Some of you who subscribe to my other blog, Old Fashioned Girls, which I write with my dear friend Miranda, may have seen that yesterday the blog was updated, moved to a new website (here) and contains the exciting news that Miranda and I are going to be running our own online book club and launching our first online Quarterly publication in December. We are both very pleased with how the site looks and are looking forward to branching out into new territory. I really do hope that many of you will pop over and join us. Our first book club will be in September, which Miranda will be leading, and the book is going to be My Cousin Rachel. More details are all on the new website so do go and have a browse when you have a moment.
Following on from this, I am planning on scaling back my posts on Book Snob until the New Year. This is because I have started writing a novel, which I have been planning and drafting and thinking about for a very long time, and I am determined to get it finished. Making it public is hopefully going to spur me on, as I have a tendency to give up on anything I write after a few pages, and I have also signed up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November, which will give me the structure and deadlines I need to complete a first draft. As such, I need to make sacrifices, and Book Snob will be one of them. I can’t stop working, and reading and writing reviews takes up far more of my time than my Old Fashioned Girls posts, so it seems an obvious solution to scale back on here. I’m not saying that I won’t be blogging any more; I very much hope to still maintain a once-a-week post, but November may be more scanty than that when the writing starts to take off with real urgency to meet the NaNoWriMo deadlines.
So, in a nutshell, you will be seeing far more of me on Old Fashioned Girls than you will on Book Snob over the next few months, and I would love to see some of my lovely Book Snob readers joining us over there for our monthly book clubs. I’ll be running the October and December clubs, so do keep your eyes peeled for the book choice announcements.
Thank you in advance for your patience; I know my posting has become increasingly erratic since I started teaching, and I appreciate you sticking with me as I work out a balance!
Book Snob 
So exciting. And not all that surprising. I have hoped for a long time that you would move more into writing. So very thrilled am I!
Thank you so much Ellen! 🙂
Ooeeoooeeeeooooo!! How very exciting, good luck!!! xxxx
Thank you! I really appreciate your support!
Good decision. I have been waiting to read this for a long time and I will be cheering you on.
By the way, could you identify the painting? I have that very same secretary (the furniture, not the young lady, mores the pity) in my study.
Found it. Girl Writing (1931) by Harold Knight (1874-1961) I should have known!
Thank you Charles, as always – and well done for getting there first. I love Harold Knight paintings!
Isn’t HK splendid? I particularly like his painting that Persephone used for the cover of Cheerful Weather for the Wedding.
Oh how exciting good luck.
Thank you very much!
This is good news, looking forward to joining the book club! Sending best wishes on your writing too.
Thank you – it will be a pleasure to have you join us!
I have really enjoyed your Book Snob blog and read most of your suggested fiction (all of which have fit beautifully into my eclectic book taste). So glad to hear you’ll be writing (hopefully it will get me off my arse and doing the same). Looking forward to the Book Club and thanks for all the great reading news!
From the wilds of Vancouver, BC
Thank you Valerie – yes, go and write too! It feels empowering once you finally get started! I look forward to seeing you at the book club next month.
Yes, yes, yes! Obviously I am a little upset that I won’t have your fabulous posts to look forward to when I check my emails (and for the record you are the only blog I subscribe to), but I think I could sacrifice some blog posts if a novel is in the offing! I am so happy that you are working on a novel, I have said before, you have real flair! So that is the first yes.
The second one is that just last week I bought ‘My cousin Rachel’ from a charity shop partly to do with the lovely vintage cover, but also because I don’t have any Du Maurier’s in my library! So Yes! I will pop along to your book club with the Old fashioned Girls!
The third and final ‘yes’ relates to a post I read a while ago where you were contemplating giving up teaching! Need I say anymore?
Good luck! And take your time, don’t feel pressured by an awaiting audience, but be secure in the knowledge that you have eager ears and eyes when you are ready!
Yes!
Thank you so much for your enthusiastic support Vicky! That has brightened my day! You’ll still get my posts occasionally, don’t worry, and maybe that novel before too long! So pleased you’ll be along to the book club and thanks again for your confidence in my writing – I hope I can do it justice!
Good luck Ms Booksnob, with all your endeavours, very impressed that you are writing a novel, you must let us all know when it is published. Also I adore the picture in this post, who painted it please?
Thank you very much – I like the use of ‘when’ not ‘if’ in connection with being published!! Its Harold Knight – very lovely, isn’t it?
What exciting news for you! I will miss reading you here, but am excited to follow your future endeavors 🙂
Thank you very much Natalie!
You’ve mentioned writing before so I’ve been hoping you’ll find time to get the novel written. Good luck for NaNoWriMo!
Thank you – I hope I can pull it off too!
How exciting! I’m grinning from ear-to-ear at the thought of a novel by you, Rachel. Good luck as you proceed, post here when you can, and in-the-meantime, I’ll continue to see my two favorite Old Fashioned Girls. 🙂
Thank you so much Penny – and we hope you’ll join us for the book club!
Dear Rachel, Wishing you all the best for your new blog plans, writing your novel and the new school year x
Thank you for letting us know. Best of luck.
Thank you Sue!
I have no idea how you will manage your time to get all this done, but very best of luck! Please keep us informed about the novel, you can put my name down for a copy. I will be very interested in hearing how you have balanced everything.
Thank you – yes, managing my time will prove a challenge, so I’ll see how I get on. Maybe I’ll be able to write a book on time management once I’ve finished!
Well, I’m very sorry I’ve so recently discovered your blog only to hear words like “scaling back” and such. 😦 But I definitely understand the need to free up your schedule to write your book. I am just finishing the publishing process for my first novel, and it’s been quite a journey! I am just now getting back to blogging, and love the idea of joining a book club if time permits. I actually checked out My Cousin Rachel from the library years ago and LOVED what I read, though I sadly lost the book and by the time I found it, I’d moved on to something else. I’ve always wanted to give it another try. 🙂
Well, I will still be updating regularly, and hopefully you’ll enjoy reading my past entries in the meantime! How exciting about your novel – I’d love more details on that! And lovely that you’ll be joining us for book club – I look forward to seeing you there!
Huge congrats for everything! Don’t worry about don’t being around so much with those two great projects taking up all your time. You surely will let us know of your novel and where to buy it, right?
Thank you so much, Elena – oh yes of course – I’ll be relying on all of you to be my first readers! 🙂
Thank goodness and about time! One of my most fervent desires is to say that I have lollygagged about London with ‘Rachel, the author’ and with each passing year it was looking less likely. As a writer you are a natural, in my humble opinion, so to have that writing in a tangible form would be super – glad it’s part of your plan!
I’ve really been missing the camaraderie of those Persephone and Virago reading weeks so the book club is something to look forward to! Although, just stating for the record that I will be abstaining from any read-alongs set you-know-where. Just saying….
Hahaha! Well, hopefully I can make that desire come true Darlene! 🙂 Thank you very much for your enthusiastic support, as always! Can’t wait to have you join the book club – and don’t worry, it’s British all the way for me!!
Good luck on your writing and you may want to check out the 90 day novel by Alan Watt, because he breaks down how to get through a rough draft into easy chunks, although sometimes it is just good to work on your idea without anyone’s input. I am also using the next few months to get pages done on a novel and its such a big endeavor!! But I will totally make time to read your blogs and dream of Britain!
Thank you for the tip – that sounds like a very helpful book. Good luck with your own writing – it’s not easy, is it?!
Good luck with all these new ventures. I’ve not come experienced your other blog but even if it’s half as good as this it seems I’m missing out and should get myself over there pronto
Thank you very much! I hope you like Old Fashioned Girls!
Rachel, years ago Jenny & Mumsy (my wonderful niece and sister from here in the good ole US) introduced me to your delightful blog. Not one to ooze confidence with the written word, I have enjoyed my silent lurking and admiration as you scale incredible mountains of personal and profession growth………all the while as you spectacularly entertain the bookish masses worldwide! Your latest fantastic news requires that I peevishly step out of my safe shadows to offer you resounding accolades for advancing your literary prowess through the book club AND THE NOVEL!!! Couldn’t be happier for you and wish that all goodness and success continue to shower upon your busy life. On a personal note, I can’t wait for the day when Jenny, Nancy and I will raise a toast to England’s newest, greatest author!!! Cheers!
Hello! How lovely to ‘meet’ you! Thank you so much for your lovely kindness and enthusiasm – it means so much! Hopefully the day to toast will be coming soon!
Rachel, very best of luck with all your plans, especially your novel and NanoWriMo. I did it a couple of years ago and it was hard work, but a lot of fun. I am sure you will emerge in December exhausted but exhilarated, and with 50,000 words to your credit! Really look forward to hearing more about your writing in due course.
Thank you so much Cathy – well done for finishing NaNoWriMo. It all feels rather daunting at the moment but I have to push through!
The best of luck with your novel.