Welcome back to another update on my current work in progress, Tales of an Awkward Turtle!
If You Missed Update #1, You Can Recap Here:
So, am I still enjoying writing Brandon’s story? I’ll admit, things haven’t been as easygoing as the first three months of writing were, but God’s still allowing me to press on!
January 2024: Staying Consistent Amongst All Anxiety (Cont.)
When I last updated y’all on January 29th, the word count for Tales was 28,830 words. I planned on writing two more times that month, and God allowed me to do so!
During those last two days of writing, I was still dealing with anxiety over a situation that came and went throughout the month, but God helped me press on despite how upset I was.
On January 31st, God allowed me to reach my monthly word count goal of 30k words, with the final word count of the month coming to 30,098 words.
I made it by the skin of my teeth, but it got there nonetheless. XD
Number of January Writing Sessions: 21
February 2024: Halfway There!
If you had told me back in November, when I started writing this book, that I would successfully reach the story’s midpoint four months later, I would have cackled. XD
I always have good intentions to write consistently when drafting a book, but rarely keep that consistency up for more than a couple months at a time.
I’m happy to report that my writing sessions didn’t come to a halt in February. Though there were a couple days I struggled to write, looking back at my notes, I had the best time writing during this month. Some of my favorite scenes so far were written in February, featuring some of the funniest and sassiest remarks from Aiden. I don’t know if anyone but me will ever think his comments are funny, but I had a blast writing them. XD
For the word count goals, God allowed me to reach 35k words on February 14th.
On February 20th, He allowed me to reach my second goal of 37.5k words.
My ultimate goal for February, 40k words, was reached a day earlier than expected on February 28th, which marked the HALFWAY mark for Tales of an Awkward Turtle! Praise the Lord!
I only wrote 172 words on Leap Day, but it brought the final word count for February to 40,222 words. ❤
Number of February Writing Sessions: 17
March 2024: The One Where I Struggle-Bussed, But the Bus Still Moved XD
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that I will hop aboard the struggle-bus somewhere around the midpoint of any given WIP. For Tales of an Awkward Turtle, March was where I first boarded the struggle-bus.
Thankfully, there hasn’t been many pot holes or bumpy roads while I’ve been on the struggle-bus. I’ve just had a few days where doubt crept in and I ended up writing below my daily word count average (which is typically between 500-600 words), but God is still allowing me to make forward momentum.
The biggest doubt I’ve had is wondering if I’m being too repetitive with Brandon’s thoughts on dealing with a sinful situation he’s going through. I keep telling myself that I can fix it during edits, but it still hindered my writing to a degree all the same. Then, earlier this week, while I was worrying about the repetitiveness issue again, God reminded me that the path to overcoming sin is rarely linear. Yes, some people automatically stop participating in certain sins when they accept Jesus, but others often struggle and backslide in the process of overcoming sin, or while the Holy Spirit is working in them to convict them of their sin. God’s reminder of this made me feel a lot better about what I was writing, and over the past few days, that knowledge has helped me get back on track mindset-wise. 🙂
At the time of drafting this post, over a week before the end of March, I’ve written a total of 13 times so far this month, and Tales is currently at 47,540 words. Based on my weekly WIP/Word Count updates on Instagram, I’m normally writing around 2,500 words per week, so, in theory, Tales could reach the 50k word mark by next Wednesday (the 27th) rather than the last couple days of March, but we’ll see!
Talk to Me, Arrowheads!
If you’re a writer, how do you overcome struggle-bus moments when drafting your work in progress?
If you’re a reader, be sure to check out Speak Your Mind for the original sassy Aiden moments and some background on Tales of an Awkward Turtle‘s main character, Brandon!
Aim high, stay strong, and always hit your mark.
-Allyson 😀
Authoring Arrowheads 
You’re doing great, Allyson!! I’m so glad you’re still on a roll, even if momentum slows some. Keep letting God guide your writing! One thing I love so much about how Emery works through grief in The Ballad of Emery Brooks is how it’s so realistic – easier days and then hard days again…so if that’s how Brandon’s growth is – up and down and back and forth and a good day and then having to repeat thoughts on a hard day, I’d say go with it because that authenticity is what makes your characters able to truly touch readers who will benefit from reading his journey.
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Thank you so much for this encouragement! I needed to hear that! 🙂
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