(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Nicole Richie says writing helps her to calm down after a busy day.

The star is currently promoting her second book, Priceless, about a rich girl whose life is transformed by unexpected events. Nicole enjoys penning novels because it allows her to escape her hectic life for a few hours and enter a different world.

She has two young children with her fianc Joel Madden, so makes the most of when they are in bed to pick up a pen and write a few chapters.

I wake up at 5.45am and the rest of the family gets up at 7am, so I have an hour in the morning, Nicole said in an interview with USA Today. And then I have time after 7 at night to write and calm down. I write all my own stories.

I also love reading. Everyone tells me about a few books I should read, but I'm rereading Tuesdays with Morrie right now. It's one of my favourites, and it's comforting to read something I've already read.

The 29-year-old was thrilled to meet one of her literary heroines when she decided to become an author. Nicole says she was given valuable advice about writing a follow-up to her first novel, The Truth About Diamonds.

Danielle Steel has been a huge mentor of mine. I look up to her. I'm lucky just to have five minutes with her, Nicole explained. She told me not to write a sequel. She told me writing takes time and I might not be in the same place in a few years.

The Truth About Diamonds was a bestseller when it was released in 2005, but Nicole revealed there are currently no plans to develop the book into a TV series.

The story focused on a woman in her 20s who was adopted by a famous singer and goes off the rails as she parties too hard and ends up in rehab. (C) Cover Media