Novelicious is taking a 6 week break over the summer, so whilst my 'Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author' is on a break, I thought I'd update my blog.

Well this week has been a busy one. I read on twitter or on a blog recently that in order to be a good writer you need to read, read and read more. I'm a real believer in that, so I make sure that when I'm not writing, or podcasting, I'm reading. I'm quite lucky as I get to review books for the Chicklitclub, which is another great chick lit website. This week I've managed to read and file reviews for two books, My Soviet Kitchen by Amy Spurling and Greek: Double Date by Marsha Warner. This week I'm reading Turning the Tide by Christine Stovell, and it is fab so far.

I also decided that I needed to focus on my new writing projects as well as American Wedding. I started a novel which I have been thinking about for about 4 months, without any time to devote to it. I managed to write just shy of 10,000. I'm not saying they're the best 10,000 words, but they're a starting point. I'm planning to have a draft out in 16 weeks time. I'm hoping to write 10,000 words, which is about 3 chapters every two weeks.

This means I'm putting myself a bit more under pressure with American Wedding. I used write a chapter (around 3.5k words) one week, then record and edit the next week. Now I'm going to write, record and edit American Wedding in one week, to give me time for my new project the next week.

Hmm - how long it will last I don't know. But wish me luck, and who knows in 4 months time, I could have another novel under my belt.

Well I officially am busier than ever. If I’m not writing or podcasting, then I’m twittering, writing columns or reading books for review. For those of you that haven’t seen, I now have a weekly column on the chick lit website Novelicious. I’m ridiculously excited about it. I used to read their previous columnist Emily Tootsweet every week and enjoyed reading it. I thought it was a brilliant view point on the website as it was nice to hear what other writers go through. Hopefully people will enjoy reading the column as much as I used to enjoy reading Emily’s.

I’m also reviewing books for the chick lit club, which I’ve been doing for about 4 months now. It’s great as it keeps me reading. I read some top tips from Gemma Burgess earlier in the week which said how much as a writer you needed to read. It seems to be really true. Analysing what works and what doesn’t is really useful when writing your own stuff. My biggest problem with the site is that I read other peoples reviews and then end up reading the books they’ve recommended which means more reading. Good job I love, love, love chick lit!

And in other news I’ve also planned most of my wedding. I’m quite an annoying super organised person. So venue and church are booked. Wedding dress and invitations purchased. All I need to do now is wait for 13 months for the wedding to come round. Seems like ages away, but let’s hope it flies by.

The funny thing is, is that 13 months ago I wasn’t writing. I hadn’t even thought about writing a book at all. It’s amazing how far things have come in the last year. Fingers crossed lots more continues to happen in the next one  x