Y’all… this book feels like it’s taken two decades to write, despite it being almost a year and a half…

But, don’t let this pessimistic headline fool you. Things have been looking up on The Dream since we last met about it back in May… I’m just being my usual stress-ball self. So, did I meet that goal of 5k from May? Let’s see…

May 2021: Getting Back in the Groove

As you may remember, for the first couple weeks of May, I finished typing up what I had hand-written of The Dream in my notebook, and the total word count at that time ended up being 42,500 words. For the remainder of the month, my goal was to be kind to myself, and ease back into writing the WIP by aiming for 5,000 more words. Based on my notes from May, I’m happy to say I reached that goal on May 27th, making the ending word count for the month 47,538!

How was I feeling during this time? Amazing. I didn’t push myself too hard, and the words came easily. I spent this time adding new Chapters One and Two, after having replotted the manuscript. The beginning of The Dream is a lot better for it now. However, I think I got a little over-eager in my comeback and that brings me to June…

June 2021: Lofty Goals and Stressful Situations

For May, I did the right thing by easing back in with a small goal of 5,000 words. For June, since I handled that so well, and had so easily written the 12k additional words of The Fall a couple months before, I initially thought it would be a fantastic idea to shoot for a goal of 12,500 more words.

Let’s all share an awkward laugh together at my naivety.

Now, you may be thinking, Allyson, you liar. You said in your last Editing Diaries episode that you only set it for 10k, like in months past. And, yes, I did say that. But, at the time of writing that post, it was near the end of June, when I was getting beat up in an alley within the dark confines of Stress City, and at the last minute, I went back and edited that post to reflect 10k, not 12.5k. Because I wanted to talk about that here, in the WIP Update, instead.

At the time of writing the last Editing Diaries post, I had reached 10k on The Dream earlier than expected. I fully expected to be able to reach 12.5k by the end of the month. BUT, as life has it, a wrench got thrown in my plans and made for a big old mess for me mental health-wise.

As I hinted at in that Editing Diaries post, work has been difficult. For full disclosure, June (and early July, honestly) has been possibly the worst month I’ve had in my time there. Being that I’m a full-time employee, and have a tendency to take things personally, stress has seeped into every other aspect of my life. It’s made wedding planning more stressful. It’s made for horrible mood swings. It’s caused sleepless nights. And as if that’s not enough, it’s made me not want to write on the WIP or pre-plan Authoring Arrowheads posts, because the stress has been so crippling.

It’s been a downward spiral, one that I’m still praying for relief from. My prayers lately about the stress have been desperate, and have gone on for weeks. Tears have been shed every other day. If you will, please pray for my situation.

July’s Plan: We’ll Have to See…

For July, I knew I’d set a lower word count goal (thinking maybe 6k, like I mentioned in the Editing Diaries post), and settled on 7k in hopes of bringing the ending word count of June’s 57.9k to 65k. This was a good idea, and I’m going to try to stick to it if at all possible. But, as I’m typing up this post on July 10th, I’ve only written one day so far this month, and it was a whopping 321 words.

What have I been doing? Well, I’m still dealing with work stress, and I’m trying to get caught back up with pre-scheduling blog content for Authoring Arrowheads here. The wedding is in October, so I would love to be two months ahead on scheduling blog content, so I won’t have to scramble that month, or take a hiatus. Therefore, blogging may take priority in July rather than The Dream. And I’m okay with that.

If for some reason I’m able to breeze through scheduling blog content and have time left toward the end of the month, I may lower my wordcount goal to 2k, for an ending total count of 60k. It’s not much, but I’d rather not go back into the doom and gloom of another long-term writing hiatus. Writing is hard enough as it is, and I still want it to be a form of escape and not added stress.

Again, please pray. ❤ I want to get these books out for y’all.

Talk to Me, Arrowheads!

If you’re a writer, how is your current work in progress going? Share your journey in the comments below!

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

-Allyson 😀