.
Many of you probably have already met Joanna Goddard AKA A Cup Of Jo. She is a woman after my own heart - a writer. And an incredibly busy one at that. Not only does she have her own blog but she writes a daily relationships blog for Glamour Magazine called Smitten. But what makes me not only really admire Joanna - and a touch envious - is not just that she lives in Greenwich Village, New York, but that she writes for publications such as the New York Magazine and Cookie. Sigh. Plus, she was editor-in-chief of Bene, a quarterly magazine about Italian life and style. Si, sono molto gelosa!
Which five words best describe you? Energetic, cheerful, neurotic, friendly, loving.
What’s your proudest achievement? I am really happy to have written for New York Magazine. Even though it's a city magazine, it's very well-respected and well-read. They have such clever articles, and I had wanted to write for them for a long time. Then, last spring, I wrote my first story for them about New Yorkers who wear only one color (pics, above). It took ages to scout the people, but I was thrilled with the way it turned out and just so excited. Since then, I've written other stories, such as articles about kids making tons of money from lemonade stands and New Yorkers' over-the-top fabulous closets. I hope I'm able to keep writing stories for them. It makes me feel really proud to be part of such an smart, funny and creative publication.
Who inspires you? If I have to name one person right now, I'd say my dad. He's always had tons of energy and taught us to live life and really go for it. I remember on a family vacation two summers ago, we were all lazing around a waterfront B&B and lying in a hammock and reading the paper... when all of a sudden, I looked out on the water, and my dad was kayaking by! It made me burst out laughing. I hadn't even realised he was gone! His joie de vivre really inspires me.
What are you passionate about? Magazines. Riding my bike. Contemporary photography. The blogging community.
What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt? "You can have the life you want." That advice was written by Stephanie Congdon Barnes on the blog Unruly Things, and I love it and try to remember it.
Which person, living or dead, would you most like to meet? Jerry Seinfeld. It would be so much fun to just pal around with him. Even just looking at him makes me crack up at this point.
What’s next? A nap, I hope! For now, I'm concentrating on my new Glamour blog.
Down the road, I'd love to write a book about weddings, collaborate on a poster with the designer Mike Fusco and move to Europe.
What are you reading? For work (and pleasure), I'm reading a brand new book, Labor of Love, about natural childbirth. It's really, really fascinating to hear these women's stories.
Images courtesy of Joanna Goddard and New York Magazine