Good Morning Wordsmith Laners, and welcome to another week of wordy, girly wonderland here at Wordsmith Lane. Here is my monday mix of style, smarts and savoir-faire for the week ahead:

1. Of the mags that tickly my fancy, Shop Til You Drop, Marie-Claire, Vogue and Yen have all been released over the past week, though I’m going to admit that Vogue and Yen are my picks of the four.

2. Get your travel savoir-faire in check with the fabulous Ciao Bella Travel Kits, pretty red tins of miniature products that keep you looking great and stylish without weighing your bags down or occupying room that might be better left to shopping. Available in ‘Face Mask’ (with eight shots of nine grams) and ‘Hair + Face’ (with four shots each of cleanser, toner and moisturiser and one hydrating mask shot), they are the perfect addition for that glamorous getaway. For more Ciao Bella goodies, check out their website

3. On the topic of getaways, the lovely Catherine Manuell Collection will be hitting Myer stores nationally this month, making it a hell of a lot easier to get our hands on her girly range of travel gear – including classic collector trolley sets, medium suitcases, self-handle laptop cases, and for this season only, the laptop wheely. To have a peek at her collection, visit www.catherinemanuelldesign.com

4. My DVD of choice this week is none other than 17 Again, which hits video stores on September 17th. I must admit that although I did not watch it for Zac Efron, he was a mighty good perve. I actually loved the movie for the tale behind it though, and found it to be quite funny. Must also confess that I wished I could return to my 17 year old self, and do things like ask my crush out or stop being such a goody-two-shoes.

5. Aspiring to be the next big investigative journo? You can’t go by ‘Release the Hounds’ by Christine Fogg (Allen & Unwin). This has been a monumentally beneficial addition to my bookshelf, and has proved to be a great help when researching a lot of my big features. It covers everything from sourcing documents, finding contacts, sifting through databases (and what ones to sift through at that), doing the legal bits and more.

6. Have been getting a few emails about when you should follow up on a story. I tend to do this about two to three weeks after I send it off, and I send it as a forward so that the original pitch is still in the email, in case the ed never got to it. You never know. That said, following up is not usually successful for me – I guess if the story really stands out, they’ll email straight after they’ve read it.

7. Don’t forget to tune in this afternoon for an interview with the lovely Sarah Hannah Fisher – Wordsmith Lane loyal, and aspiring writer! I figure it’s good to have interviews with a mix of people in the game, no matter what stage they are at. Sadly, I will be on Wordsmith Lane hiatus for the rest of the week, as I’ll be heading down to Canberra until Sunday for a youth leadership forum. It’s going to be so weird not being able to do work for the rest of the week, but at least I have email on my phone. I have a pretty big week and weekend with the conference though, so I will probably be buggered by the time monday rolls around! That said, I want you all to use your non-Wordsmith Lane reading time wisely – by furthering yourself with a little writing task, no matter how teeny. Have a great week xx

Tags: magazines, travel