First day of summer?

I live in Melbourne, Australia, and it’s notorious for having quite changeable weather, and these last few weeks have been no exception. As I write this post I am looking out at grey skies, watching the trees whip around in the wind, and wondering if it will rain soon-some start to summer. On Monday it’s supposed to be high twenties and sunny. Here’s hoping the season isn’t too disastrous for bushfires or floods or dust storms or anything else.

The last month or so has had plenty going on to keep me busy. I’ve been working on a new short novella to be included in a yet to be titled anthology coming out in about a year with the Melbourne Romance Writers Guild. I probably should have been working on the collection I have to get to the editor in February, but that seemed way less fun that writing a new story from scratch.

I did it during November, the month traditionally set aside for NaNoWriMo so that I could feel part of the fun without making myself miserable with the full 50k target. I was aiming for 15k, and I managed a little over 20k. It was nice to feel like I was kicking goals most days. I had a couple of bad days where I got no words down, but the target was well within reach, and I could recover easily from those no word days.

I would like to keep the momentum up and finish the story before going back to editing, I think it’s nearly there for the first draft.

I have also been doing a lot of judging for the Romance Writers of Australia competitions. I find it very educational, but it does take quite some time. I think next year I might reduce the number of competitions or entries I accept. They also always seem to line up with NaNoWriMo, I assume that isn’t on purpose. I have one last competition to finish before next week, I’d better get onto that.

Keep an eye out for the cover reveal for my upcoming horror collection, and more information on the anthology as it gets closer. I hope everyone can take some time in December and January to take stock, spend time with family and/or friends, and I’ll be back here to do a yearly wrap up and new year goals soon.