7 years, 1 week, 10 months, and five days. A total of 24,414 recorded minutes spent on Word documents, equivalent to 406 hours or 16.9 total days of my life.

82,412 words, or 424 pages.

Lots and lots of frustration, rewrites, and a whirlwind of emotions (mostly crying).

At 3:16 p.m. on Monday, June 24, 2019, I FINALLY FINISHED my third novel, The Crush!!!

Yes, my dear friend, you read that right. After more than half a decade, the WIP that has caused me many a sleepless night has now been defeated!

*Faints into a puddle of exhaustion*

I took the day off from work to write the last chapter, exactly 3,000 words. I wore a blanket as a skirt over my pajamas because it was cold in the dining room, sat in front of my laptop at the table for six hours, ate Froot Loops for lunch, and hid from the UPS guy. It was a rather productive day.

Technically, this draft of The Crush began on March 17, 2018. After two or three attempted rewrites with the old plot in mind, I had sat down and planned a different route for the book. So, in reality, this first completed draft only took one year, three months, and one week to complete. The whole concept and those unruly half-drafts have just been haunting me since 2011.

But… Emery’s journey isn’t over yet!

I’ve already started plotting the second book in the trilogy, The Fall. My goal is to reach a word count of 50,000 by the end of 2019, finishing the book by my birthday in February (#likeIdidSYMlastyear). At the time of writing this post, I have plotted up until the end of Act 2, and am loving where it’s headed. I’m pumped to start writing it soon!

Now, as far as publishing The Crush…

After a recent schedule change, the original November publishing deadline I had in mind is no longer bueno. Other obligations are now taking up some of my freetime, and I don’t want to rush through editing this book. It took nine months and at least seven read-throughs (and the help of my awesome editor, Rayleigh) to edit Speak Your Mind… which is currently 143 pages shorter than The Crush.

Even though I lowkey like editing, I’m terrified of tackling and perfecting 400+ pages before November.

So, my decision is this: I shall wait to publish The Crush until I’m done writing the other two books in the trilogy. While I’m writing the other books, I’ll try to edit The Crush when I can.

With this gameplan in mind, I hope to finish Book Three, The Dream, by Fall of 2020. And maybe, if things go super smoothly with editing, I can release The Crush before then.

But, at the same time, Life could happen at any moment. The wheels for other future dreams of mine are already turning, and I want to give those dreams as much of my time, respect, and attention as my writing endeavors. My goal is to not rush publishing, but to enjoy writing and editing along with other non-writing aspects of my life.

So, with the ending of The Crush‘s first completed draft, both Emery and I will seek to find the joys in the unexpected again.

Talk to Me, Arrowheads!

Who’s excited for The Crush? Be sure to check back here for updates!

Aim high, stay strong, and always hit your mark.

-Allyson 😀