It's Friday night...

And here we are.

As a Substack virgin, I thought it only polite to introduce myself before leaping in with my first post. Hi… I’m Andrea McLean, and I’m a writer, broadcaster, speaker and a very bad dancer. Not necessarily in that order.

I worked on the telly for twenty-odd years; something that started by accident because I misread a job advert, and ended up becoming a weather girl. That led to me becoming a ‘normal’ TV presenter, where I sat on sofas and interviewed famous people.

I quit my TV job in the middle of the pandemic to go all-in on my female personal growth business, because I wanted to help woman get the emotional and financial freedom they deserve. It went bust and I lost everything, which cost me my emotional and financial freedom. The irony of that is not lost on me.

Here’s some more stuff about me:

· I started my career as a features journalist. It’s why I moved to London with everything I owned on the back seat of my car, slept on floors and worked for free until I got a job as a writer. After being promoted to Production Editor I realised I hated being in charge - hence applying for other jobs and accidentally becoming a weather girl.

· I really, really love writing about the ups and downs of real life, and the brilliant and bonkers way we behave. I guess the proper name for it is Human Behaviour, which I find both interesting and rage inducing, and always gets me thinking…

· I’ve written four books (two Sunday Times Best Sellers, which I’m very proud of) and am currently writing my fifth, which is all about shame. There’s a lot of personal experience in there, as well as other stuff. Going bust, getting divorced (twice), being a blended family, working in telly, online trolling – there’s a lot to talk about.

· I started a Master’s Degree in Psychology at the age of 54. I dropped out after realising that I couldn’t in fact be a full-time student, and work, and be a parent and wife all at the same time. I felt very stupid for thinking I could do it all, but now I’m ok with it.

· Fun Fact: Two of my husbands have been called Nick. (Numbers 1 and 3 – who is my current, and longest serving husband. So far so good.)

· We have four adult children (two of mine, two of his) who at various times live with us, don’t live with us, or bring boyfriends home to also live with us.

· As a consequence, we never have enough food in the house, the washing machine is always on, someone is usually having a drama, and I endlessly dream of winning the lottery and secretly buying a flat somewhere so I can just hide for a while.

· My favourite pastimes are watching telly, eating chocolate, and not going out.

· I didn’t know I was a Very Bad Dancer until I was a reserve / back up (not to be confused with ‘backing’ dancer on Strictly Come Dancing. It’s now official, and not just because my kids laugh at me.

So, what’s my Substack about?

I've Been Thinking... With Andrea McLean covers any and everything that comes across my radar. Each week, I have no idea what will inspire; whether it’ll be something that has made me excited, soulful or raging - which kind of makes it more fun. And it is fun.

It also covers the 4 Things that I've done each month that are interesting to watch, read or do. Plus I’ll throw in links and discount codes where available, so you can try them out too.

I hope you’ll come along for the ride. Because it will be a ride….

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