Enlarge By Evan Agostini, AP Gwyneth Paltrow writes an online newsletter about her life for her website, GOOP.com. "Everything I write, everything that is on there, is very much from the heart," she says.  Enlarge GOOP.com has Paltrow's stories and advice on everything from fashion to travel to family.

Q: What was your inspiration for GOOP.com?
A: I have this incredible, blessed, sometimes difficult, very lucky, very unique life, and I've gotten to travel all over the place and to work and live in different cities. … I go on tour with my husband and go to cities I would never necessarily go to. So I started accruing all of this information. I am the person my friends call when they want to know: "I am redoing this bathroom, and I want a sink that looks midcentury, but a contemporary version of a midcentury. Where should I go?" or "How do I make your (recipes)?" … I thought this would be a fun, creative way to share with friends.

I never really knew where I wanted it to go when I was starting it. I just thought if I could affect one woman's life positively who was trying to do all the things I was doing, and I had one solution that worked for me that might work for her, it was worth it to try and share it.

Q: Why the name GOOP?
A: It is a nickname, like my name is G.P., so that is really where it came from. And I wanted it to be a word that means nothing and could mean anything.

Q: When actors or artists do something different, they open themselves up to criticism. How would you respond to the people who are critical of your latest endeavor?
A: I think part of the problem is people get a hit of energy when they are negative about something, and it is a very detrimental way for them to get that hit of energy. They do not understand why they do not have a happy life. That kind of stuff is just noise to me. I just feel sorry for them.

Q: In one of your newsletters, you wrote lovingly about your late father (producer Bruce Paltrow) and his illness, and in another, you mentioned your son's love of a particular recipe. How do you balance sharing what shapes your insights and keeping your personal life private?
A: I just try to make each letter as authentic as possible, and I haven't censored myself. I don't go in it thinking, "Oh, I want to achieve this or come off this way." Everything I write, everything that is on there, is very much from the heart. It is very authentic, and I haven't yet written something where I felt "Ooh, that's too personal, I need to take that out" or "I should be more personal." Everything that has come out so far has been very organic and true.

Q: Can you say what is in store with the GOOP site?
A: It is never going to be a (traditional) website; it will remain a newsletter. I think in this day and age, people expect a website to have new content every 90 seconds, and there is no way I could do that and make it all be me.

Q: Is there any one aspect of putting the newsletters together that you love the most? The cooking? Writing?
A: I actually love doing all of it. We have great fun coming up with the recipes and testing them and feeding everyone in the house and asking, "What do you think of this? What do you think of that?" I also really enjoy the writing part, and I usually do that when my kids are asleep, and I just take a few minutes. I am by nature a very creative person, and I really can only do one movie a year because my kids are so small, and if I miss even two days of their lives, they're gone.

Q: What is up for you in 2009?
A: Well, I am going to do the second Iron Man film, and I will be working on this and maybe starting to work on cookbooks. Who knows, I'll see where it goes.