*Heavy sigh* Well, here we are again, my friends. Another “update” for my current WIP, On the Flip Side where I attempt a reasonable explanation as to why I haven’t finished writing it yet.

Please bear with me through this post. I’m quite aggravated with myself.

If you haven’t yet read the first few updates, you can do so here:

• Update #1
• Update #2
• Update #3

Here we go.

September 2022

In my last WIP Update for 2022, I told y’all that while I had slacked on writing for most of September (only writing 1,700 words up until September 20th). For the remaining days of September, I tried to remedy that and reach a total of 40,000 words for the manuscript. During those last ten days of September, I managed to write a total of 2,612 words, which put me at 39,317 for the manuscript.

October and November 2022

I’m lumping these two months together, because I did not write at all during this time frame. Admittedly, I had good reasons for not writing: 1) Our first wedding anniversary was in October, and we took a vacation in mid-October. 2) I released The Fall the first week of November, so the remainder of October, and November, were full of last minute edits, marketing preparations, and post-release marketing. 3) November also included my husband’s birthday, Thanksgiving, and preparing for Christmas, so those all took up time as well.

Could I have written during this time? Probably. I just didn’t. Other things came first. And I need to learn to be okay with that. It’s just been difficult.

December 2022

When December rolled around, though, I was ready to get back to writing. Or, so I thought.

Back in September, I was getting frustrated with where the story was going, since I was edging on what I believe was the halfway mark of the story (determined by the word count), but I didn’t think the midpoint was strong enough. So, I spent some time redoing On the Flip Side‘s outline (yet again) and figured out somewhat of a better structure. But, this required rewriting, so back to square one I went.

I haven’t scrapped everything, but I started a new document and began back at Chapter One, adding new scenes in and altering some of the salvageable scenes from the original document. This brought my new word count for December to 6,024 for the new version of the manuscript.

Did I write more in December? I did good for about 8 days, and then progress came to a halt once Christmas came around. I wanted to write then, but other things came up that needed to be done, and I got a sinus infection right as 2023 rolled in, so it didn’t happen.

January 2023

I’m so aggravated with myself, y’all. At the time of writing this, we’re 11 days into January, and I’ve yet to even open On the Flip Side‘s document nor the outline. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I don’t even feel like writing. On the other hand, I also feel extremely guilty for not writing, especially as I’m writing this post where I’ve realized I’ve barely progressed on this WIP in the past few months.

**Additional Note: But now on January 25th when I’ve popped back on here to proofread one more time before the post goes live, I can say that I’ve tried to make the most of January after majorly guilt-tripping myself on the 11th. So far, I’ve managed to write/rewrite portions of the first draft seven days this month. No, that ain’t a lot, but it’s better than not writing at all. In those seven writing sessions, the new draft’s total word count has grown from 6,024 words on 12/16/2022 (the last day I wrote) to 11,169 at the time of writing this, so I’ve written 5,145 words this month so far. Hopefully this positive momentum will keep going and I won’t get discouraged again.

Before I go, I just want to say that I’m sorry if I sound like a complete downer in this update, especially after the “You’re Not a Terrible Writer If…” affirmations post went up last week. I guess I need to go back and reread it to keep myself hyped up for writing. 😛 The main thing is that I’m just disappointed in myself for not staying as disciplined with this project as I have on past books, and instead of remedying that for the majority of the time within the past few months, I’ve just been sulking in it. Lord willing now though, I’ll stay on track.

Talk to Me, Arrowheads!

If you’re a writer, how is your current work-in-progress going? Tell me about it in the comments below!

If you’re a reader, and you’re wondering when the last book in my Christian YA Romance trilogy will be released… it won’t be this year, but I am currently doing the first round of edits The Dream, so progress is being made. ❤

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

-Allyson 😀