… and this is why November NaNoWriMo doesn’t work so well for us Southern Hemisphere folk. It’s late spring, the weather is warming, the sun’s out, the jacarandas are blooming and summer’s knocking on the door. January is also high summer and holidays where I am – perfect weather for the beach, and outdoorsy sojourns. For those of us down under, I’d actually pick May as the best time – it’s winter, it’s getting cold, and we have a month’s buffer from end of financial year madness.

I signed up this year, but have already decided to ditch word counts, as I want to finish some pieces for submission this month. Which means both writing – and intensive editing. Which everyone says is the biggest NoNo of NaNo…