A Slightly Longer Than Usual Catch Up

I try to post these catch ups once a month, but I've been so busy that I haven't had the chance until now (and even now I'm being sneaky being at my desk at all as we're in the middle of the half-term holidays).

It's been a busy couple of months as I've been getting The Single Mums' Picnic Club ready for publication (which is just eight days away - eek!), trying to get my head around the dreaded GDPR stuff (sorry for bringing it up again. We are all sick of hearing about it, right?) and registering for PLR because The Little Bed & Breakfast by the Sea is available in libraries this year, which is very exciting.

Here's what else I've been up to over the past few weeks - remember to let us know what you've been up to in the comments below!

 

Right now, absolutely nothing. The Single Mums' Picnic Club is done and dusted and ready to hit your kindles (or other reading devices) and I have yet to dive into my next book, which will be BOOK TEN. I can't quite believe I've managed to get that many words down but it's true.

 

I'm going to relax over the last few days of the half-term hols and then on Monday morning my Take Off Your Pants book and multi-coloured Sharpie pens will be coming out to play as I start to plot a brand new book. Ideas for the book have been shouting at me for the past couple of months so I'm ready to start building them up into an actual story, and I'll be posting about the book - from the planning stages right up to publication - here on the blog over the next few months!

 

 

 

 

 

I've just started reading Anything You Do Say by Gillian McAllister, which has been waiting on my TBR shelf for a while. It has such a great premise and I'm looking forward to reading more.

 

Over the past couple of months, I've also read:

 

 

 

 

The Woolly Hat Knitting Club by Poppy Dolan

 

The Seagull by Ann Cleaves

 

Every Day by David Levithan

 

The House At Riverton by Kate Morton

 

The Memory Book by Rowan Coleman

 

The Juniper Gin Joint by Lizzie Lovell

 

The Fear by C L Taylor

 

The Beach Wedding by Dorothy Koomson

 

 

 

 

 

 

I finally worked my way through my latest re-watch of Friends on Netflix (and I'm already looking forward to starting all over again) and I've started a new, nostalgia-fuelled re-watch: Dawson's Creek. I've just started season 4, so just over half way through.

 

I've also been enjoying Britain's Got Talent (even if some of my favourites didn't get through to the live shows. Gutted we don't get to see the male Latin dance partners again *sad face*), The Split, and The Button (which is great for us all to sit down and watch together).

 

Then, of course, there were two must-watch TV moments: Eurovision and The Royal Wedding (even if I did have to catch up a day late!)

 

Film-wise, Rianne and I watched Love, Simon at the cinema after we'd read the book (and we both loved it), and I've also watched Coco (twice - fab film, even if I was late to discover it) and When We First Met on Netflix (again, loved it. Time travel/magic-y films are right up my street).

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can find me on Instagram here

 

 

So, that's my slightly longer than usual catch up. I hope you've been enjoying the sunshine and reading good books - let us know if you have any recommendations in the comments below! :)

Writing Tip: Read Aloud On Word

I've been proofreading The Single Mums' Picnic Club this week before it goes back to my editor for the final time, and I've been using the 'Read Aloud' function on Word to help.

Although the voices are rather robotic and I wouldn't normally listen to a book being read this way, it does help to spot small errors that I wouldn't necessarily pick up on while reading the manuscript in my head. For example, there have been several rogue words (usually 'the' or 'it') hidden in sentences that I've missed during various drafts, but hearing the sentences read out loud makes them much more obvious. I've also spotted the wrong name used, which jumped out at me this time, and little errors, such as 'suggestion' being used in place of 'suggested', makes the sentence jar when being read out loud.

 

You can adjust the settings on the 'Read Aloud' function, changing the voice and the reading speed, and although it isn't a perfectly natural-sounding read, I find it does help to weed out those little errors and improve the manuscript.

 

 

Do you have any proofreading tips? Share them in the comments below! :)

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Speed dating has never been so sweet!

Natalie has been cajoled into attending a speed dating event with a difference - the difference being a delicious baked treat to enjoy with each date. But will her possible matches prove to be just as sweet?

  

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Get Ready For The Royal Wedding With A Rom Com!

As you've probably heard, Harry and Meghan are getting married on Saturday, so what better way to catch wedding fever than with a book or two (or three) that centres on all things wedding?

 

I have three romantic comedies to offer you, starting at just 99p!

Details and links to follow...

 

 

 

Three women.

Three weddings.

But who will say I do – and who will say I don’t?

Ruth can’t quite believe she’s managed to snag The One but when he proposes, she can finally accept that she’s found her happily ever after. But when Ruth finds herself booking her dream church for just six weeks away, she starts to panic. You can’t plan a whole wedding at such short notice. Can you?

Trina has only just walked down the aisle, but she’s already starting to question whether they can make their marriage work. Will they survive the honeymoon period, or have they just made a very big – and very expensive – mistake?

Erin has somehow found herself agreeing to be a bridesmaid for the tackiest wedding known to man. With drunk hens, ridiculous outfits and a terrifying wedding planner, just what has Erin signed up for?

 

 

Amazon UK | Amazon US

 

[If you're a member of Kindle Unlimited, you can read the book for FREE]

 

 

Love happens when you least expect it…

Emily Atkinson stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago! She’s fed up of dating frogs in order to find her very own Prince Charming and is giving up on men entirely…

But then she’s invited to the wedding of the year at the enchanting Durban Castle and realises that perhaps bumping into a real-life knight in shining armour isn’t quite as far away as she thought!

Will Emily survive the wedding and walk away an unscathed singleton – or finally find her own happily-ever-after?

 

 

Amazon UK | Amazon US | Kobo | iBooks

 

 

Will you…date me?
Delilah James, singleton and smoothie-addict, has six months to find a date for her oldest friend’s wedding. Oh, and to prove to her ex, best man Ben, that she has totally moved on since he dumped her out-of-the-blue nine months, eight days and seventeen hours ago…

So, with her two BFFs playing Cupid, Delilah launches herself into the high-tech, fast-paced and frankly terrifying world of dating. Luckily there’s the hot new guy at work, Adam Sinclair, to practice her flirting on – even if, as a colleague, he’s strictly off-limits!

Yet time’s running out and date after disastrous date forces Delilah to tell a little white lie – and invent a fake boyfriend! But will her secret crush on Adam ruin everything? Does she even care about Ben anymore? And is it too late to untangle her web of lies and take a real date to the wedding…?

 

 

Amazon UK | Amazon US | Kobo | iBooks

 

 

The Wedding that Changed Everything: Fun Facts

Fancy a peek behind-the-scenes of The Wedding that Changed Everything? I've put together a few fun facts about the book, from the working title to little connections between Emily's story and some of my other books. You may have already had a sneaky peek at some of the facts if you're a newsletter subscriber, but I've thrown in a few more for you!

Love happens when you least expect it…

Emily Atkinson stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago! She’s fed up of dating frogs in order to find her very own Prince Charming and is giving up on men entirely…

But then she’s invited to the wedding of the year at the enchanting Durban Castle and realises that perhaps bumping into a real-life knight in shining armour isn’t quite as far away as she thought!

Will Emily survive the wedding and walk away an unscathed singleton – or finally find her own happily-ever-after?

Amazon UK | Amazon US